By Jeff Paterson,
Team 1040
Two years ago, the B.C. Lions started the season 5-0. They ended up watching the Grey Cup -– which was being played in their own building -– at home on television.
Last year, the B.C. Lions stumbled out of the gate with a 2-3 record five weeks into the season. As everyone knows, the Lions won the Grey Cup.
So the old adage “It’s not how you start, but how you finish” in the Canadian Football League certainly is true. And another undeniable truth is that despite the identical records and many of the same faces in key places, the 2005 Lions and Wally Buono’s squad this year are very different football teams.
Anyone who was around the Lions two years ago knows that team was guilty of believing the considerable hype that surrounded it. Regardless how well or how poorly the Lions played in the first three months of that 2005 season, they won. And while the media and fans to local call-in shows repeatedly pointed to growing warts on that team’s game as the season wore on, the players and coaches kept pointing to the win column. And, in many ways, they had every right to.
Five and oh, six, seven, eight, nine, ten – the Lions eventually pushed their remarkable run to 11-0 and there was all kinds of talk here on the West Coast about the ’72 Miami Dolphins and the perfect season. Instead, it turned into the perfect storm. Complacency got the better of the Lions, the same mistakes they were making earlier in the year but finding a way to overcome were nipping them in the butt. And as quickly as they had risen to the lofty heights of 11 straight wins to start the season, the Lions unraveled and came crashing back to earth dropping six of their final seven games. And they found a way to lose the West Championship, too. And just like that, the dream had become a nightmare.
Which brings us to this year and, with the Lions off to a 5-0 start after Saturday’s win over the Stampeders, comparisons are inevitably being made to that 2005 team. The rest of the league won’t want to hear this, but the 2007 Lions appear to be a far deeper and much better football team now than they were two summers ago. And what this group possesses that that one didn’t – aside from the boost from key additions like Joe Smith, Rob Murphy, Jason Jimenez and Paul McCallum — is a healthy helping of perspective.
Instead of burying their heads in the sand like they did two years ago and going into denial when they were winning despite not playing well, now the opposite appears true. Even though injuries have left the Lions reeling at quarterback — yet they’ve still managed to come out on top in tough-to-win places like Regina and now Calgary with their third-stringer at the controls -– no one on this team seems satisfied with the efforts.
Two years ago, there was a firm belief in the locker room that those Lions were every bit as good as their record indicated. And again, who could blame them? None of the guys could remember ever having been on a run like that from the start of a season -– not even back in pee-wee football. So that was uncharted territory.
But now they have experience to go along with their success –- a gauge which should keep them grounded. Expectations have been raised after last year’s Grey Cup victory and so far, this year’s team is meeting those expectations head on.
Sure, 5-0 is great and, hey, it most definitely beats the alternatives. However, as the Lions learned the hard way just two short years ago, 5-0 in early August means absolutely nothing when the leaves start to fall, the temperatures begin to plummet and the real fun in the Canadian Football League begins.
There seems to be an appreciation among Lions fans of what this football team has done so far this season -– and maybe even more admiration for how it’s done it. But it seems everyone in B.C. -– players, coaches, fans and media alike –- have been down this road before. And no one here is planning any kind of celebration just yet. There’s way too much football left to be played.
We’ve seen how the Lions have started and it’s hard to argue with the results. Now, let’s see how they finish because there’s only one way to make this season a success. Just ask the guys on that 2005 team.
Jeff Paterson is a broadcaster on the Team 1040, the B.C. Lions flagship radio station, and is also a Vancouver-based freelance writer.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
