Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
You could hear it before the football field was even in eye shot. A group of grown men laughing and cheering under a toasty autumn sun, the day before a pretty important game. It sounded like a classroom full of unattended kids, wreaking as much havoc as they could before their teacher got back from a washroom break (imagine what goes through a teacher’s mind in those few minutes they’re out of the room?).
We all know by now that the BC Lions were in the middle of some serious dancing on Friday afternoon (that it was on the Ticats’ logo is really not a big deal; this stuff happens just about every week in walkthroughs; also, the whole don’t-step-on-the-logo thing is the stupidest thing in all of sports).
All of that to say the Lions are on a three-game win streak, playing their best football of the season in spite of some serious obstacles and they’re feeling pretty good about it.
Wally Buono was happy to play the role of the teacher on the sidelines during the walkthrough, letting his team get its work in while letting loose a little bit too.
“I’m going to say not really,” he said in regards to a change in his team’s demeanour the last few weeks, “but it is more fun to win.
“Our group’s been kind of up and down, up and down, up and down (with their record). They’re not a group that gets too down and too up (emotionally). When you win a few games all of a sudden you start to feel better about yourselves.”
Fueled by their miraculous OT win over the Ticats on Saturday in Vancouver, the Lions are 6-6 and back on even ground in the standings for the first time since they were 2-2 back in Week 5. There have been ups and downs, but Travis Lulay has seen that consistency that Buono speaks of.
“I just think our team confidence is really high,” he said. He goes into Saturday’s game as the third-string QB, after a lightning quick recovery from a left shoulder dislocation two weeks ago against Montreal.
“I’ve been around a lot of teams and I just feel like with the guys that we had and the way we were working in practice that it was disappointing that we didn’t get some better results earlier. But as one of the vets in the room, it gave me confidence in the group.
“We really weren’t that far away. Aside from losing in Winnipeg and Edmonton in Weeks 2 and 3, every single game of ours has been decided in the fourth quarter, win or lose. We’re in every game, so let’s find a way to make a handful of plays that are the difference between winning and losing.
“It’s good to see our team confidence and belief level start to match, in my mind, our personnel and work ethic.”
He wasn’t there with his new team at the walkthrough, but it’s hard not to see the win streak, the obvious fun that the Lions are having and their belief that they’ll be playing past Nov. 3 and not think of Tyrell Sutton.
An Alouette for all six of his years in the CFL, the Lions traded for the running back on Tuesday. He was supposed to join his new team in Hamilton at some point Friday, then fly back to Vancouver with them on Saturday night.
“I’ve talked to him on the phone,” Buono said. “It’s like anything. He’s a little in shock that he was traded. He likes the opportunity, he sees the value in being with us and we expressed how we believe we can utilize him.”
The house may seem crowded with Sutton’s arrival, given that the Lions already have Jeremiah Johnson, Chris Rainey, Travon Van and national Wayne Moore on the roster, but Buono sees a star-calibre insurance policy hopping aboard at the right time of the year. Out of bye weeks, the Lions will play nine consecutive weeks to close out the regular-season.
“Hopefully we’re also playing in the playoffs, so everything goes well you’re looking at 12 consecutive weeks,” Buono said. “It’s tough to be a professional athlete, especially at the running back position. If you have two or three and there’s a knick or a guy’s beat up a bit and you can put in a Tyrell Sutton, I think you’re improving your football team.”
It should also improve Sutton’s quality of football life, too. You can’t question his dedication — as a free-agent, he chose to stay in Montreal, despite the team missing the playoffs the last three years and playing on a 3-10 team this season — but that type of prolonged losing has an effect on anyone. Sutton’s first few weeks with the Lions will be fascinating to watch.
“He’s a guy who went from being on a team that their playoff chances are next-to-none, to a team that’s in a real hunt. So it’s got to be a little bit energizing for him,” Lulay said.
“I know it’d be disappointing to leave, but just what I’ve seen from him from as far as a player, he’s a physical, hard downhill runner. Everything I’ve heard is that he’s an awesome teammate, a great guy in the locker room. You can’t have too many of those types of guys.”
A very worthwhile footnote: I checked with my brother, who’s a teacher in Grande Prairie, AB. For many teachers, those away-from-the-room moments are in fact, spent hoping against hope that the room isn’t on fire upon return.
