The BC Lions dressed an assortment of the team’s final roster in their new Fog Grey jerseys in their pre-season games they split with a loss against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and a 25-22 win against the Calgary Stampeders.
Offensively, the biggest storyline in the Lions’ den is the quarterback position. After the sensational performance of Nathan Rourke last season, there are big cleats to fill. Vernon Adams Jr. was brought in last season due to Rourke’s ankle injury but struggled to get the offence firing. After a winter and spring to adapt to the playbook, Adams put on a masterclass performance against Calgary that 3DownNation’s JC Abbott wrote was “the best” he’s seen Adams play.
Adams’ opening drive of the game set the tone for his short quarter and change as the QB. Rhythmic passing, quick escapes, and decisive running, Adams drove the Lions down the field quickly, scoring on the team’s first possession. Overall, Adams threw 12/12 pass completions, including three touchdown receptions for a total of 213 passing yards, and rushed for 26 yards.
On his performance, Adams said in the post-game against Calgary that he “felt a lot more comfortable” leading the offence. “Probably for the first time in my CFL career, I was seeing things clearly. Jordan [Maksymic, offensive coordinator] did a great job just dialing things up, guys are making tremendous catches for me. O-line did their thing, and I used my feet a little more to extend some drives.”
“I want to dial in and try to be a consistent quarterback.” Adams continued. “I got a lot more to do, show, and prove to myself and I plan on doing that, but it’s going to take one game at a time.”
Justin McInnis, a veteran wide receiver who caught for 60 yards and received two out of three of Adams’ touchdown passes, had good things to say about his quarterback’s performance and the team’s chemistry.
“The atmosphere of this team, it’s always ‘work hard, compete’, but we have fun, smile, laugh — just playing for this group, you can tell is something really special,” said McInnis. “[Adams played] outstanding from every aspect… He keeps his composure, he keeps us locked in the huddle… He’s always been that kind of leader and when you finally meet him, you can see how serious he takes football.”
The secondary QB options, Dominique Davis and Dane Evans flip-flopped out of QB in the pre-season, with Davis looking the stronger out of the two. However, the veteran backup showed slight mental stress when he got on a cold passing streak. Evans was successful in creating two scoring drives for the Lions in the first pre-season game, but in both games couldn’t use the full offence, only able to connect with one receiver per drive against Calgary.
If either of the QBs plays confidently, they are covered in the receiving corps. The proven veterans played to their already-known abilities, while Ayden Eberhardt stood out from the rest of the rookie pass catchers. Eberhardt caught six receptions for 104 yards in a skilled and flashy manner against the Riders and has been a workhorse in training camp and on special teams.
On defence, defensive coordinator Ryan Phillips and defensive line coach John Bowman have put together a front four that starts to plug and stop the run — the biggest hole the team has defensively.
On the D-line, there are key players that stand out for the Lions: Tibo Debaillie, nicknamed “The Belgian Freight Train,” was the Lions’ most impactful Global player last season and looks to have improved at training camp. Mathieu Betts from Quebec, picked up a clutch tackle and a quarterback sack. Rookie Linebacker Ryder Varga had two good shows in the pre-season, dropping five tackles on defence and stops on special teams. The Saskatchewan-born linebacker will be a key player as the Lions still don’t have a solid side linebacker option. However, the Lions still show a bend-but-not-break style of play. The defensive backs (DB) rookies and safeties were caught sleeping on passes that scored big pickups for Calgary, and pass interference penalties plagued the Lions’ in both pre-season games.
Head coach Rick Campbell isn’t too worried about the kinks in the defence so early into the season. “I’m not gonna read too much into it,” says Campbell. “As coaches, we’re always concerned about everything. We wanna be as good as we can be. But I wouldn’t read too much into this game. There’s a lot of new guys doing different things.”
The Lions opened the CFL season against Calgary on June 8. Vernon Adams had another good performance, passing for two more touchdowns and totaling 270 yards, leading the Lions to a 25-15 win. The O-Line looked strong again and opened up space for Taquan Mizzell to rush for 81 yards off 12 carries, and Dominique Rhymes caught eight passes for 100 yards.
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.