Aug
Lions mauled by Ti-Cats 30-18
Courtesy Vancouver Sun:
“Never in a million years” did Geroy Simon think it would happen after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats upset the Lions 31-28 on July 10.
On the eve of the rematch Friday night at Ivor Wynne Stadium, Simon practically issued a Joe Namath-Super Bowl III promise that a win was guaranteed.
“We’re not going to lose twice,” Simon said. “It’s not going to happen.”
But it did, the Lions going down 30-18 in the first Ticat sweep of the Lions since 1992. It was so long ago, in fact, that Simon was in high school in Johnstown, Pa., Korey Banks hadn’t yet graduated from elementary school in Boynton Beach, Fla. and Hamilton coach Marcel Bellefeuille was a student at the University of Ottawa.
Simon was in state of shock after the Lions fell to 1-4, their worst start since Wally Buono took over as head coach in 2003. Buono also started 1-4 in 2001 when he was coach of the Calgary Stampeders. That Stampeder team eventually won the Grey Cup, only the second team with a losing regular-season record (8-10) to do so. But, right now, the Lions are lacking the credentials to be a playoff team, much less a Grey Cup aspirant.
“I can’t even say we’re a good team anymore, because we’re not,” Simon said. “We not playing (expletive deleted).”
With a 3-2 record after five games, the Tiger-Cats already have achieved as many wins as they had in the 2008 and ’07 seasons, when they were 3-15 back-to-back. The Tabbies are terrible no more.
Three weeks ago, the Tiger-Cats became the first East Division team to win at BC Place since June, 2004. In that game, Hamilton running back DeAndra Cobb ran for 100 yards and added 75 more on pass receptions. The fourth-string running back, playing only because Kenton Keith, Terry Caulley and Tre Smith are injured, was just was as menacing a second time. DeAndra made a Cobb salad of the Lions run defence, stutter-stepping his way for touchdown runs of 14 and 15 yards. He finished the game with 166 yards rushing and 27 more on a pair of catches.
In some ways, the second half was a minor success for the Lions defence. They held Cobb below 200 yards. He seemed to be well on the way to that mark with 110 yards on eight carries in the first half.
“My back was turned to him most of the time,” Banks said. “We were playing man-to-man. When I turned around, Cobb was in the secondary. Some backs do good against some teams. Right now, he has our number.
“Hamilton’s a good team, they’ve gotten over the hump, they know how to win now,” Banks added. “Now, we’ve got to get over the hump and learn how to win ourselves.”
Tiger-Cat linebacker Jamall Johnson, never used as an everydown player during his four seasons with the Lions, looked like Lawrence Taylor for the second time against his former team. Johnson had 10 tackles, giving him 21 in two games against B.C.. “He was just a beast out there,” said Lions halfback Ryan Phillips. “J.J. played the way I always knew he could.”
Another ex-Lion, linebacker Markeith Knowlton, traded to Hamilton for a draft pick (Rolly Lumbala), had an interception and a key game-turning fumble recovery. The Ticats didn’t even have to use Otis Floyd, a third ex-Lions linebacker who was instrumental in the July 10 win but who sat out last night because of a concussion.
“They’ve added a lot of key B.C. Lions to their defence who have made them instantly better,” Banks said.
Typical was an interception Buck Pierce threw in the second half, when he was under pressure and launched the ball off his back foot. His pass, intended for Simon, was intercepted by Knowlton at the Lions 22-yard line. The Lions defence held, however, and Nick Setta booted a 28-yard field goal, his third of the game, to put the Tiger-Cats ahead 30-18.
Knowlton also produced the game’s most pivotal play. With the Lions ahead 18-17 early in the third quarter, Barron Miles’s 60th career interception gave the Lions the ball near mid-field. Five plays later, Martell Mallett’s 25-yard run took the ball to the Hamilton one-yard line. With two cracks at the end zone, however, Jarious Jackson was stopped short, fumbling on his second attempt after Knowlton stripped him of the ball and recovered the turnover.
It was a depressing re-run of last season, when the Lions’ inability to score from in close cost them two wins, including a decision to the Stampeders in last year’s West Division final.
“They’re always trying to strip the ball in a big pile like that,” Jackson explained. “Guys are always pulling at something. I don’t know the reason we can’t score in close. I don’t have the answers.”
Rookie Ryan-Grice Mullen typified a Lions team that seemed to take two steps back for every progressive move forward.
Grice-Mullen had six kickoff returns for 98 yards and his 23-yard punt return at the end of the first half set up a 29-yard field goal by Sean Whyte. Grice-Mullen also scored his first touchdown of the season on a two-yard end around play.
But he also gave the Tiger-Cats a short field after Grice-Mullen was stripped of the ball on a kickoff return. Scrimmaging from B.C.’s 30-yard line, the Tiger-Cats scored two plays later when Cobb knifed in from 15 yards out for his second touchdown.
“Mistakes like that, and fumbling at the one-yard line, are the reasons we’re losing, the reasons we’re 1-4,” Buono said.
Simon added: “We have to play two opponents, the opponent that’s on the schedule and ourselves. We’re beating ourselves with our own mistakes.”
Until the Lions reduce their adversaries to a more manageable number — one — the losses don’t figure to stop.
