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Harris, the Lions’ erstwhile feature back, appeared to have words with coaches, bolted across the field and changed into civvies faster than Superman in a phone booth before most reporters could reach him after the game.

Touchy, touchy for Lions' Stefan Logan, Andrew Harris

By Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun October 21, 2013 2:07 PM

REGINA -- The touches between Stefan Logan and Andrew Harris were a touchy subject Saturday night, following the B.C. Lions’ 35-14 defeat to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Logan felt he didn’t do enough with his 23 turns with the football. Harris apparently was upset he wasn’t used enough. It was a tale of two unhappy tailbacks as the Lions began a complicated relationship with the two men responsible for carrying the football.

Harris, the Lions’ erstwhile feature back, appeared to have words with coaches, bolted across the field and changed into civvies faster than Superman in a phone booth before most reporters could reach him after the game.

Much has been weighing on his mind lately: Harris’s personally frustrating season after a breakout 2012 campaign, a missed charter flight to Regina which forced him to buy a ticket on a regular carrier; the MOP season of rival and arch nemesis Jon Cornish of the Calgary Stampeders; and the beneficial but difficult new partnership with Logan.

It’s all beginning to turn into a season of bad karma for Harris who, above all, hates to fail and hates to lose.

“I’m definitely a guy who hates losing,” Harris admitted last week. “I’ve always said I hate losing more than I like winning -- especially when you leave plays on the field. That’s been definitely frustrating for me. When we lose, I’m pissed off until we get to the next practice. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That’s just how I roll.”

He got to roll on eight occasions Saturday night against the Riders: four rushes for 29 yards (7.3-yard average), two receptions (28 yards) and a pair of kickoff returns for 36.

Logan, making his first start for the Lions after just three practices, had 218 all-purpose yards on 11 rushes, six punt returns and five kickoff runbacks. The former Detroit Lion, Pittsburgh Steeler and B.C. Lion (2008), hadn’t played a pro game since last December 27-- a span of almost 10 months. He took the roster spot of regular return specialist Tim Brown, who was scratched, and alternated with Harris in the backfield.

Despite getting up to speed with the CFL game in less than a week, “Joystick” (Logan’s nickname) got little joy from his performance.

“You’re always going to be your worst critic,” he explained. “My momma told me that when I was young. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, but that’s what makes a great football player. You’ve gotta critique your efforts. You’ve gotta critique yourself. As a whole, I thought we played well, in spots. But there’s a whole lot of corrections we’ve gotta make. I didn’t make a lot of mental errors. But the error that killed me was that fumble.”

Logan coughed it up in the first quarter -- one of eight turnovers in the game by the Lions -- on a play that led to a Saskatchewan field goal. The Riders scored 25 of their first 31 points as the result of B.C. giveaways.

“That’s something I don’t do. That’s something I can’t do,” Logan said. “The mistakes we made were bad. My coach in college always stressed, ‘Hold on to the ball, hold on to the ball, hold on to the ball. Hold on to it like it’s your baby.’ But I dropped the baby.”

Other than that, head coach Mike Benevides was amazed to see Logan hasn’t lost much of the escapability he exhibited with the Lions five years ago.

“He gave us everything he had,” Benevides said, “and he certainly added a dimension to the group. He did everything he could to try and help us.”

Rammer wrote:

KnowItAll wrote:

Rammer wrote:I have a gun metal gray uniform without any lettering, I may just place Chapdelaine on it and send it to you....now would his number 0...

I think a negative sign would be more appropriate

Not sure that I can get a hand gesture that fits that bill.

South Pender wrote:Great posts, James and Blitz. Failing to win the fist-fight at the LOS accounts for most of our problems this year. As for Lulay and Harris, I don't believe they've been thrown to the wolves at all. The coaches have tried to produce success for these guys with a woefully-inadequate O-line. No one questions the desire or commitment of these two players, but there's no question that Harris has taken his opinions--and body language--beyond the bounds of what is acceptable if TEAM really comes first. As I said earlier, I think Harris might be a good slot. In my opinion, he's not top-shelf feature-back material. Wally can do better with a big and/or exceedingly fast and shifty import at that position. As for Lulay, everything depends on his recovery, in my opinion, and whether this shoulder issue is one we can expect to arise each year through cumulative wear.

I think it's always easy in hindsight to blame the coaches and general manager for a team's shortcomings. But how was Wally to know that Reid wouldn't play this year and that Fabien would be injured. At first, the O-line looked adequate: Archibald, Norman, Reid, Fabien, and Olafioye. With the small CFL rosters, losing two O-line starters and forcing a guy who's essentially a rookie into probably the most-demanding O-line position, we were doomed in terms of having a powerful O-line. Can't see how this is either Wally's, Bene's, or Chapdelaine's fault. The Riders lost Kory Sheets for a while, and their offense suffered greatly. Is this the fault of Taman, Chamblin, or Cortez because they didn't have the foresight to have a quality replacement on their roster?

Wally has been the most successful HC in CFL history, and is, in my opinion, a good GM. It just doesn't make sense to me to start blaming him, Bene, and Chaps for a disappointing season. Injuries can turn a promising season into a disaster; we've seen this time and again, and it occurs with the much-larger rosters in the NFL too. How will the Bears look now that Jay Cutler is out for a minimum of four weeks (and likely longer). Do we blame Marc Trestman for this? How will the Rams look now that Sam Bradford is out for the season? Jeff Fisher's fault?

DanoT wrote:Great comment Blitz about pro football not being a democracy. While at the pre game meal at Operation Orange in Winnipeg and sitting at a table with Wally, he made the comment that "Football in a benevolent dictatorship".

I agree with most of what Harris has done or said this season, but I do not agree that he should have said these things. In a dictatorship, benevolent or not, most of these things can not be said. It took a trade, that he was not happy about, for Kalif Mitchell to realize this and by all accounts he has kept his mouth shut and just played football as an Argo.

On a similar note, early in his NFL career I thought Terrel Owens had the size, speed, strength, hands and conditioning to be even better than Jerry Rice but he was one of these guys that didn't know that he was living in a democracy, but working in a dictatorship. He thought that if something was factual or correct that he had the right to express it. He was wrong and it hurt his relationships with team mates and coaches and imo it hurt his career.

MexicoLionFan wrote:

South Pender wrote:Great posts, James and Blitz. Failing to win the fist-fight at the LOS accounts for most of our problems this year. As for Lulay and Harris, I don't believe they've been thrown to the wolves at all. The coaches have tried to produce success for these guys with a woefully-inadequate O-line. No one questions the desire or commitment of these two players, but there's no question that Harris has taken his opinions--and body language--beyond the bounds of what is acceptable if TEAM really comes first. As I said earlier, I think Harris might be a good slot. In my opinion, he's not top-shelf feature-back material. Wally can do better with a big and/or exceedingly fast and shifty import at that position. As for Lulay, everything depends on his recovery, in my opinion, and whether this shoulder issue is one we can expect to arise each year through cumulative wear.

I think it's always easy in hindsight to blame the coaches and general manager for a team's shortcomings. But how was Wally to know that Reid wouldn't play this year and that Fabien would be injured. At first, the O-line looked adequate: Archibald, Norman, Reid, Fabien, and Olafioye. With the small CFL rosters, losing two O-line starters and forcing a guy who's essentially a rookie into probably the most-demanding O-line position, we were doomed in terms of having a powerful O-line. Can't see how this is either Wally's, Bene's, or Chapdelaine's fault. The Riders lost Kory Sheets for a while, and their offense suffered greatly. Is this the fault of Taman, Chamblin, or Cortez because they didn't have the foresight to have a quality replacement on their roster?

Wally has been the most successful HC in CFL history, and is, in my opinion, a good GM. It just doesn't make sense to me to start blaming him, Bene, and Chaps for a disappointing season. Injuries can turn a promising season into a disaster; we've seen this time and again, and it occurs with the much-larger rosters in the NFL too. How will the Bears look now that Jay Cutler is out for a minimum of four weeks (and likely longer). Do we blame Marc Trestman for this? How will the Rams look now that Sam Bradford is out for the season? Jeff Fisher's fault?

Everyone is entitled to their view and these should be respected, so I will stop at this...enough to say that Wally SHOULD HAVE KNOWN all the things that you mentioned...most everyone on Lionsbackers WERE AWARE before the season started...this is why we are irate at this point...and I will remind you that in any job, you are as good as how well you did today...Wally's not doing so well today...

MexicoLionFan wrote:South Pender...you think Harris would be a good slot??? Not good enough to be a featured Tail back??? Maybe we should trade Harris away for a couple of picks huh??? WOW...last year, Harris had one of the GREATEST seasons that a CFL Tailback has EVER HAD in a 100 years of CFL history...yep, I'll bet Hamilton might take him on as slot...

How anyone can't see that our running and offensive woes belong solely to our OC and GM is beyond me...Harris is going to war each week commanded by Denis the Menace and has plastic soldiers and gum as weapons...

DanoT wrote:......On a similar note, early in his NFL career I thought Terrel Owens had the size, speed, strength, hands and conditioning to be even better than Jerry Rice but he was one of these guys that didn't know that he was living in a democracy, but working in a dictatorship. He thought that if something was factual or correct that he had the right to express it. He was wrong and it hurt his relationships with team mates and coaches and imo it hurt his career.

David wrote:If the Argos offered up Zac Collaros (and perhaps a 2nd or 3rd round pick), I would seriously consider this if I'm Wally. They're likely to lose him to Ottawa and we have no guarantee of keeping Harris beyond next year. If I was somewhat concerned about Travis's shoulder before, I sure as heck am now. Is DeMarco the future? Hard to say. He has shown flashes, but Collaros looks like he could be a star in this league, and Toronto will of course, be protecting Ricky.

jcalhoun wrote:Hey all,

Well, I know for certain that Harris won't be in a Lions' uniform next year. I bought his jersey this year. It's the kiss o' death, lemme tell you.

In 2007 I buy a Dave Dickenson jersey: he gets released in the offseason.
In 2008 I buy a Clermont jersey: he gets cut in the offseason.
In 2008 I also buy a Rob Murphy jersey: he defects to the Argos in the offseason.
In 2009 I buy a Pierce jersey: he gets cut in the offseason.
In 2012 I was given an Angus Reid jersey --in 2013 he doesn't start a single game for us.

I'm sorry, it's all my fault. But, if you lot want to buy me the official Chap jersey, I'll wear it until my particular brand of magic works.

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“I have to watch what I say now. I’m honestly at a loss for words,” Lions lineman Keron Williams said.

Think about it; the Lions were playing a team missing 10 starters.

As just about every one of his defensive teammates said quietly afterwards, producing that many chances should be good enough to win.

“We scored 38 points. We should have scored 68 points,” the Lions’ Marsh said.

Cougar Country wrote:...jcalhoun's description of the sideline body language of Harris and Lulay was really good.

It's not hard to read between the lines of a lot of what is said and not said by the players this year. Even veterans on D have come very close to speaking out, these quotes were after the 39-38 loss to Montreal when we scored 17 pts off 6 turnovers:

Cougar Country wrote:

“I have to watch what I say now. I’m honestly at a loss for words,” Lions lineman Keron Williams said.

(not hard to read between the lines)

Cougar Country wrote:Comparing Harris to TO (the greatest drama queen in the history of football) is ridiculous. Even bringing him up as an example is off base. Harris may have let his ego get the better of him at times this year, but his ego is not what ails this team...