Back at it after a much-needed bye week, it’s crunch time for the BC Lions (7-7-0) as they welcome the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-9-0) to Save-On-Foods Field at BC Place in a Friday night battle of epic proportions.
Very much in control of their playoff fate in the super tight West Division, Jevon Cottoy and company are poised to prove they are the team they know can be as this 2024 season is shaping up to be a dogfight until the very end. With three of their four remaining games at home, it sets them up nicely to make it back into the dance.
“The vibe is great. Everyone seems dialled in and focused after the bye,” explained Cottoy on the mood this week.
“I know many of us needed this rest and recovery, so we just have to go ahead and take care of business come Friday night.”
It should no doubt be a battle of two desperate teams as the Tiger-Cats are on a three-game winning streak that has them knocking on the door of a playoff spot after a 2-7 start to their season.
Cottoy and company will see a better squad than the one they took down 44-28 in Steeltown on July 7; a result that dropped the Tiger-Cats to 0-5. A big part of the resurgence has come after the appointment of Chris Jones as defensive coordinator. Their unit has forced seven turnovers over the current winning streak.
“You have to be locked into all details. We know that the team on the other side is going to come prepared and they have some good weapons,” added Cottoy.
“We just have to execute in all phases. As an offence, we know they are playing with a lot more confidence and that’s especially true for their defence. Jones is a seasoned vet; he’s been around this league for a long time and guys trust him. But that shouldn’t matter, we know we have to take care of what we’re doing on our side of the ball and come in and strike first.”
Rick Campbell has repeatedly preached the same message about how no one is out of it until the math says so. After a subpar performance in the loss to Toronto before the bye, the Lions can ill afford to overlook anybody.
“Everybody’s playing for their spot in the standings. Anybody can win it all this year, that’s not a stretch to say that by anything,” added the head coach.
“We always know we’re going to get their best shot; our job is to focus on us and ensure they get our best shot. When they do get our best shot, we’re pretty good. We need to direct all our energy, focus on ourselves, and make sure that we’re ready to go and play well, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Campbell has returned the keys to Nathan Rourke after the quarterback was benched for Vernon Adams Jr. at halftime of the week 15 loss to the Argonauts. Collectively, the offence knows they all have to rise or it won’t be pretty regardless of which guy is under centre.
“Nathan’s getting more comfortable with all the weapons and we’re getting that camaraderie going,” said Cottoy.
“We know we have to be firing on all cylinders if we want to be successful.”
And we’ve seen just how potent an offence they can be when that happens.
The Quarterbacks
# 12 Nathan Rourke– looks to bounce back following the setback against Toronto, Friday marks his second career start against the Tiger-Cats. Rourke’s previous outing against Hamilton was a 17-12 barnburner of a win in July 2022 where he hit Cottoy and Lucky Whitehead for touchdown strikes. That victory came one week before his foot injury suffered in a win at Saskatchewan.
# 19 Bo Levi Mitchell- one of the league’s feel-good stories of 2024 has to be Mitchell’s resurgence as he leads the CFL with 4,044 passing yards. Mitchell threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns in a losing effort against the Lions in week five on July 7. Shemar Bridges- 906 yards and four majors on 79 receptions- has been Mitchell’s top target through 14 games.
3 Lions To Watch
WR # 83 Stanley Berryhill III– is promoted to the starting lineup with Alexander Hollins (shoulder) on the shelf for a couple of weeks. Berryhill has hauled in 17 receptions for 184 yards and a touchdown in 12 appearances this season.
LB # 46 Ben Hladik- returns to the middle after missing three weeks with an injured calf. Hladik and the linebackers will be counted on in the run-stopping game and force Mitchell into second and long; a formula that worked well in the Lions’ most recent win at Montreal three weeks back.
DL # 99 Jonah Tavai– has been a consistently solid addition to the rotation with eight tackles, a pair of sacks and a forced fumble across seven games. The defensive line will be equally important to neutralizing Hamilton’s attack.
Extra Yards
Viewers can watch this game on TSN in Canada while those south of the border and internationally can stream the action on CFL+. Bob Marjanovich and Giulio Caravatta call the play on 980 CKNW and province-wide on the Lions Audio Network beginning with the pre-game show at 6:30 pm. Harp Pandher and Taqdeer Thindal have the call on Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 with pre-game coverage beginning at 7:00 pm.
Additional lineup notes: Jalon Edwards-Cooper makes his season debut at field corner in place of Ciante Evans (elbow). Edwards-Cooper looks to pick up where he left off after going down late last season with an injury that kept him out of action for the playoffs. On offence, Tyler Packer returns at left guard after missing two games with a head injury. Stanley Berryhill III slides up to a starting receiver position with Alexander Hollins out week-to-week with a shoulder injury. All changes are reflected in our position chart HERE.
Will 1K Watch: William Stanback enters this game needing just 41 rushing yards to hit 1,000 for the third time in his career after doing so in back-to-back seasons (2019, 2021) with Montreal. The last Lion to eclipse 1,000 on the ground in a season was James Butler (1,060) in 2022 before he departed to Hamilton as a free agent.
After returning Hamilton’s offence last week, Butler is listed behind Greg Bell who is a Game Time Decision for this clash on Friday. Bell has racked up 539 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns in five contests this season.
While the Lions can’t clinch a playoff spot until next week at the earliest, a win on Friday would eliminate the possibility of Hamilton catching them for a crossover spot. The Tiger-Cats remain with a fighting chance courtesy of their three-game season sweep of Toronto which has them four points back of the final Eastern spot. They could also mathematically qualify by becoming the first East Division team to make it via the crossover. They enter this week three points back of Saskatchewan for third in the West.