(Vancouver)– The BC Lions fell victim to early execution lapses and an extremely motivated opponent. The end result was a 33-17 defeat to the 7-6 Toronto Argonauts in front of 20,683 fans at Save-On-Foods Field at BC Place. The defeat drops the Lions to 7-7 as they head into their second bye week of the season and no doubt some questions surrounding the quarterback position after Vernon Adams Jr. replaced a struggling Nathan Rourke to begin the second half. Now for some game takes.
Quarterback Questions Linger
He didn’t get much help from his receivers and was under siege most of the opening half thanks to a ferocious Toronto defensive front. Still, it wasn’t the best outing for Rourke in his fifth start since returning to the team. Despite capping off a late second-quarter scoring drive with a nine-yard touchdown run, Rourke was pulled after going 6/12 110 yards as the home side trailed 19-10 at the break. Vernon Adams Jr. came in for his first game action since going down his knee injury way back on August 1 in Winnipeg.
The offence failed to generate much momentum on a night where they failed to register a first down since early in the second quarter. Adams Jr. was 4/7 for 75 yards and an interception to DeShaun Amos early in the fourth quarter that pretty much thwarted any attempts of a comeback. Rick Campbell was non-committal on naming a starter until after the bye week.
“Just looking for a spark. It’s a case, in my opinion, of having two elite CFL quarterbacks,” the head coach explained on his decision to change at the half.
“I told Nathan that it wasn’t on him. I’m not going to turn down having two guys that create a spark. And that wasn’t on Nathan. We couldn’t get a flow going and literally trying to create a spark and then see if we could flip the script.”
Always his number-one critic, Rourke didn’t sugarcoat anything when asked to assess his performance in what was a third loss in five games in starts for the Lions this season.
“(I’m) frustrated. Not the outcome that we were wanting from this game, right? So, not feeling too good right now,” Rourke said after the defeat.
“I’m going to control what I can control, not going to take any time off. I’m going to get right back at it. A lot of things to clean up, a lot of things to get better at. Hats off to Toronto; they did a good job; they had a good plan. They wanted it more. I think that’s honestly what it came down to. I don’t think we played up to our potential and hopefully, it’s a long bye week for everyone.”
Adams Jr. admitted his feet were a little jittery in his first game action in a month-and-a-half. Lion fans can take solace in the fact that these two players maintain the utmost respect for one another and both realize they will be needed before all is said and done with four games to go until the playoffs.
“Nate was just like, ‘Man, I’ve got your back. Just go do your thing,’” Adams said after the game.
“I’m a team player., If they want to go with Nate, he’s one of the best players in this league. I’ve got his back. Whatever coach wants, I’m going with it. If it’s me, awesome. Let’s get back to it and just do what we do.”
Rourke’s comments that the Argos came out hungry and wanted it more certainly have some merit. The Toronto offence was also full marks for the performance as Chad Kelly finished 18/28 for 268 yards and a first-half touchdown to Makai Polk. The quarterback also totalled 56 rushing yards and a touchdown on ten total carries. It seemed that they had plenty of receivers getting open with their offensive line creating holes for the run game. Despite all that, the losing team on Friday still has time to right the ship with four games to play.
“I told our guys; we’re a 7-7 team which sounds about right to me,” Campbell said.
“Sometimes we show up and we’re really good and other times we haven’t and that sounds about right to me. If you told us we were a .500 team I’d say we were a .500 team with lots of potential. We show well at times and I hope guys take the break and come back with a fresh mind, a fresh body. I’m hoping we can take advantage. We’ve got a bunch of home games, we’re the only team with two byes left. I’m hoping if we can figure out to play good football on a consistent basis, there’s lots of reasons to believe we can do good things, but that story has yet to be written.”
Key Numbers
12- total completions by Lion quarterbacks after Chase Brice played the final series and connected with Jordan Terrell for the reserve running back’s first CFL major.
222– net offence for the struggling Lions in this loss.
7– sacks by a stout Argonauts defensive line. Three of those came from Ralph Holley.
165- rushing yards for Toronto as Kelly led the way with 56.
Next Up
The Lions head into their second bye week of the season before returning home to battle the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday, September 27. Kickoff for our fourth annual Orange Shirt Day Game is 7:30 pm. The first 10,000 fans through the gates will receive a free orange shirt with a new addition to the logo by Indigenous artist Tanner Timothy. Secure your tickets HERE.