Rookies, coaching exposed in agonizing loss

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This article was published 24/07/2017 (2996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was arguably the most exciting game in what’s been a season full of nail-biters in the Canadian Football League. It took every last second before a winner could be determined in another tight, 45-42 victory for the B.C. Lions against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at BC Place Friday.

Three points or fewer have decided all of the last four meetings between these two Western Division rivals.

It was also an eerily similar showing to the last time the two teams met on the west coast – a 32-31 win for the Lions in the 2016 West semifinal – with the game including some trickery, questionable calls and being decide in the dying seconds by the foot of Bombers kicker Justin Medlock.

With that, here are five takeaways from Friday’s game…

THE GOOD

Let’s begin on a good note before we dive deep into what troubled the Bombers. Darvin Adams and Clarence Denmark, two of the team’s more productive receivers last season, both left their mark after a slow first three weeks.

Denmark caught only one ball, but it’s where he caught it that mattered: a 17-yard strike in the back corner of the end zone. The score stopped the bleeding by a defence getting eaten alive by a vicious Lions attack early on.

For Adams, it was a breakout game; he led the team with five catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns. His second score was highlighted by a swift, one-handed grab.

Despite another slow start, Nichols still threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another — a 20-yard scamper — that was his second-longest gain on the ground in his seven years in the CFL. The QB finished  28-for-36 for 254 yards, throwing one interception.

The Bombers special teams had a bounce back game – minus one major blunder – after a dismal outing against the Toronto Argonauts last week.

Though they still allowed some decent field position — 313 return yards; 101 of which came on a missed field goal return at the end of the game — they made up for it with a couple of savvy plays. Derek Jones slipped right through the Lions’ wall for a punt block that led to a one-yard TD run by backup QB Dan LeFevour in the first quarter. Then, just before halftime, Mike Miller recovered a fake field goal that set up Adams’ first score.

THE BAD

When a team is able to put up 42 points, it’s hard to blame the offence for a loss. But as good as they were at times — scoring 21 points in a span of 11 minutes in the second and third quarters — they struggled again down the stretch.

The Bombers had a combined nine points in the fourth quarter through the first three games. They laid another egg on Friday, with B.C. outscoring Winnipeg 18-0 in the final 15 minutes. After the Bombers’ last touchdown — an interception by Jake Thomas followed by a bizarre lateral hand-off to Kyle Knox — the offence wasn’t able to earn a single first down in the next six drives.

Nichols’ interception led to the Lions taking the lead for good, as it put them in field goal range with little time left on the clock.

“It came down to probably 10 pretty decent mistakes that equal to losing a football game,” Nichols said after the game. “Everyone just has to look themselves in the mirror and make sure they don’t continue to make those plays down the stretch.”

THE BAD – PART II

It’s hard to figure what will be tougher for the Bombers D this week: looking in the mirror, or looking over the game film. Besides a few bright spots, the defensive dozen were torched by B.C.

Lions quarterback Travis Lulay had another strong game, building off his record-setting performance against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was 28-for-43 for 406 yards with two touchdowns; he also threw two interceptions.

Perhaps Lulay’s best decision was to pick on the rookie-filled defence. That meant staying away from interception leader T.J. Heath and veteran Chris Randle and focusing on rookies Roc Carmichael and Brian Walker.

The defensive line had just one sack and was unable to get out to the edge quick enough to stop the speedy run attack of Jeremiah Johnson and Chris Rainey. When the Lions were able to break the line, whether on a rush or pass, the linebackers — a unit that was missing Ian Wild and Maurice Leggett — missed key tackles that resulted in big gains.

Defence was the biggest factor in the win over the Toronto Argonauts in Week 4 — and in keeping the game close against the Calgary Stampeders the week before — but they deserve a hefty share of the blame in this one.

THE UGLY

It’s hard to decide where to begin analyzing the decision to run a fake punt midway through the fourth quarter. Not only were the Blue pinned on their own 26-yard line, they were facing third-and-15 while holding an eight-point lead.

The story after the game from head coach Mike O’Shea was Medlock, who has never thrown a pass for the Bombers outside of practice, was given the green light to read the defence and make a decision. 

Medlock got the ball and, assuming he saw something, decided to thread one down the middle to the intended “receiver,” defensive back Derek Jones (Jones, by the way, has also never caught a pass in the CFL). Jones, who contributed a shameless “no comment” after the game, had no idea the ball was coming, his back turned to the play the entire time.

O’Shea was defiant afterward, muttering response after response about how when his team has the ball it’s offensive football. The only thing offensive about the play was the fact the Bombers — and most importantly O’Shea — felt it was the time or place to make such a call.

Medlock took the blame afterward, but either way, this one falls on the coach, who decided he couldn’t put the game in the hands of his defence and instead handed it to his kicker — and ultimately the Lions.

NEED HEALTH TO BE HAPPY

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If one thing was apparent, it’s that the Bombers need to get healthy — and fast. 

The defence has featured six different rookies and without players such as Leggett and Wild, not to mention the absences of halfback Bruce Johnson and defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo. This team is going to continue to struggle against the top teams.

“We got guys that are down that we’re going to need down the road,” Heath said. 

“It’s good that these young guys right now are learning the game because who knows, it’s a long season and we might need them again. The thing is we got to stay healthy and continue to teach these young guys.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca
twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.