B.C. Lions drop first game of 2012
Tristan Jackson. That player is the story in the Lions’ game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in week 3.
The Roughriders’ return man returned a missed Paul McCallum field goal in the third quarter for 60 yards that they eventually turned into a field goal for Saskatchewan.
Worse though was his 129 yard return of a missed McCallum 40 yard field goal that he took back for a touchdown.
Those two plays were enough to give the Lions their first loss 23-20 at the hands of the Roughriders.
Offensive and defensive players are often tough to pick out in a loss, but, let’s take a look at who made the cut as the Lions go to 2-1 on the season.
Offense
Travis Lulay did throw for 345 yards, and 2 touchdowns, but the Roughriders’ defense picked him off twice as the Leos scored a season low 20 points on the night, and he said after the game that he struggled with the noise playing in front of the wild Saskatchewan fans at Mosaic Stadium.
It also has to be disheartening to see running back Andrew Harris get only 8 carries and 37 yards after running so hard last week against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, where he put up 147 yards on 13 carries.
I’m going to give this one to Lions’ Wide Receiver Kierrie Johnson, who scored a touchdown on a 69 yard reception.
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The Leo’s offensive game ball this week goes to Wide Receiver Kierrie Johnson
Johnson showed his speed and elusiveness in his catch and score, and shows that he can be a great piece of the Lions’ passing attack.
He suffered a broken forearm on the play, so that means he’ll be out of the line up for a few weeks here, reminiscent of WR Shawn Gore getting knocked out last weeks game after putting up 2 scores.
Defense
The Roughriders’ Kory Sheets had a pretty good game running the ball, but the Lions’ D certainly did bottle up Roughriders’ Quarterback Darian Durant, who finished with only 172 yards passing and no touchdowns.
Linebacker Adam Bighill showed up again with a 6 tackle game, but we’re going to give the D game ball to Defensive End Keron Williams who showed up and got his 4th sack of the season.
He is showing his strength on the line.
A quick mention on Special Teams.
If the Lions hope to defend their Grey Cup Championship, they might want to shore up that Special Teams coverage.
With the lapses on the missed field goal returns in this game, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Demond Washington racking up 159 punt/kick return yards against them in Week 1, play on that unit can be shaky at times.
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