The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — BC Lions quarterback Travis Lulay‘s performance in Thursday’s 31-23 Lions win embodied that of his team: Gritty, not perfect, but good enough to get the job done.
As it stands, Thursday’s win is a big one for the Lions (3-4), who inserted themselves back into the West Division playoff picture with the win.
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Kevin Elliott paced all Lions receivers with 79 yards in the win. (CFL.ca Photo/Johany Jutras)
“It feels great, we need to take care of business on our home turf,” Lulay told TSN following the win. “Right now we’re 3-0 at home. We need to figure out how to be a better football team on the road but we’re playing a divisional opponent who’s been hot, we’re in a spot where we need points to keep up with the rest of the West, (so) it feels real good right now.”
Trailing 20-10 at the break, Lulay and the offence came out firing in the second half — putting up 10 points on its first two drives to tie the ballgame.
“We just hunkered down at halftime, that was an emotional swing,” explained Lulay. “That opening drive of the third quarter was hugely important for us – we came down and scored a touchdown and all of a sudden it’s a three-point game. We settled in after that.
“You’ve got to hand it to our defence, they really, really clamped down in the second half, and we made enough plays on offence to win.”
The Lions have a home-road split to the nth degree, with a glittering 3-0 mark at BC Place and an eyesore of an 0-4 record away from home.
“We need to win in this building. Particularly the way we’ve been playing on the road, we have to be able to keep pace at home,” continued the veteran Lions pivot. “So far we’ve done that. A lot of football left. This is a big win for our club. We just need to use this momentum going forward.”
The next test for BC will be vastly different from Mike Reilly‘s Edmonton outfit, as the Lions will head east next week for a date with the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. PT).
