Lionbackers.com

1993
The new B.C. Lions, under the guidance of Head Coach Dave Ritchie and General Manager Eric Tillman signed a number of proven CFL veterans including James “Wild” West, Danny McManus, Rob Smith, Less Browne, Tyrone Jones and Sean Foudy. Then exciting rookies such as Cory Philpot, draft pick Tom Europe, Derek Grier and a few others were added to the roster. A contract dispute with Jon Volpe kept him from training camp but by the time the second game rolled around against Toronto he was in the lineup. The team struck quickly with wins over Saskatchewan and Toronto before grinding to a stop in Winnipeg after only three days between road games. However, they would only lose two more through July, August, and midway through September cruising to an 8-3 record for the best start since 1987. Danny Barrett broke one of the most prestigious of all records – single-game passing yards – tossing 30 completions for 601 yards eclipsing a mark of 586 set back in 1954 by Sam “The Rifle” Etcheverry. The team entered the September 18 game in Calgary in a battle for first place. However, that night at McMahon Stadium Doug Flutie and the Stamps took a 24-11 halftime lead to go on to a 40-21 victory. That marked the turning point and the Lions would win only two of the next seven games, sliding to a 64-27 pounding against Sacramento in the regular season finale. Nevertheless, they made the playoffs and faced Calgary in the Western Semi-Final on November 14. Despite outplaying the Stampeders, generating twice as much offense, the team could not score a touchdown and fell 17-9 to the Stamps. However, the 10-8 record was a huge turnaround and gave promise for good things to come in 1994.

West Division Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Calgary Stampeders 18 15 3 0 646 418 30
Edmonton Eskimos 18 12 6 0 507 372 24
Saskatchewan Roughriders 18 11 7 0 511 495 22
British Columbia Lions 18 10 8 0 574 583 20
Sacramento Gold Miners 18 6 12 0 498 509 12

East Division Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 18 14 4 0 646 421 28
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 18 6 12 0 316 567 12
Ottawa Rough Riders 18 4 14 0 387 517 8
Toronto Argonauts 18 3 15 0 390 593 6

Semi-Finals - Saskatchewan 13 - Edmonton 51
Semi-Finals - B.C. 9 - Calgary 17
Semi-Finals - Ottawa 10 - Hamilton 21

Finals - Hamilton 19 - Winnipeg 20
Finals - Edmonton 29 - Calgary 15

Grey Cup - Edmonton 33 - Winnipeg 23

Ottawa 24 at BC 28


BC 25 at Ottawa 24


BC 21 at Calgary 40


BC 27 at Sacramento 64
A win could have given the Lions 3rd in the west and play Edmonton instead of Doug Flutie and Calgary for the WDSF, but the Lions were totally demolished in the regular season finale. Given the fact that the Eskimos won the Grey Cup that year, perhaps it wouldn't have mattered too much either way.


WDSF: BC 9 at Calgary 17
The Lions did make a great effort in their WDSF loss in Calgary in which they produced much more offence statistics but could only produce 9 points on the field on one of the very rare seasons in which the first-place team in the west did not get a bye in the first round, unlike the first place team in the east.


WDF: Edmonton 29 at Calgary 15
There's been lots of criticisms on Damon Allen and very few criticisms on Doug Flutie, and I'm including this 1993 WDF as a rebuttal as in this game, Damon Allen was clearly the stronger player while playing in extreme cold, icy, and snowy conditions. Notwithstanding the punt return for a TD shown in the clip, Doug Flutie and his offence could only put up 8 points and was clearly weak on the second half and eventually had to give way to his backup Steve Taylor while Flutie stood by the fire, while Damon Allen played well throughout the entire game with four touchdown passes. Too bad the clip doesn't show it, but I think in that game Jim Sandusky made his best catch ever in his career when he caught a pass a midfield and carefully maneuvered around the Calgary defenders on the icy field to score a TD.

Robbie wrote:
WDF: Edmonton 29 at Calgary 15
There's been lots of criticisms on Damon Allen and very few criticisms on Doug Flutie, and I'm including this 1993 WDF as a rebuttal as in this game, Damon Allen was clearly the stronger player while playing in extreme cold, icy, and snowy conditions. Notwithstanding the punt return for a TD shown in the clip, Doug Flutie and his offence could only put up 8 points and was clearly weak on the second half and eventually had to give way to his backup Steve Taylor while Flutie stood by the fire, while Damon Allen played well throughout the entire game with four touchdown passes. Too bad the clip doesn't show it, but I think in that game Jim Sandusky made his best catch ever in his career when he caught a pass a midfield and carefully maneuvered around the Calgary defenders on the icy field to score a TD.

A non-Lions video but I'm posting this because this is one of the most memorable non-Lions CFL games that I watched. Defending their Grey Cup in 1993, Doug Flutie and the Stampeders posted a 15-3 record but barely managed to win over the WDSF against the Lions. But in the WDF at home, it looks like mother nature got the best of Doug Flutie as eventually he had to give way to his backup Steve Taylor, while Damon Allen was definitely the stronger QB and his Eskimos certainly deserved the win. Here is the game in its entirety.