BCLions.com Staff
The BC Lions (0-0) travel east to the Ottawa to take on the revamped and re-built REDBLACKS (1-0) in the Leos’ first regular season game of the 2015 campaign. Former Lion Ernest Jackson, who led the REDBLACKS last week with seven receptions for 74 yards and one touchdown, will be eager to show his old team that he’s not down and out.
BC Lions fans can catch all the action starting with the TSN 1040 Radio pregame show starting at 1:00pm and game coverage beginning at 3pm on TSN RADIO, TSN, TSN-HD, and ESPN3 in the U.S.
As is often the case in the CFL, the Lions fortunes rest primarily on the shoulders of its starting quarterback and for Travis Lulay, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s fitting that Lulay will return to Ottawa to lead the Lions after making his 2014 debut there last season only to be re-injured in a freak fourth-quarter scramble for the football. Both the seven-year pivot and the veteran core around him are looking to make a statement coming out of the gate that the 2015 version of their club is not remotely similar to the one that finished the 2014 season so disappointingly.
Lulay, who is now under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator George Cortez, will have a full complement of weapons at his disposal as Lions prepare to rollout their version of an up-tempo offence Saturday night. Despite what seemed like an overhaul in training camp, the Lions have just four new starters on offence and five new faces in total.
Andrew Harris, who is coming off of a shortened season last year due to injury, is looking more and more confident on the field heading into the season opener. After a productive training camp with numerous reps and a preseason game under his belt, Harris is primed for the season to begin.
“Preseason, you want to go hard but you kinda take a little bit off. So it was good to get in those first hits, those live bullets […]. But now, it’s for real. It’s nice to have this first week bye to basically polish a bit more, we have a whole new playbook, a whole new offensive coaching staff, so it’s a well needed week,” says Harris. “Whenever you have a comeback from an injury, you’re always hesitant. It’s just about trusting your body, trusting the skill set you had before and doing the things you used to do.”
Among the receiving corps, keep an eye out for veteran Manny Arceneaux who led the team in receptions and recorded a touchdown last game, as well as newcomers Austin Collie and Cam Morrah who have transitioned well into the CFL game. Both players have great hands and a quickness which makes catching and running effective routes look easy. Going against a team that injured two opposing quarterbacks, the o-line will need to step up on pass protection, putting the pressure on first year Lions Jason Foster and Tommie Draheim to showcase why they deserve their starting spots.
On defence, coordinator Mark Washington has a wealth of riches on his side of the ball anchored by the linebacker duo of Solomon Elimimian and Adam Bighill. He does have two new faces along the line in Michael Brooks and Craig Roh and a new role for Jabar Westerman on the edge, but a defence that kept opponents out of the end zone on six separate occasions last year will try to keep quarterback Henry Burris and a veteran group of Ottawa receivers under wraps Saturday night.
In the secondary, keep an eye out for the fearsome foursome of Phillips, Yell, Lee, and Parks as they go head to head against new receivers Williams, Jackson, Sinopoli, and Ellingson who joined the REDBLACKS during free agency.
On special teams, it will be the first time in almost 10 seasons that someone other than Paul McCallum is attempting field goals on a regular basis for the Leos. Richie Leone, who joined the Lions late in 2014 and re-signed with the club just prior to training camp, won the job over fellow newcomer Anthony Fera. He will look after all three kicking duties in Ottawa.
Among those new to the Lions’ den is receiver Austin Collie who brings a wealth of NFL experience to the club as well as an attractive passport to the ever-challenging ratio. Collie’s first-year teammates on offence include fellow receiver Cam Morrah who also saw time in the NFL, left tackle Tommie Draheim, centre Jason Foster and back-up quarterback Jonathon Jennings.
As noted, two of those starters are on the offensive line, so the ability of both Draheim and Foster to continue their rapid adaptation to the Canadian game in the face of an Ottawa defense that sidelined two Montreal quarterbacks last week, will be a critical part of the Lions’ success on Saturday night.
The Lions have plenty of bad memories from 2014 that a key win in Ottawa would go a long way to exorcise, but the REDBLACKS are a far different beast than their expansion debut last year which means Jeff Tedford’s first game as Lions head coach will be memorable indeed.
To catch the game, tune in to TSN, TSN-HD, TSN 1040 Radio and ESPN3 on Saturday, July 4th, at 3:00 PM PT