Argos vs. Lions

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TheLionKing
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Last game of a very disappointing season. Started off well but the wheels have fallen off. First time in 21 years Lions have not made the post season. Will the current coaching staff return for next season ??
Blitz
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Yes, it has been a very, very disappointing season TheLionKing. Missing the playoffs for the first time in 21 years is obviously disappointing but missing the playoffs with the players we have on this 2017 roster is still shocking.

I've been a die hard Leo fan for decades. This has been the most disappointing regular season that I have ever experienced. The 1965 Leos season would rank as the 2nd most disappointing regular season for me but that was an aging team.

Our Leos, last game beat the Bombers with a different style of offence eg: flooding zones, lots of motion, lots of sceens, moving receivers around, sending Rainey deep, gambling on third and 2 etc. that we didn't do all season. It was good to see but begged the question "Why now?" and not earlier in the season.

Will our coaching staff be back next season. I am guessing that Wally and Company will be back but I hope they are not.

The Argos have more wins that our Leos this season and Marc Trestmann took over a team that was in complete disarray and lacking talent in many areas. Wally went into this season with a young, very talented team that has the 2nd best record in the CFL in 2016.

Most of our players were returning, we really only needed to fill a couple of spots (rush end, outside linebacker) and we were expected to be the team to potentially knock off Calgary in the West Final and go on to win the Grey Cup.

Last game, we won with 3 new starters on the offensive line (Faucault, Vaillencourt, and Milton) and Chris Williams not dressed. But with changes to our offensive scheme, we shone. Coaching has been our biggest problem this season. We just haven't given our players the tools to really showcase their talents.

For almost two seasons now I've posted that we need to send Rainey deep and get him into space, run more screen passes etc. It wasn't rocket science but somehow our coaching staff just doesn't 'get it' when it should be obvious that they do.

The best example was after the game, Wally said, with Rainey lined up full time at tailback, it wasn't predictable, as it is when he comes into the game as a rotational tailback.

Huh? Why do we bring Rainey into the game as a rotational tailback for a play or two and almost always throw to him or hand the football off to him for those plays. Why not put him in the game for a series of downs, when he is the rotational tailback so its not predictable?

Going into this game the Argos rank 3rd in CFL defense, in terms of points allowed. The Argos improvement this season, under Trestmann, has not just taken place on offence. Both teams are similar in terms of offence with the Argos averaging 406 yds. per game while our Leos average 405 yds. of offence per game.

The Argos have come a long way this season while our Leos have slid badly from 2016. These are two teams going in different directions. Yet our Leos have the talent to have a very good 2018 season, as they did this year.

The Argos have a good receiving crew in go to receiver S.J. Green but Amanti Edwards, DeVier Posey, James Wilder and Anthony Coombs provide good secondary targets for Ricky Ray.

Our Leos offensive line always seems to play better with Vaillencourt in the lineup and Moore brings more to our receiving crew than Chris Williams.

Davis had an excellent game as a rotational linebacker last game. It will be interesting to see who we put into our lineup for this last regular season game.

Wally says "You know what" the Argos are a very physical team and aggressive. You know, you know what, I agree but this is a game we can win but we will need another good game plan offensively, something we haven't had very often this season in order to move the football against a very good Argos defense.

It will be strange to watch CFL playoff action this year without seeing our Leos play in at least one playoff game.
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DanoT
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Because the Lions are out of the playoffs, Wally gets less conservative, Jennings and Rainy have outstanding games. :dizzy:

It has often been said that if a coach starts listening to the fans, he will soon be sitting with them. However the Lions coaching staff should have listened to several Lionbackers posters but because they didn't, once the playoffs start, the coaches will be sitting with the fans. :bang:
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Hambone
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The strange irony of it all is if they beat the Argos they finish 8-10.........same record as they had in 2000. In 2000 they took 8-10 to a GC win. This year it doesn't even get them into the playoffs and a state of emergency has been declared. :wink:
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B.C.FAN
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Hambone wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 7:45 am
The strange irony of it all is if they beat the Argos they finish 8-10.........same record as they had in 2000. In 2000 they took 8-10 to a GC win. This year it doesn't even get them into the playoffs and a state of emergency has been declared. :wink:
Yes, and a B.C. victory would give the Lions the same 8-10 record as the playoff-bound Argos but it would still leave the Lions in fifth place for the first time in 42 years. This has been a season of missed opportunities and blown leads. The Lions have lost 7 games by 7 points or less, and have blown leads in several of those games. I had predicted the Lions would win the Grey Cup this year. As Blitz said, this has been the most disappointing Lions season since 1965.

I expect the Lions to come out strong as they did last week. The Argos are just 2-7 against West Division teams this year, and 0-4 on the road in those games. The Lions beat them 28-15 in Week 2 in Toronto. It should be a good, hard-hitting game. The Argos are playing for first place. The Lions are playing for pride.

The Lions look to be fielding their best roster. Mic'heal Brooks returns to the starting lineup at defensive tackle, after Luther Maddy played last week. Jeremiah Johnson is back at running back. Kendall James gets his second straight start at field corner after a strong debut last week.

Here's a link to the Lions' depth chart and roster.
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cjones2451
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Guess the big question is who has the bigger crowd head to head - Canucks or Lions
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Hambone
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:11 am
As Blitz said, this has been the most disappointing Lions season since 1965.
I hadn't really thought of it in that manner but totally understand where Blitz is coming from. There have been many Lion squads over those 52 years who couldn't carry this club's collective jock straps but the expectations were much different. For many of those teams expectations were so low squeaking into 3rd place and the playoffs would've been considered wildly successful. That was definitely not the case in '65 or '17. The '65 Lions were expected to compete for a 3rd straight GC appearance if not win a 2nd consecutive championship. To go from 11-2-3 and a championship to 6-9-1 and out of the playoffs epitomizes disappointment. I don't know if I thought BC would go to the Grey Cup this year but certainly thought they could close the gap on Calgary largely on expectations Jennings would take his game to the next level by cutting down on his mistakes and turnovers.

I was just looking at the records of past seasons. In looking at other stretches I noted a big similarity between the 2017 Lions and 1992 version. Coming out of the Matthews era the Lions started a steady trend downwards, had a 1 year spike back up, only to do a faceplant. The faceplant then came off the Flutie exit but nonetheless is by far the single biggest plummet one season to the next in Lion history going from 22 points to 6. If there is a common theme in the 2 stretches it's stability at QB for the first 3 or 4 years then instability that seemed to be corrected in the 2nd last year to be followed immediately by instability.

1986 12-6-0.....2011 11-7-0
1987 12-6-0.....2012 13-5-0
1988 10-8-0.....2013 11-7-0
1989 7-11-0.....2014 9-9-0
1990 6-10-1.....2015 7-11-0
1991 11-7-0.....2016 12-6-0
1992 3-15-0.....2017 7-11-0 or 8-10-0
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javiermq78
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Hambone wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 7:45 am
The strange irony of it all is if they beat the Argos they finish 8-10.........same record as they had in 2000. In 2000 they took 8-10 to a GC win. This year it doesn't even get them into the playoffs and a state of emergency has been declared. :wink:
Exactly and during this playoff streak they have been 8-10 five times and 7-11 once. This is what happens when the majority of the teams make the post-season. Luck plays a big role for some teams, whether we want to admit it or not.
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WestCoastJoe
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:11 am
Here's a link to the Lions' depth chart and roster.
I expect us to play hard, with pride. No guarantees of course. With the failings of our season, a letdown is always possible.

Luther Maddy is out. Not sure who made the decision to bring him in. Not sure who made the decision to play him.

Same with Andrew Hudson, Josh Shirley and DeQuin Evans. All found wanting to varying degrees.

Did these guys fit the blueprint of Mark Washington or Wally or the personnel staff? I have to think the decisions were primarily driven by Mark W.

IMO the blueprint we have used for our International D Line has been flawed from the outset this year. We failed to find an effective rush end. Bazzie joined us late. IMO we failed to find a DT who can collapse the pocket. And yet, we see examples of strong DEs and DTs throughout the league.

As noted a few times, IMO, Job 1 on defence is pressuring the QB. Job 1 on offence is protecting the QB. The CFL is a quarterback-driven league. Protect your QB. Attack the opposing QB. I think we failed in those two areas, and it cost us big time.

O Line? Yes, another big failing.

On with the game. It will be interesting, as always.

Just IMO.

Lion Pride. :thup:

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Robbie
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:11 am
Hambone wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 7:45 am
The strange irony of it all is if they beat the Argos they finish 8-10.........same record as they had in 2000. In 2000 they took 8-10 to a GC win. This year it doesn't even get them into the playoffs and a state of emergency has been declared. :wink:
Yes, and a B.C. victory would give the Lions the same 8-10 record as the playoff-bound Argos but it would still leave the Lions in fifth place for the first time in 42 years. This has been a season of missed opportunities and blown leads. The Lions have lost 7 games by 7 points or less, and have blown leads in several of those games. I had predicted the Lions would win the Grey Cup this year. As Blitz said, this has been the most disappointing Lions season since 1965.
Albeit, the 2000 BC Lions had a record of 8-10-0-1 = 17 points as at that time, the CFL adopted a format similar to the now-NHL by giving 1 point for overtime losses. And at that time there were only 8 teams in the league, and there was a cellar dweller at that time in the form of the Roughriders, and the 4th place team from the east was close to taking the crossover if they got 3 more points.

This also reminds in the 1970's and certain 1980's seasons in which the teams from the west had much better records than those in the east.
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
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B.C.FAN
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:11 pm
Luther Maddy is out. Not sure who made the decision to bring him in. Not sure who made the decision to play him.

Same with Andrew Hudson, Josh Shirley and DeQuin Evans. All found wanting to varying degrees.

Did these guys fit the blueprint of Mark Washington or Wally or the personnel staff? I have to think the decisions were primarily driven by Mark W.

IMO the blueprint we have used for our International D Line has been flawed from the outset this year. We failed to find an effective rush end. Bazzie joined us late. IMO we failed to find a DT who can collapse the pocket. And yet, we see examples of strong DEs and DTs throughout the league.

As noted a few times, IMO, Job 1 on defence is pressuring the QB. Job 1 on offence is protecting the QB. The CFL is a quarterback-driven league. Protect your QB. Attack the opposing QB. I think we failed in those two areas, and it cost us big time.
I agree in general about the failure of the defensive line but I wouldn't lump DeQuin Evans with the other internationals in that position group. Evans won the rush end position in training camp before being sidelined by back issues. Despite being healthy for only 3 games and playing in 5 games altogether, Evans still ranks third on the team in QB pressures with 9. Only Craig Roh (14) and Chandler Fenner (10) have more. Bazzie has put up decent numbers (3 sacks, 7 pressures) in 5 games since rejoining the team. Evans' best game, with a sack, 5 pressures and a forced fumble, came on June 30 against the Argos. It would be nice if Bazzie or someone else could match those numbers this week.
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WestCoastJoe
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:14 pm
WestCoastJoe wrote:
Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:11 pm
Luther Maddy is out. Not sure who made the decision to bring him in. Not sure who made the decision to play him.

Same with Andrew Hudson, Josh Shirley and DeQuin Evans. All found wanting to varying degrees.

Did these guys fit the blueprint of Mark Washington or Wally or the personnel staff? I have to think the decisions were primarily driven by Mark W.

IMO the blueprint we have used for our International D Line has been flawed from the outset this year. We failed to find an effective rush end. Bazzie joined us late. IMO we failed to find a DT who can collapse the pocket. And yet, we see examples of strong DEs and DTs throughout the league.

As noted a few times, IMO, Job 1 on defence is pressuring the QB. Job 1 on offence is protecting the QB. The CFL is a quarterback-driven league. Protect your QB. Attack the opposing QB. I think we failed in those two areas, and it cost us big time.
I agree in general about the failure of the defensive line but I wouldn't lump DeQuin Evans with the other internationals in that position group. Evans won the rush end position in training camp before being sidelined by back issues. Despite being healthy for only 3 games and playing in 5 games altogether, Evans still ranks third on the team in QB pressures with 9. Only Craig Roh (14) and Chandler Fenner (10) have more. Bazzie has put up decent numbers (3 sacks, 7 pressures) in 5 games since rejoining the team. Evans' best game, with a sack, 5 pressures and a forced fumble, came on June 30 against the Argos. It would be nice if Bazzie or someone else could match those numbers this week.

Evans is 30.

Suspended twice with the Bengals.

Injured in Montreal.

Got some talent? Enough for some look sees. He had 7 starts with Calgary on the way to the Grey Cup. Perhaps that caught our eye.

He is not quite what we should be looking for methinks.

My key point was about the overall blueprint for the Int DL personnel being flawed.

Just IMO ...
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

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Lions have no shot to win vs a Argo team going for 1st place in the East...
Argos 27 Lions 18 Final
Blitz
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Expectations are a key factor in whether one is disappointed in a season or not.

Certainly expectations were high in Leo Land going into 1965, after two straight Grey Cup appearances and winning the Cup in '64. Joe Kapp led the CFL in passing again, in 1965, as he had the previous season but Willie Fleming and many other Leo stars were getting older and their play slid in '65.

Expectations were certainly high for our Leos going into this 2017 season. We finished the 2016 season as the CFL's second best team, with an 11-7 record and we were still a young team with loads of talent.

What is also disappointing is the Calgary Stampeders have slid some this season and our Leos had an opportunity to overtake them.

Why our Leos will finish this season in last place in the West and out of the playoffs is a complex question with all kinds of variables from individual play to personnel to coaching.

But if I was to narrow it down to three major factors it come down to 1) the play of our offensive and defensive lines and 2) coaching

Going into this season, our offensive line looked like it would be a strength, as it was in 2016. In 2016, we led the CFL in rushing and we protected Jonathan Jennings well enough to give up the 3rd least quarterback sacks in the CFL.

Offensively, we had Nick Moore returning from injury to compliment Bryan Burnham and Manny in the receiving corps. We didn't sign Sinkfield again but we had a lot of speedsters also coming into training camp to compete for that third International receiving position. We had Jeremiah Johnson and Chris Rainey returning to give our offence a one-two punch at tailback.

Wally's decision to sign free agent Chris Williams led to the trade of Jovan Olifioye for Faucault and our offensive line play has been a major problem all season. Trading Olifioye was a major mistake. It begins in the trenches on offence.

We began this season with Steward at left tackle and Faucault at left guard. Faucault was given the nod over James Vaillencourt, who was switched to left guard, going into training camp, even though he had been a right guard throughout his playing career.

Faucault struggled at guard. On the right side Johnson began the season at right tackle, struggled and was replaced by Kevin Palmer, who mightily struggled, and going into this last game of the season with Milton again at right tackle, we’re now on our third International tackle at that position.

But still, even without Olifioye, our offensive line play should not have been this bad in 2017. We still had four of our five offensive staring offensive lineman back this season from 2016 in Husband, Steward, Fabian, and Johnson.

I often wonder about the thinking of the Mad Professor and his offensive line coaching. This was the offensive line coach who believed Levy Adcock was our answer at right tackle for 2016 and who benched Hunter Steward for Tim O’Neil for a stretch of games. This is the offensive line coach whose offensive line gave up the most sacks in the CFL during his first long tenure with our Leos before his return last season.

Travis Lulay and Jonathan Jennings have the highest interception ratio in the CFL this season. Our Leos have turned the football over more times in 2017 than any team in the league. A sack on first down puts an offence in a very difficult position. A sack on second down ends a drive. Sacks also hurt field position. Quarterback pressures lead to incompletions and interceptions.

B.C. Fan, over numerous seasons, has correctly pointed out how important turnovers can be to the outcome of a game.

We may even finish this season with more passing yards than in 2016 but our offence has also been impacted this season due to the slide in our running game. We are presently 6th in CFL rushing whereas last season we led the CFL in rushing.

Offence was not supposed to be a concern for our Leos in 2017. Before this season began, one of the biggest questions going into the 2017 season was “How were teams going to be able to stop our high-powered offence.

The biggest question facing our Leos team this off-season was oru defense (in terms of replacing Alex Bazzie and Adam Bighill. But our defense, still looked solid, with Brooks, Roh Roh, Bryant Turner, Menard, Sol. E. and Purifoy returning to our defensive line and linebacking crew that had led the CFL in sacks in 2016. In fact, there were many who believed that Bazzie was an undersized defensive end who wore ouy in the last third of of the 2016 season.

In the defensive secondary, going into 2017, there was an expectation that we would be better. We had lost both T.J. Lee for most of the season and Ronnie Yell towards the end of the season to injury in 2016. We had decided to say good bye to the wide side of our secondary, with Stewart and Phillips having their struggles and to also jettison safety Mike Edem, another National in a long string of them since Barrin Miles retired, who had failed to reach expectation. Instead we planned to play an International at safety for 2017 and go with a National at field corner.

Our defense has also been a huge disappointment this season. Our defense has given up too many big plays and has folded too often, when it most counted most, towards the end of games.

Our defense slid from being the 3rd best defense, in terms of giving up points in 2016 to 5th this season. Our defense badly slid from leading the CFL in quarterback sacks in 2016 to 7th, going into this game against the Argos.

Making matters even worse for 2017, our punt return game, which was such a dangerous weapon in 2016 as the CFL’s best and most dangerous return unit with Chris Rainey became a whimper in 2017, with the worst average return in the CFL. When it rains, it pours.

So, while we can look at every Leos unit, from receiving to quarterback to our defensive secondary play and to our special teams play, to me, there is no question, as cromartie pointed out in a recent post, that our offensive and defensive line play, along with our punt return blocking have been major stumbling blocks for this 2017 season.

Coaching and personnel decisions have also been major factors for this disastrous season.

However, there was no need for the malaise to happen. Signing Chris Williams and then trading Olifioye was not the only major off-season mistake. Our off-season free agent signings did not make us better. The reasons are various but Chris Williams, Swazie Waters, Tony Burnett, DeQuin Evans, Dylan Ainsworth, Matt Bucknor, and Buddy Jackson had little or no positive impact.

IMO, we also made some dubious decisions with the personnel we had, during the season. On the offensive line, Faucault was not ready to be a starter to begin the season. Moving Vaillencourt to left guard, when he had been a right side offensive lineman all his career did not make sense, when Fabian had a season at left guard under his belt in 2015. We should have left Steward at left tackle, moved Fabian to left guard, and played Vaillencourt at right guard.

Antonio Johnson got off to a poor start but he should have been left at right tackle, where he was last season. Faucault should have backed up Steward at left tackle and Fabian at left guard. All we would have needed was depth at the right guard position and we had that with Jas Dhillon and also could have had that with Bladek.

The left side of our offensive line looked outstanding when we had both Steward and Vaillencourt playing beside each other for a brief time and Vaillencourt had an outstanding game against the Bombers but Fabian will be back as the starter against the Argos. Dorazio makes me crazy.

Coaching also impacted our offence.

Khari Jones made few adjustments to our scheme to take into account our dismal pass blocking nor did he integrate Chris Williams effectively into the lineup. Jeremiah Johnson had no idea whether he would be a major run game weapon or mostly ignored, from one game to game to the next and both our predictability in how we utilized Chris Rainey on offence and our inability to get him the ball with space meant we badly underutilized or negated a very dangerous weapon.

Predictability in our passing game, with a stationary pocket, quick pressure, and easy to read pass patterns meant our receivers were often well covered, requiring a high degree of execution for completions or leading to incompletions, coverage sacks, or interceptions. A lack of a check down receiver on many pass plays, with all our receivers 20 yards or more downfield added to the misery.

You only have to look at the offensive scheme changes we made last game and see the difference it made to realize how much coaching had on our offence this season. Give our offensive players something different and sensible and the result is significant.

On defense, the lack of an effective pass rush was made even worse by confusion on assignments in zone on the wide side of the field as well as a defensive scheme that leaves the flat wide open too often.

We played Tony Burnett at outside linebacker for way too long when Awe and Davis were ready to step in. In fact, we had Awe, our best linebacking prospect at training camp, backing up Sol E. for far to long rather than giving him a shot at outside linebacker.

Another problem on defense is that our coaching staff seemed to be pulling straws from training camp. Instead of going into the season with a plan, we seemed to get Dan Dorazio desease with our defensive secondary and it became an experiment. We planned to go with Parker and Bucknor at field side corner and with either Clarke or McDonald at safety.

But it took us way too long to settle on a defensive secondary lineup and then it needs time to gel. While Yell and Lee were left alone, we moved Purifoy from nickel back to safety to corner to wide side halfback. We moved Gaitor from wide side halfback to corner to releasing him. We moved Thompson from corner to safety.

We never attempted to address our lack of a pass rush for most of the season by timely blitzing or mixing our coverages. We were a predictable passive zone type defense with a weak pass rush and with scheme vulnerabilities that were taken advantage of as opposing teams pre-scouted us.

A defensive secondary, in a zone scheme need to play together to be effective, no differently than an offensive line. Our Leos also had few injuries this season to cope with, unlike most other CFL teams. Our juggling have been due to coaching decisions, for the most part, rather than due to injuries.

I won’t even bother to discuss special teams other than to say that our poor blocking, poor coverage, and numerous q teams lack of preparation and mistakes have ben inexcusable.

Predictable schemes, poor game planning, questionable play calling, and unwise personnel decisions were a major factor in this season’s demise. No matter how many times Wally blames the players with “You know, you know, you know what…it was our players lack of execution, lack of urgency, lack of not being angry enough, creating a fund for players’ wives to attend the Grey Cup, etc. etc." the spotlight has to be moved to our inadequate coaching this season.

What does this all mean for the Argos game and 2018. Well, going into this 2017 season, posters as WCJ and Cromartie believed that we needed to focus on the trenches and that didn’t happen. It needs to happen for 2018. My biggest worry going into 2017 was that our coaching needed to take a step up from 2017. Instead, our coaching dropped many steps down. Whether Buono is back with his cabal of loyal assistants or not, it has to improve and significantly.

But most of the talent we need for a successful 2018 is already here. With Bazzie’s return, our priorities need to be a penetrating stud at defensive tackle and a wide side corner. There is a good chance that Brett Boyko will be playing on our offensive line in 2018 but we really need to address the right tackle position. Fenner, Awe and Davis will provide us with an excellent linebacking crew. Our skill positions still look very good for 2018.

With a little tweaking, this Leos team has the talent to win the 2018 Grey Cup. But there has to be a different way of leading this talent and giving it the type of tools it needs to be successful.

My heart breaks at what could have been and should have been this season. But hope is eternal.

Here is to hoping our Leos win tonite and that the Football Gods will find a way to intervene and things will become more positive for all of us Lionbackers during this off-season.
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The Argos are showing a lot of respect for the Lions.
“You look at their last game (a 36-27win over Winnipeg), they had 78 plays on offence compared to 47 for Winnipeg,” Argos coach Marc Trestman said. “We know its not easy going out west. We’re going to be playing at what would be 10 o’clock on a Saturday evening back east. We have to get ready for that, and we’re playing a team that is not defined by their position in the standings.”
Argos offensive lineman Sean McEwen also noted the B.C. defence shut down an impressive Wininipeg offence.

“They’re playing championship level on defence,” McEwen said, in part referring to linebacker Soloman Elimimian, who is the Lions’ nominee for the league’s outstanding player award. “You can see it on the game films. They went into Winnipeg and shut a good offence down. We all have a big challenge ahead of us.”
Argos know there’s more to Lions than their record

There are a lot of similarities between the Argos and the Lions, including their records, which would both be 8-10 if the Lions win. Both teams have been plagued by inconsistencies, penalties and turnovers. They are ranked close together in most statistical categories. For example:
  • The Argo offence rank second in net yardage. The Lions rank third. But in offensive points scored, the Lions rank sixth and the Argos seventh.
  • The Lions' minus-15 turnover ratio ranks eighth. The Argos' minus-7 ratio ranks sixth.
  • Both teams are 2-7 when they lose the turnover battle.
  • The B.C. offence has given up a league-worst 180 sacks and pressures. The Argos have given up a third-worst total of 163.
The main difference is that the Argos have found ways to win close games. The Lions have found ways to lose. The Argos are 3-3 in games decided by 7 points or less. The Lions are 2-7.
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