BCLions.com Staff

VANCOUVER -- Ask any coach and they will tell you that two of the toughest games on any CFL schedule regardless of the combatants are the games before and after the bye week.

For the Lions, a trip of potential distractions to Toronto followed by six days of rest and six days of preparation for a Saskatchewan team desperate for a win looked treacherous for a Leos team that was sitting third in the West Division standings at the time.

“We have a veteran club that approaches each week with professionalism and a dedication to their craft,” says head coach Mike Benevides. “That approach eliminates a number of pitfalls along the way so a trip to Toronto with the bye-week looming or coming back to take on a division opponent 12 days later was less of a worry for me.”  

The Lions have passed that early season test and now have an equally tough stretch against East Division teams with back-to-back trips to Winnipeg and Montreal followed by home games versus the Als and Argos in September.

Morris on the Lions
CFL.ca columnist Jim Morris has sideline-to-sideline coverage of the BC Lions.  Check out his latest columns, opinions and analysis here.

We have a short week of preparation before facing an angry Winnipeg team trying to climb back into the race and then a week later we’re in Anthony Calvillo’s backyard, so if we’ve cleared one hurdle over the past couple weeks this next hurdle is even higher,” added Benevides.

The Lions haven’t enjoyed successful trips to Winnipeg the past couple visits and know that this ‘Bomber squad is different than the one they defeated in Week 1 of the regular season.

“Joey Elliott (Winnipeg quarterback) is for real,” says defensive back Dante Marsh. “Anybody who comes into this league and throws for more than 400 yards is somebody you need to take very seriously regardless of where he started the year on the depth chart.”

Short week aside, the Lions will likely be travelling into a sold-out hornet’s nest this week and need to get off to a better start offensively lest the Bombers get the crowd riled up.  

“We’ve faced some defences that have changed things up on us, but I believe we’ve adjusted well as games progress,” says quarterback Travis Lulay who had just 96 passing yards at the half on Sunday but finished with 257 on the day.

“We’ve been patient which is great, but we’d definitely like to come out of the gates with a faster start and put less pressure on the defence. Those guys have put us in position to win games in the second half of games and we need to put them in a spot where they’re defending larger leads.”

For Lulay, the middle part of the schedule is vital to the Lions post season positioning.

“We know as a team how a slow start can put you behind the eight-ball and we also know how a strong finish can set up your playoff run. We’ d like to be the ones controlling our fate and not playing desperation football in September.”

The Lions will now take on the defending East Division champs doing exactly that as the regular season closes in on the half-way point.