When Chuck McMann is your special teams coach, anything is possible and no lead is safe.
Tsumura: Lions focus hard on special teams
Critical game: After last week’s last-second loss to Winnipeg, Leos plan on being sharper against Esks
By Howard Tsumura, The Province October 13, 2015 8:30 PM
The B.C. Lions’ special-teams unit is making the time this week for focused sessions even before coach Jeff Tedford gathers the entire roster and takes daily rollcall.
And that shouldn’t be surprising coming off Saturday’s home loss to Winnipeg in which they were bitten by blocks and fooled by fakes en route to a last-second 29-26 loss.
“We’re meeting a little bit extra as players, so that we can go over our stuff to raise any questions anyone might have before we actually get into the meetings,” said Lions special-teams captain Jason Arakgi on Tuesday, as a desperate 5-9 team began preparations for Saturday’s crucial road test versus Edmonton.
“The one thing we’re not going to do is assume,” continued Arakgi, now in his eighth season with the club. “That has been an Achilles heel for us, assuming that everyone knows their responsibility and their job. We’re going to make sure that assumption is gone.”
And just in case you assumedspecial teams were the poor cousin of offence and defence within football’s three-phase world, you got a stark reminder last Saturday that you need the entire triumvirate to triumph.
How, you might wonder, is it possible to lose a game you’re leading 23-9 at the half, one in which B.C. quarterback Jonathon Jennings completed 16 straight passes for three touchdowns, and one in which the defence didn’t allow a TD until 1:54 left in the game?
In this case, special teams.
There was a laundry list of gaffes, but here’s the ones that hurt the most:
— In the first quarter, a fumbled punt return on the Lions’ first touch of the game led to a 13-yard Blue Bombers field goal.
— In the second quarter, unsuccessful PATs following B.C.’s first two touchdowns, the first missed, the second blocked.
— In the third quarter, Winnipeg’s Teague Sherman blocked a B.C. punt that Ian Wild returned 20 yards for a TD. Later in the quarter, a Bombers’ fake punt on third down sustained a drive that ended with a 36-yard field goal.
— In the fourth quarter, on third-and-10, Winnipeg faked a punt with a direct snap to Jesse Briggs for an 11-yard gain that set up the 16-yard TD pass to Clarence Denmark that tied the game 26-26.
That’s 22 points coming either directly or indirectly from B.C.special-teams errors. A handful of critical and very debatable penalties at timely junctures of the second half further hindered the Lions’ cause.
B.C. coach Jeff Tedford could offer the only reasonable response to the breakdowns:
“Work ’em,” said Tedford. “Make sure we’re all on the same page and that we understand situations. That starts with alignments. We were in a bad alignment with one of the fakes. You can’t ever go to sleep on special teams. (We’ve) talked to the team more about the sense of urgency and attention to detail that we need.”
Offence and defence, by the nature of the game, aren’t under the same snap-to-snap microscope. They have an opportunity to build a rhythm. Special teams must perform on every snap.
“And that is the hardest part about it,” said Arakgi. “On special teams you can do 99 things right, and on that 100th time, if you make a mistake, it’s a huge chunk of yardage. For most of the game you can be on point, but a critical mistake at a critical time will really hurt the team. Absolutely, it can feel amplified.
“So our idea of momentum is that we have to look at a broader picture,” he continued, “that it’s a game of field position.”
So now, B.C.’s special teams get to work with the aim of setting the table Saturday in Edmonton. As last week’s loss shows, the results can be either feast or famine.
Jennings to get start against Esks
Veteran quarterback Travis Lulay was on the field Tuesday along with rookie starter Jonathon Jennings as the Lions practised in Surrey in advance of Saturday’s 4 p.m. clash in Edmonton (TSN, TSN 1040).
B.C. coach Jeff Tedford opened his post-practice media session by being asked who his starting QB would be.
“There won’t be any change,” Tedford said.
When asked if keeping Jennings as his starter was based on his fine play over three starts versus the improving health of Lulay, he added: “Well, still a little of both. Travis is probably 90 per cent, but Jonathon is playing as good as any quarterback in the league right now. He’s had some big games and he’s doing a good job. We’ll stick with it because of those reasons.”
News to the den
B.C. has added former NFL draft pick Michael Buchanan to its practice roster. The six-foot-six, 255-pound defensive lineman was a seventh-round pick in 2013 of the New England Patriots, where he played in 18 games over two seasons. In camp with Buffalo this past summer, he was released by the Bills at the end of August.
