B.C. Lions hit with watermelon shrapnel, bleed out in loss to Riders (& 11 other thoughts)

The B.C. Lions’ attempt to smash watermelons blew up in their faces on Saturday night, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders secured a 33-27 victory that flattered the home side.

Here are my thoughts on the game.

No tourniquet

After an asphyxiating performance against Edmonton that rocketed them to the top of the CFL’s defensive rankings, the Lions followed their season-long trend of ups and downs with a devastating bleed-out against Saskatchewan. Their opponent went for the jugular early, and no amount of pressure on the wound was enough to stem the fatal flow.

Given what happened the last time these two teams met, you might have expected repeated stab wounds from A.J. Ouellette to be the cause of death. The bruising back did finish with 72 yards on the ground, but wasn’t even close to the primary culprit. Instead, it was 39-year-old quarterback Trevor Harris who effectively slashed open the artery, completing 23-of-30 passes for 395 yards and three majors with only one interception. Four of those passes went for over 30 yards, including two of the touchdowns.

“I feel like this game was all on us. We just beat ourselves once again,” cornerback Robert Carter Jr. acknowledged. “Whether it’s communication, whether it’s alignment or assignment, I feel like it’s all on us. It’s never what the other team does at the end of the day.”

Carter, who had been the team’s top American DB before tonight, fell victim to two of the biggest explosion plays, losing track of Joe Robustelli on a fade in the first quarter that extended a touchdown drive and biting on a pump fake that left Dohnte Meyers wide-open for a touchdown to begin the second half.

Meyers also opened the scoring by blowing by the aging Garry Peters on the Riders’ first drive for a 50-yard major, though Jalon Edwards-Cooper may have blown his responsibility to help over the top. Even safety Cristophe Beaulieu, who has been sensational this year, wasn’t blameless, getting beaten for 66 yards by Samuel Emilus and only barely rallying to prevent a touchdown.

“Missed opportunities, some busts in the secondary, but it’s never just one guy,” head coach Buck Pierce said. “I think, overall, this game has a way of humbling us, and we have to choose to look at it that way and commit to getting better.”

The humbling aspect was how unperturbed Harris seemed to be when distributing the ball in between those deep shots, methodically picking the Lions apart. They did a solid job of holding their ground in scoring territory, forcing the Riders to settle for four field goals and breaking up a couple of jabs at the end zone, but failed to offer any resistance in the middle of the field. As a result, Saskatchewan didn’t punt until the end of the third quarter.

I was skeptical that the Lions had done enough from a personnel perspective to address their problems from last season, and nights like these bear that out. They have enough talent to win against lesser opponents, but are hard-pressed to turn the tide against contenders. There may not be an easy solution to the problem, but if there is one, it will be found in the room.

“It’s really a player thing. We have our little player-led meetings; we’re just gonna go over it together and see what happened,” Jonah Tavai said. “It’s real early in the season, so we’re happy that our messing up is coming now, so we can learn from it.”

Glow-up gone wrong

After being jokingly called a nerd by his former college teammate A.J. Ouellette this week, it would have been great to see Nathan Rourke make like the lead of a ’90s high school movie and attend BC Place in his finest uniform, let down his hair, and prove he was beautiful all along with a jaw-dropping display.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a teen comedy, and the quarterback’s performance was anything but funny.

“I don’t think we played well enough to win. I certainly didn’t,” Rourke admitted at the podium. “I think I limited us, if I’m being quite frank. I’ve got to be better for the guys. We work too hard to be able to put that on the field. I’m letting them down with that kind of effort.”

Make no mistake, there were some plays in this game that only Rourke could have made. His deep touchdown pass to Ayden Eberhardt at the end of the first quarter was pure magic, as he escaped a certain sack after Caleb Sanders beat the brakes off Anu Una and delivered a beautiful strike. His effort on the two-point attempt after Stanley Berryhill’s touchdown was just as incredible, spinning away from C.J. Reavis to find the receiver for a second time.

Uncharacteristically, those plays were outliers, and a stat line of 27-of-41 for 337 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception doesn’t do justice to how much he struggled. Right from the start, balls were sailing on him, and he wasn’t seeing the field with the same clarity as the last two weeks. Corey Mace did an admirable job taking away the quick game that has been his bread and butter, but every other throw seemed to be a challenge.

As is often the case when you have to play from behind, the Lions kept trying to hit the deep ball, and Rourke kept overthrowing it. His fourth-quarter interception came on virtually the same misread of his former minor football teammate A.J. Allen that should have resulted in a pick-six on the team’s second drive, only to be dropped. He had another would-be pick-six by Tevaughn Campbell called back thanks to an offside penalty — an infraction he says he saw, but a ball he admitted shouldn’t have been thrown. Overall, it was ugly.

Rourke claimed that the outing had nothing to do with the lingering effects of his oblique injury, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around just how fundamentally different he looked than in either game before this. I have no doubt he’ll bounce back, and he’ll have to because the Lions can’t win unless he’s in top form.

Off on the wrong foot

Another game meant another slow start by the Lions, but this time it wasn’t just the offence that was sluggish out of the locker room. All three phases contributed to putting the team behind the eight-ball early, and they never recovered.

After a two-and-out on their first drive, B.C. allowed Saskatchewan to march 80 yards on their ensuing possession. A.J. Ouellette kicked things off with a 15-yard romp, which represented the only run bust of the first half, but Trevor Harris didn’t need very much help. Dohnte Meyers blew past Garry Peters and Jalon Edwards-Cooper a few plays later, making a 50-yard touchdown catch look painfully easy.

Rather than respond, B.C. immediately coughed up the football on the ensuing kickoff return, as Melique Straker punched the ball away from Seven McGee. While the defence held firm for a field goal, the damage was already done. Down by 10 before he’d even thrown a pass, Rourke immediately started pressing and drilled a ball into A.J. Allen’s chest to force a punt, which took an unlucky bounce into the end zone for a single. Six plays later and Ouellette was taking a dump-off in for another touchdown.

The Lions regained some of their footing after that and scored their first touchdown with two seconds remaining in the opening frame — marking their first first-quarter touchdown of the year. However, going down 17-1 altered the way this game was played, dictating what the Lions could do for the rest of it.

James Butler, the recipient of 30 hand-offs last week, carried the ball just nine times for 30 yards. A one-dimensional offence is an easy one to stop, especially when its quarterback is struggling.

Superstars? What superstars?

For the second straight week, the CFL’s reigning receiving yardage leader, Justin McInnis, was basically invisible, finishing the game with one catch for 28 yards. That play came with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, with six other targets falling harmlessly incomplete.

“We’ve got to do something; that’s what I told him after the game. I said, ‘We’ve got to find ways to get you the ball,'” Rourke said of his highest-paid target’s reduced role.

“It’s not for a lack of trying. He was the [CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian] last year; I think he draws a lot of attention. I think teams are on to him a little bit, so we’ve just got to find more creative ways to get him the ball, and we’ve got to trust him more. We obviously targeted him today. We just couldn’t connect.”

Some of that was on Rourke, as he missed McInnis outright on several plays. However, the vertically-gifted Canadian appeared to slow up on an early fade that could have resulted in a touchdown and let a late deep ball go right between his hands, resulting in a fruitless pass interference challenge from Pierce.

Even more concerning was the fact that Keon Hatcher, who finished with five catches for 58 yards, had just one catch entering the final frame. The Lions planned to get both players involved early and often, but saw them almost entirely taken away. Unless you’re Ed Hervey, the disappearance of a pair of superstars like that is cause for major concern and can’t happen again going forward.

Rookie hospitality

The Lions’ defensive line had been a bright spot to this point in the season, and the team’s scouting staff deserves a lot of credit for the emergence of players like Jonah Tavai and Tomasi Laulile. Unfortunately, that praise is undermined by the absence of pressure that group was able to put on Harris in this game.

The veteran QB has a well-earned reputation for getting the ball out quickly, which makes it difficult to generate a pass rush. With that said, he had a ton of success down the field in this game and had all the time in the world to make it happen from the pocket.

You’d think with Saskatchewan debuting a rookie left tackle in Darius Washington that this would have been the time for Mathieu Betts to feast. Instead, he kindly spared the newcomer a ‘Welcome to the CFL’ moment, finishing with one single tackle. I noticed him beat Washington cleanly for pressure just once, which forced one of Harris’ few incompletions.

Kemoko Turay also beat Washington to deliver a nasty shot on Harris, again forcing an incompletion. Tavai pushed the pocket a few times, but the rest of the results were unremarkable. You have to wonder if they would have been any different if DeWayne Hendrix had been in the lineup, as he has been one of the top interior pass rushers in the league when healthy.

The disruptive defensive tackle practiced this week and was listed as available, but sat out yet again as the Lions figure out how to juggle their Americans along the interior. Getting all of Hendrix, Laulile, and Tavai on the field will be a monumental challenge, but I’d move mountains to do it.

Hardt to handle

While Hatcher and McInnis faded into the scenery, the Lions got a huge performance from Ayden Eberhardt. The unheralded third-year receiver, who has often been criticized in this column, caught six passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns to set a new career high.

As much as I’ve been known to question the Wyoming product’s status as a legitimate starter, every bit of yardage he had in this game came at full value. He made a defender miss to score on his long touchdown from Rourke and made his quarterback look good on the only other successful deep ball of the day, completing a juggling catch in tight coverage thanks to an impressive adjustment.

Eberhardt is probably still the type of player you’d prefer to be a complement to an offence rather than a centrepiece, but having role players you can trust is never a bad thing.

Unfortunate literalism

The last time I saw Ka’Deem Carey at BC Place, he had his child in his arms, teaching them how to spray a water bottle like champagne in the aftermath of a Grey Cup victory. His return as a Rider on Saturday ended with him being carried off the field with an injury that looked like it might be career-threatening. Football is truly a cruel game.

The 32-year-old took a violent hit from Deontai Williams in the third quarter — far from the first to receive one this year. It was a clean play, but Sione Teuhema was tracking him down from behind and fell on his right leg as his upper body was torqued around. The awkward angle of the leg, the concern of his teammates, and the running back’s clear agony immediately let you know how serious the situation was.

“I just send prayers out to him, and hopefully, he recovers fast, because that was a nasty play,” Williams said post-game. “You don’t want to wish that on nobody. I just hope he holds his head up high, and just gets a quick recovery.”

CFL trainers and medical staff are some of the best in the business, but I was surprised to see them elect to carry Carey off the field rather than load him on a cart. I’m no doctor, and I appreciate that athletes generally prefer to leave under their own power, but you would think the risk of an accident is too great when the injured party can’t put any weight on their leg. Either way, my thoughts go out to Carey, and I hope to see him healthy again soon.

Press box diaspora

I took in Saturday’s game from a slightly different vantage point, as World Cup renovations at BC Place have resulted in the regular press seating above midfield being cordoned off. That sent my media colleagues and I packing to the auxiliary press box in the southwest corner of the stadium, where we will remain for the rest of 2025.

At last year’s Grey Cup, my Winnipeg counterpart, John Hodge, marvelled at how good the sight lines are from the usual press box. We are truly spoiled, and those calling the games on radio and television will stay in their usual place to ensure their views are as spectacular as always. That said, I actually enjoyed the positioning of my new seat.

I’m a sucker for the end zone angle, and this new spot is only a few degrees off of that. While that makes it slightly harder to see the other side of the field or judge down and distance, it makes it a lot easier to see how blocks are setting up and to identify the open reads. It also took me back to my days sitting in the corner seats as a kid, desperately hoping that someone would throw a mini-football or a t-shirt my way.

I’m sure there are some people on the sidelines these days who would happily volunteer to chuck things at me, though now I’m grateful they choose to refrain.

Adjust your compass

The Lions have one more matchup to come with the Riders in late October, but the loss on Saturday means they have already surrendered the season series. That is a potentially devastating blow in a tight West Division, especially considering they have lost twice to Winnipeg as well.

There is a lot of football left to be played, but it looks like this season is ripe for a crossover, and B.C. has unfortunately made themselves the favourites to make the long trek East. If they want to stay home — or at least within their half of the country — there is absolutely no room for error remaining, which is a scary thing to admit in July.

A watermelon love story

Bad losses suck at the best of times. When they come in front of strong crowds on a night where everything else is done right, they suck even worse.

There were 28,983 in BC Place for the annual Watermelon Smash game, and while many of them were wearing green, I thought Lions fans succeeded in being the louder component. The team continues to ‘smash’ it out of the park with their gameday presentations and activations for this matchup, giving Rider Nation a friendly ribbing in the spirit of CFL camaraderie.

The best feature this time around was a Kiss Cam that played on the recent Coldplay concert scandal, catching a Lions fan and a Riders fan in an improper embrace. This isn’t the first time it’s been done since the viral scandal, but it was topical and played well with the crowd. Plus, any video that plays on the jumbotron that doesn’t feature me regurgitating my dinner is a win in my books.

Cat fight

The Lions will return to action on Sunday, July 27, when they host the surging Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 4:00 p.m. PDT.

It’s not impossible that this inter-divisional matchup could preview a playoff clash. It will be another major test for a beleaguered defence, especially considering how Kenny Lawler is playing right now. I expect a shootout, so you won’t want to miss it.