Few holes to fix in B.C.

Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:

When a Canadian Football League club wins 14 of their 18 regular-season contests, there isn’t much to fix.

So it is for the continual powerhouse B.C. Lions who return this season with much of their veteran lineup intact.

There is a lot to like about the Lions and it starts up front. Head coach and vice-president of football operations Wally Buono’s crew scored the most victories and most points in the league last season. The Lions feature one of the best offensive lines in the country with big tackles Rob Murphy and Jason Jimenez.

The big line cracked huge holes for tailback Joe Smith, the country’s leading rusher.

And the pass protection is second to none. The Lions surrendered the league’s fewest sacks.

The Lions also feature three of the leagues best receivers in Geroy Simon, Jason Clermont and Paris Jackson.

With the departure of QB Dave Dickenson to the Calgary Stampeders after five seasons on the West Coast, the big question in the shadow of the Rockies is who will emerge as the new number one passer.

Jarious Jackson passed for 2,553 yards and 18 majors.

Buck Pierce fired for 1,013 yards and five scores.

“The one thing on everyone’s mind is who the starting quarterback will be,” Buono told a CFL teleconference call yesterday.

“Both Jarious and Buck were winners when Dave Dickenson was here as the number one guy,” he said.

Still, Buono said the Lions would like to be a better passing club. One of the few question marks is: “Who will come in and be the club’s fourth and fifth receivers?”

Read More…

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>