Leos hope Rourke can tame Bombers, snap three-game losing skid

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This article was published 17/08/2024 (469 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — Michael Couture admitted it was a tough pill to swallow poring over the game film following a rare shutout, 25-0, at the hands of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers two weeks ago.

Couture, who was drafted and spent six years with the Bombers before signing with his hometown B.C. Lions last season, did offer up a sliver of a silver lining when it came to dissecting the Week 9 beatdown from his former club.

After all, the Lions centre was literally in the middle of the entire mess, in what marked his return from a back injury suffered in B.C.’s first regular-season game.

“We didn’t run many plays, so you go through the film pretty quick,” Couture told the Free Press at the Lions practice facility in Surrey Saturday. “Whenever you lose a game it’s tough to watch film. You got to look yourself in the mirror and see what you did wrong.”

There was plenty of wrong to go around, to be sure, with the Lions mustering just 26 total plays, including only four first downs and 102 net offensive yards.

Indeed, it was a historic performance by the Bombers defence — a group that has allowed just one touchdown and is averaging fewer than 12 points against in its last three games.

The Lions current issues go beyond the loss to the Bombers.

They were beaten by the Calgary Stampeders by the slimmest of margins, 25-24, a week earlier and then followed up the loss against Winnipeg with a third straight defeat, this time getting dominated 33-16 by the lowly Edmonton Elks last week. It was just the Elks’ second win of the season.

Heading into the 2024 campaign, the Lions were considered the favourites to come out of the West Division. But B.C. has struggled to live up to the hype — similar to that of the 3-6 Bombers — and their stock has fallen over the past month. So, too, has its record, now at a modest 5-4.

All three losses were played on the road, making Sunday’s return to BC Place for the third and final regular-season meeting with the Bombers is a welcomed reprieve from eating out and sleeping in hotel beds.

“Sometimes, if things aren’t going the way that a team wants them to, guys can start to do more than what’s required of them,” Couture said. “This week, I love that we’re playing at home, and I think we’ve got a good game plan.”

For Alexander Hollins, the Lions dynamic receiver, it’s about getting better execution on first down to make it easier on second down for the offence to keep moving the ball.

Against Winnipeg, B.C. gained an average of just 2.8 yards per play and had a second-down conversion rate of just 13 per cent (2-for-15).

Hollins is currently third among receivers with 724 yards on 44 catches, behind teammate and league-leader, Justin McInnis, who has 834 yards, and Montreal’s Tyson Philpot, who is in second at 779 yards.

But as good as the 27-year-old’s overall stats look, he’s been quiet during the Lions’ current losing streak, with just six receptions on 13 targets, for a combined 68 yards and no touchdowns.

Compare that to the previous two, three-game stretches – 23 catches on 32 targets, for 402 yards and three TDs in Games 1-3; 15 catches on 28 targets, for 254 yards and one TD in Games 4-6 – and Hollins’ play has clearly been on the decline.

What’s most frustrating for Hollins has been dropped passes, including one early against the Elks last week that should have resulted in a touchdown.

“Can’t go anywhere without the ball,” Hollins said. “I just got to catch the damn ball.”

Hollins said the team is looking at its matchup against the Bombers D as a fresh start, a clean slate and with a new-and- improved game plan. But he’d love to regain some of the magic from the first meeting between the two division rivals, when he torched Winnipeg for seven catches, 215 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-24 road victory in Week 3.

“We had a lot of opportunities to be able to win that game, we just didn’t execute well,” Hollins said of the Week 9 loss. “We couldn’t find a way to get through it, but it doesn’t define you as a team, because we’re still a great team and we know that, and everybody knows that.”

One area the Lions would like to improve on is their run game. B.C. ranks third from the bottom, averaging 82.8 rushing yards per game.

The Lions signed William Stanback in the off-season to boost their ground attack, and he looked good early on against the Elks last week, finishing with 87 yards on 13 carries. Of that total yardage, however, 44 yards were registered in the first quarter.

Establishing a run game will be important to not only wear down Winnipeg’s defence and keep them guessing, it will also take some of the pressure off a B.C. defence that is struggling mightily of late. The Lions have allowed at least 25 points in each of the last three games.

“This is the CFL, this is what the game is all about,” Stanback, who is in fourth with 518 rushing yards this year, said. “You got to make sure you come prepared and ready to play, because you don’t know what team you’re going to get when you play them, because sometimes records don’t really translate to how good that team really is. We just got to make sure that we come out on top.”

The other major difference from Sunday’s game compared to the one played just two weeks before is the Lions will be featuring a new quarterback in Nathan Rourke. Rourke shocked the entire league by signing a three-year deal with the Lions on Tuesday and will start against the Bombers after working all week with the No. 1 offence.

Had Rourke not shown up, it would have likely been Jake Dolegala playing behind centre while Vernon Adams Jr. rehabs a knee injury that has been labelled week-to-week. Instead, Dolegala was cut after Rourke signed.

Rourke has done a lot of damage to a lot of teams in a short period of time. In 2022, his only season as a starter, he completed 78 per cent of his passes for 3,349 yards, threw for 25 touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions, and rushed for 10 more scores in just 10 games.

Still, he has yet to beat the Bombers in three starts.

“They’ve been the best team in the league the last four or five years. Their defence is one of the all-time best. I’ve had so much respect for them,” Rourke said. “People were kind of up in arms about their start this year, but I was one of the people in the camp saying that they’re going to figure it out, that they’re Winnipeg.”

He added: “They’ve been around too long, and they’ve got so many vets who know how to win. They’re fine, and I think that’s showing in the film. They’re getting better every week.”

Lions head coach Rick Campbell said Rourke has looked good and understands the offence, which has only changed slightly since the 26-year-old left B.C. following a stellar 2022 campaign to pursue an NFL career. It’s been more than 600 days since Rourke has played an entire professional football game.

As for the last game against the Bombers, Campbell said the club isn’t dwelling on the loss. They were the No. 1 offence at the time, and while they’ve dropped a couple spots the last few weeks, there’s been a renewed focus and he’s looking forward to getting back in the win column.

“Winnipeg does a good job, and we had opportunities in that game, early in the game, to put some points on the board and we didn’t do it, and it cost us,” Campbell said. “It’s a new game, new week, and that’s part of pro football, is you got to move on whether you win or whether you lose.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton