The B.C. Lions have had 11 long days to stew over a defensive collapse that lasted just three minutes. Thursday’s rematch with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats offers a chance to turn that dissatisfaction into a different result.
“The frustration is not a bad thing,” defensive coordinator Mike Benevides told the media this week. “If they’re f***ing pissed off, they should be. We all are.”
Hamilton defeated the Lions by a score of 37-33 in Week 8, courtesy of an impressive fourth-quarter comeback. Trailing by 10 points at the three-minute warning, the Tabbies found the end zone twice, and quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell led a 14-play, 96-yard drive that milked nearly two minutes off the game clock before culminating in the winning touchdown.
After the game, Benevides was criticized for his conservative late-game play-calling and over-emphasis on stopping standout receiver Kenny Lawler. While the Lions held the then-CFL receiving yardage leader to just two catches for 29 yards, their failure to generate pressure and soft zone coverage allowed the Ticats to consistently move the chains regardless. Mitchell completed 82.9 percent of his passes on a 389-yard day, and Kiondre Smith hauled in 14 receptions for 138 yards and two touchdowns. The Canadian target was entirely uncovered on the deciding major due to a coverage bust.
“The plan last time we played them was to take away the best player in the league, and we did that. But the other things in the last two minutes, that’s my fault,” Benevides acknowledged. “We’ve got to find a way to get it done, but you’ve got to find different ways to try and do it.”
“The first 57 minutes are exactly what we wanted to do on our side of the ball with 23 points (allowed) and three turnovers forced. And then 14 points scored — we didn’t get it done in the end. We have to find ways to make plays at the end of a game to win a game, and with a team like Hamilton playing so well with a quarterback like that, it’s difficult.”
B.C.’s defence has been a challenge to assess all season, swinging wildly between opposite ends of the spectrum. They enter this week second-best in the CFL in terms of net yardage allowed per game at just 344, but have generated the second-fewest turnovers (12), allowed the second-most offensive points per game (25.5), and are tied for the most explosive plays surrendered by any unit (21).
The Lions are currently allowing the most rushing yards per game in the CFL (119.5) compared to the fewest passing yards (234.4), but problems in their pass defence have caused the team’s recent two-game slump. Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris diced up the secondary in Week 7, before Mitchell delivered his winning performance a week later.
After a bye week to reflect and self-scout, Benevides believes the solution could lie in a re-shuffled secondary that will place players in positions where they are more comfortable. Promising rookie Robert Carter Jr. moves to halfback this week, as will heavy-hitter Deontai Williams. Second-year man Ronald Kent Jr. slides to field corner, while Canadian Patrice Rene will step in at nickel.
“The last two weeks haven’t been good enough, so you try and look for ways to improve and maybe help the players out, because that’s my job,” Benevides stated. “We shuffled the deck a little bit. Try to find some different pieces and kind of shift things around to see how we can get the best DBs playing their best.”
It remains to be seen if those changes will make a difference against arguably the hottest team in the CFL, as Hamilton notched another victory while the Lions were resting to bring their current win streak up to six games. The East Division leaders will be at a disadvantage this week playing on five days’ rest against a recharged opponent, but Benevides believes that is all relative.
“The advantages all get nullified by confidence and whose mind is in the right spot,” he stated. “I always say this: the team that just won has the advantage. They have momentum, they have everything going their way.”
Nevertheless, the veteran coach remains confident in his unit’s ability to bounce back and find solutions at the midway juncture of the season.
“It matters to them. They care,” Benevides stressed. “You see how they come back and want to do the work. You see the text messages at night. You see how they communicate in the room. If they didn’t care, if they felt like there was no chance, it’d be different.”
The B.C. Lions (3-5) will kick off against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (6-2) at Hamilton Stadium at 7:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune in on 730 CKNW in Vancouver and the Ticats Audio Network in Hamilton.
