The BC Lions dominated both sides of the ball in their win over Edmonton on Saturday. Here are 4 observations of the Lions following their dominant win.
The BC Lion’s Defense is Elite
Pre-snap the Lions were extremely poised. Every play the Lions were buzzing on defense. They closed in on the play so quickly that it felt almost like a power player. The Lions’ defenders were everywhere.
This frame captures the spirit of the game on defense for the BC Lions. This was on a 2nd and 7 around the 5:55 mark of the first quarter. Taylor Cornelius gets rid of the ball within 2.5 seconds of the snap under the pressure of Sione Teuhema. Cornelius doesn’t have time to step into his throw and throws a ball that’s so low that it’s uncatchable despite having an open receiver.
Another example of Edmonton being stifled by BC is a 1st and 10 late in the first quarter near the 3:40 mark, Taylor Cornelius was pressured quickly and threw the ball within 3 seconds of the snap to Dillon Mitchell. Mitchell appeared open briefly. Bo Lokombo quickly stepped in and got his hands in there breaking up the pass by punching the ball to the ground.
BC was winning the battle at the line of scrimmage often and the secondary was providing tough coverage. This cultivated a situation in which playing quarterback is extremely difficult in a game in which the Lions held Cornelius to just 98 passing yards.
Fans will likely remember it as a game that Cornelius played poorly in, but it really should be remembered as a game in which the BC Lions’ defense was exceptional. Edmonton’s quarterback play had much room for improvement against BC, however, BC deserves a lot of credit for playing a defensive game that would be very difficult for any quarterback to be successful against them in.
BC’s in good hands with Vernon Adams Jr.
BC Lions fans should feel very comfortable with Vernon Adams Jr. under center. He has thrown for over 300 yards in both games so far. He completed 25 of his 35 passes for 312 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Overall he looked good against an Edmonton defense that was playing pretty well overall.
The Lions Have Great Depth at Receiver
Lucky Whitead and Keon Hatcher who were 2nd and 3rd respectively in receiving yards last season were both out with injury for this contest.
Alexander Hollins had another nice game with 5 receptions on 7 targets for 46 yards. Hollins had 6 catches for 85 yards in week 1 as he seemed to take on a bigger role.
Justin McInnis led the team in yards with 79 on 4 catches. Jevon Cottoy caught all 5 of his targets for 54 yards. Ayden Eberhardt also had a good came as he was elevated from the practice roster in place of Whitehead catching 3 of his 4 targets for 47 yards. Eberhardt was unable to bring in a catch that would have been a BC touchdown but looked good in his first game as a BC Lion.
Of course, there’s also Dominique Rhymes who was a CFL All-Star last year. Rhymes had 4 catches for 63 yards and a touchdown against Edmonton.
CFL Rookie Taquan Mizzell is a Very Good Runningback
In week 1 he had 12 rushes for 81 yards which was the highest yards per carry average among starting runningbacks in week 1 with 6.8 yards per carry. He followed this up with another impressive performance as he was called on a lot in week 2. Against Edmonton, he had 18 rushes for 93 yards (5.2 average) and also added 23 yards on 4 receptions. He looked very good in both games. A large portion of his rushes came when BC was rushing to keep the clock running thus Edmonton was expecting run plays, yet Mizzell continued to be very effective.
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