May 24, 2017

Lions show no fear of the best in the West

Larry MacDougal/CFL.ca

9VANCOUVER — Cliché, yes, but for Wally Buono and the BC Lions the phrase is worth emphasizing: To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.

From the Lions’ perspective, no team is better than Calgary — even if the Stampeders didn’t come away a Grey Cup Champion last November.

“If you look at right now, the best team in the CFL, and I know they didn’t win the Grey Cup last year, but the best team the last seven, eight years has been the Calgary Stampeders,” Lions head coach and general manager Wally Buono told Pat Steinberg in an interview on Sportsnet 960.

“John and Dave have done a great job building their team, building their nucleus and you’ve got to be factual and say ‘if you can’t beat the best, then you’re not going to be the best’. We competed at certain points but at the end it wasn’t good enough.”

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The Lions’ offence huddles on the sideline during a game in 2016 (The Canadian Press)

In 2016, the Stampeders lost only two regular season games, outscoring opponents by an average margin of 12 points per game on the way to a 15-2-1 record.

Early in the season it looked like the resurgent Lions were on a similar path, handing the Stampeders a rare season-opening loss while getting off to a 5-2 start. In their second meeting, the Lions showed they belonged on the same playing field as the Stampeders despite letting a two-score lead slip away and then falling in overtime.

Soon, however, the Stampeders would separate. On Aug. 19, in what was billed as a showdown of the CFL’s two top teams as well as a duel for first in the West, Calgary dominated the Lions in their own building, winning 37-9.

By the end of the year, the Stamps had three and a half wins on the Lions but the biggest blow came in the Western Final. In that game, with a trip to the Grey Cup on the line, the Stampeders built a 32-0 halftime lead, eventually disposing of the Lions 42-15.

That one hurts to this day.

“I’m still mad about it,” Chris Rainey told CFL.ca. “I have a different mindset than everybody on the team. I play different than everybody else — a different mindset — and I do not forget stuff.”

“I think about it every day,” added Jeremiah Johnson. “What we could have done differently or how we should have handled ourselves before the game. We had an even-keel attitude going into that game and I just think when things went awry early, it kind of went bonkers.”


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Calgary is a tough place to play, especially in November, receiver Bryan Burnham was quick to point out. And maybe the Lions did have some key injuries going into the game. And, granted, they were coming off an emotional, grind-it-out win over Winnipeg the previous week.

“I think we were a little bit drained going into Calgary and with guys not 100 per cent, and they had a few weeks off, I think they just came more prepared and you saw the outcome,” said Burnham.

But really, the Lions’ trouble with Calgary dates back to last July. On July 29, with the Lions up in the season series 1-0, Jonathon Jennings’ fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Geraldo Boldewijn put them ahead 41-26. Since that moment, however, including the Stamps’ dramatic comeback win that night and two more one-sided victories to come, Calgary has outscored BC 97-24.

It’s not like the Lions don’t have other teams to worry about. There are no easy wins in the West, where last year the Edmonton Eskimos — then the defending Grey Cup Champs — made the playoffs only by crossing over into the East.

“Winnipeg, they’re a great team,” said Burnham. “Saskatchewan has gotten a lot better. I think they’re going to have a good season this year. Edmonton obviously. It’s always a tough conference to play in.”

It’s no secret, however, that that Stamps are enemy No. 1. Wally Buono likens the situation now to 27 years ago, when he took over the Stampeders’ coaching gig in 1990.

“We had a very specific goal to make sure that we were better than the team up north,” Buono said in the same interview with Steinberg. “So when we built our team, one of the things we wanted to do was build a team that could beat the mighty Eskimos and over the years we did that.

“I think when you look at all the Western teams, they’ve all made moves to improve their football clubs,” he added. “The West is always very, very, very competitive and I don’t believe this year it’ll be any different.

“But we’re happy with the direction we’re going in and obviously, when you look at competing, you’ve got to compete with the best right now which is the Calgary Stampeders. And they’re a team you’ve always got to deal with.”

“I think Calgary is still the top dog and we have to beat them. To be the best, you have to beat the best.”

Lions receiver Bryan Burnham

Lions receiver Bryan Burnham enjoyed a career year in 2016 (The Canadian Press)

 

Last season, the Lions went from being middling at 7-11 to ranking second in the CFL at 12-6. They boasted the CFL’s top defence (337.7 yards allowed per game), the top rushing attack (115.7 yards per game) and the third-ranked offence (401.1 yards per game).

With the addition of Chris Williams to what’s already one of the CFL’s most explosive offences, the belief is there among players that the Lions are on the verge of something special.

First, though, there’s no mistaking the elephant in the room — or in this case, perhaps, the horse.

Whatever you call it, the Lions aren’t scared of it.

“I’m not going to say we’re over the hump, but we’re there,” Burnham told CFL.ca during Mark’s CFL Week in March. “We’re right there.

“I think Calgary is still the top dog and we have to beat them. To be the best, you have to beat the best.”