Jim Mullin
CFL.ca
The B.C. Lions have been under the gun for the last 10 weeks of the CFL regular season.
The Lions can thank themselves for loading that playoff revolver with five of six bullets, then letting the Edmonton Eskimos misfire last Saturday on Piffles Taylor Field to give them a whole new life in the playoffs.
“This is not a bonus game for us, because we’ve earned it,” Coach and General Manager Wally Buono said of his team’s impeding semi-final appearance in Regina.
It’s an appearance in the post-season which seemed improbable when the Lions were 1-7, and at the very least unpalatable when the Eskimos were moaning in agony from the western basement with their last-place roommates.
Just how confident is the team after the 7-3 run to finish the season? Just ask loquacious veteran centre Angus Reid.
“I think you see it around here, you don’t see a room of paranoid, freaked out people,” Reid said in an upbeat dressing room at the Lions’ Surrey training facility.
“I think you see people having fun, who are really proud of each other, and just excited to play football. There’s no fear in the eyes of anyone here. We just want to go out a really show how good of a team we really are.”
There are folks with many theories that try to identify the turning point for 2010. When Buono dumped petulant quarterback Casey Printers first onto the bench with seven weeks remaining, then onto the unemployment line with four weeks left, the Leos cast their lot with Travis Lulay, a sophomore with only three starts at pivot on his CFL resume.
“Travis handles the expectation placed upon him very well,” said Wally the boss.
“When you’ve looked at where we’ve played over the last number of weeks, Calgary twice, in Montreal once, in Hamilton once, and he put us in great shape to win the Winnipeg game. He won four of those on the road and put us in great shape to win the Winnipeg game until he was hurt, and that’s the game we should have won.”
After a 0-3 run as a starter early in the season, Lulay finished his last three games on a winning streak, throwing for 891 yards and was 68-for-96 and four TDs. What was the biggest difference for Lulay when he was finally passed the reins the second time around?
“Learning how to win, because you can’t win the game on every play,” Lulay conceded.
Given his background, one would wonder how he forgot to win. At Regis High School in Oregon, a private school of fewer than 200 students, Lulay had led his school to five state 2A championship games in three different sports.
After many doubted he could get to the next level, Lulay started four seasons for Montana State, leading the team to three conference titles. Before Lulay arrived, Montana State had not won a conference title since 1984.
At the professional level, he had to make adjustments.
“Knowing when to take the sack, knowing when to throw the ball away, those are things that I am continuing to try to improve on.”
The offence has been competent, but the winning formula for the Leos has come from the two other departments. The defense has been dependable all year.
Special teams may be the key for B.C., considering the potential for weather to play a factor and Saskatchewan’s ongoing inconsistency with kicking, punting and coverage.
The Lions are led by the western nominee for outstanding specials, Yonus Davis, who scored on a return the last time these two teams met, which turned out to be a B.C. win at Empire on Halloween day.
Not to be forgotten is the Lions nominee for Most Outstanding Player, punter/kicker Paul McCallum who is well aware of the swirling winds in Regina. McCallum was 45-of-51 in the field goal department for a career-best mark and punted for a 41.5 yard average with accurate placement.
HISTORY LESSON
The Lions and Riders have met in the playoffs four times this decade with B.C. winning the last match, the 2008 Western Semi-Final 33-12 in Regina. The Lions are 3-1 versus the Riders in the playoffs this decade, with the lone loss being a 26-17 defeat in the 2007 Western Final. The Riders went on to win the Grey Cup the following week at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
BEST-OF-SEVEN, ANYONE?
Overall, the Lions have a 6-4 edge in playoff game wins and 5-3 edge in playoff series wins. The Lions won a best-of-three Western Conference Semifinal 2-1 in 1963, en route to their first Grey Cup appearance.
