If they say defence wins championships, the BC Lions and their ferocious unit perhaps turned in a timely performance. The 8-8-0 Lions moved one step closer to the playoffs and rallied behind defensive scores on successive possessions to take down the 4-10-1 Calgary Stampeders 32-15 in front of 21,108 fans at Save-On-Foods Field at BC Place
After three quarters where the offence struggled to finish drives and the defence gave up some yards in stretches, the game turned on a dime when Mathieu Betts intercepted Jake Maier and returned it 70 yards to the house to give the Lions a 16-8 lead.
The 2023 Most Outstanding Canadian showed his speed after returning to the squad as a trimmer and faster defensive end. On the very next series, T.J. Lee made an alert play, picking up a backwards Maier throw and returning it 27 yards for a score to officially open the floodgates as the home side got it done despite not finding the end zone on offence. For Lee, it was sweet redemption for a unit that had taken its fair share of criticism.
“I had a talk with them before the game. I just told the defence ‘it’s really on us.’ It doesn’t matter how we get on the field as a defence, whether the offence makes a turnover or whatever,” explained the ten-yeat veteran.
“The more we’re on the field, the more opportunities we have to make plays. And that’s how I broke it down to them. You saw it resonate. It doesn’t matter what was happening. Defence was coming out. We were thinking about game-changing plays and when it got down the stretch, we started making plays. All it takes is one little play for everybody to start believing.”
If there’s even better news to the equation, it’s the fact Nathan Rourke and the offence acknowledged they have to be better to be victorious in their push to the playoffs. At the same time, they know the defence will back them up when it counts.”
“It was huge. They won the game. They took over the game for us, it was 9-8, and as an offence we blinked and it was 25-8 and we hadn’t done anything,” said Rourke after the win.
“It’s an odd feeling. To play the way we did offensively and win, it’s an odd feeling. There’s a lot to get better at, a lot of things that are glaring, but it is comforting to know that our defence can step up when we’re not carrying our weight.”
“I would call it meh,” said Rick Campbell on the offensive output.
“We had trouble lining up on a few things. We do some of the really hard work, we kind of flipped the script where we ran the ball quite proficiently. I don’t know what Stanback had, he might have had less yards but you can see when we need to run the ball, we tend to be pretty proficient at that. We used to be a team that could throw the ball all over the place and right now we’re not in that groove and we need to look at it and do some good things but then we had some negative plays that stopped us tonight. We’re going to go in and watch it with them tomorrow and make sure we’re doing anything we can to improve.”
This victory was the epitome of not giving up on those big plays Lee was mentioning. His touchdown run looked like a close call on the backward pass and required a close look from the command centre. In the end, it stood. And maybe that’s what this Lion season could stand for: never perfect, but still standing as we approach the real season.
“I didn’t care, I was trying to pick it,” added Lee.
“It had to have been backwards. I don’t really know the rules but they’re behind everything. Just play ball and let everybody else figure it out.”
Key Numbers
20- the total number of points scored on four takeaways by the Lion defence. They had the Betts and Lee touchdowns plus two of Whyte’s field goals that came on an Ace Eley fumble return forced by Jalon Edwards-Cooper and an interception from Adrian Greene to help seal the deal.
83.3- Rourke’s completion percentage after finishing 20/24 for 218 yards. Keon Hatcher was his leading receiver with 97 yards on just four receptions. Hatcher’s 50-yard catch late in the third quarter set up a Whyte field goal to give them the 9-8 lead before the defence did its thing.
164- the defence held Maier to just 164 passing yards on 19 completions. Maier threw touchdown strikes to Ishmael Hyman and Reggie Begelton in the losing cause.
5-4– the Lions’ record against Western Division rivals this season. They can assure themselves of a winning record against those foes by defeating the Roughriders next week.
1– the Lions’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot: one more loss by the Edmonton Elks or another win over the Leos’ final two games. More info below.
Next Up + Latest Grey Cup Playoffs Math
The Lions visit Saskatchewan next Saturday, October 12 at 4:00 pm PT in a critical showdown to see the winner hold the inside track on hosting a playoff game next month. The 7-7-1 Roughriders visit 5-10-0 Edmonton to wrap up week 18 on Saturday afternoon. A Rider loss to the Elks means the Lions would clinch their spot in the playoffs and would put them in a position to lock up a home game by winning in Regina next week.