Season opener: Lions vs. Elks June 11, 2022

[Sir Purrcival]

Well how long has it been since we have had the chance to talk about a game like this? Feels really nice.

[KnightofCydonia]

4th interception by the Lions D!

[MacNews]

That was a heck of a game. Nice to see the Lions might have a decent running game this year. Great to see the Elks won't be much of a threat with the Argos castoff QB.

[Ravi]

Can Doman give Larry Tanenbaum a call and give him some much-needed advice?

Have a look at some of the discussion on the Argofans board. The natives are restless there and wishing they had someone like Doman rather than MLSE, who could afford to buy every team in the league three times over but are essentially acting like they don't even know the Argos exist.

(lifelong Argos fan here, who's excited about the team's prospects this year but despairing they'll ever have anyone care)

I am one of those on argofans.com complaining about MLSE's lack of effort. Interestingly, I saw Vancouver Whitecaps fans on Twitter tonight envious of the B.C. Lions and their owner.

[CrazyCanuck89]

Can Doman give Larry Tanenbaum a call and give him some much-needed advice?

Have a look at some of the discussion on the Argofans board. The natives are restless there and wishing they had someone like Doman rather than MLSE, who could afford to buy every team in the league three times over but are essentially acting like they don't even know the Argos exist.

(lifelong Argos fan here, who's excited about the team's prospects this year but despairing they'll ever have anyone care)

I am one of those on argofans.com complaining about MLSE's lack of effort. Interestingly, I saw Vancouver Whitecaps fans on Twitter tonight envious of the B.C. Lions and their owner.

Exactly MLSE has tried nothing and they're all out of ideas.

[TheLionKing]

Amar Doman did everything right marketing the Lions. Hopefully many of the fans at the game comes back.

[B.C.FAN]

That was a fantastic experience. It was my grandson's first game, and he said it was the best night of his life. That got me thinking. I’ve been going to games for nearly 60 years and I can’t think of a more dominant performance from the Lions, with a great atmosphere in the stadium. Yes, the Elks are terrible but most prognosticators seem to think the Lions will also be bad this year. They’re wrong.

Some highlights for me:
- Nathan Rourke is the real deal: 26 for 29 passing (with 2 drops) for 282 yards, 3 TD passes, and 78 yards rushing with 2 TDs. He is deadly accurate and dangerous with his arm and legs.
- James Butler had a breakout performance. The Elks are slow on defence and they lost a linebacker the first play of the game but they started Adam Konar in the middle and he was overmatched all night.
- The Lions finally got some pressure on the QB, and it was all from newly acquired D-linemen. Sione Teuhema had 3 sacks, Mathieu Betts had 1, and draft pick Nathan Cherry and Global nose tackle Tibo Debaillie brought pressure up the middle. I want to see more of all of them.
- The B.C. O-line didn’t give up a sack, and helped the Lions rush for 187 yards on an average of 7.5 yards per carry, with 5 TDs on the ground. I was surprised the Elks didn’t blitz more, but Butler easily picked up any linebackers who tried to bring pressure.
- The injury-depleted and reshuffled Lions secondary gave up too many easy completions with no help from the linebackers and too many yards after the catch but they picked off 4 Edmonton passes, and the Lions turned them into 3 TDs and a kneeldown in the final minute.
- Sean Whyte in his first game back as a Lion was a purrfect 8 of 8 on converts and 1 of 1 on field goals for a quiet 11 points.

[DanoT]

After Butler's 4 touchdown performance in the first half, I thought he would be a shoe in for CFL Player of the Week. But not surprising, the Elks tightened up their run defence in the second half, but they had no answer for Nathan Rourke who was lights out in his passing, running, and general play execution and decision making...near flawless.

The TV crew showed pics of Rourke's 95 y.o. great grand mother in a private box, and several shots of Rourke's parents in the stands. So we now know where Rourke gets his good looks from, "Dude, your mom is hot". At least to this old guy.

[Sir Purrcival]

Lol
I had to chuckle about the Great Grandmother with the beers. All on all, that was as close to a feel purrfect night that I can remember in some time. Fans in quantity, a great musical performance to start the game by 1 Republic, a brilliant performance on field and even a very poised post game interview by Rourke. It's just one game but boy was it a good un.

If there is a downside, Butler would likely be a slam dunk for OPOW. It was a career moment for him but Rourke is likely going to overshadow him and rightly so. Oh, first world problems.

[snackdaddy]

Seeing Rourkes enthusiasm and drive to win was impressive. From his willingness to be a blocker down field (at least on RPO that went for a TD.) To his absolute drive to score a touchdown on that short yardage play near the end of the second quarter that become a massive run around the end.

What made me really happy was watching Chris Jones Get embarrassed! That last set of downs where oconner just took knees knowing that Edmonton would get the ball back....Honestly thats just sad.

The one negative was the return game didn't seem on point (Both punts and kickoffs)

[Hambone]

When you add last night to the 2021 season finale the Lions outscored the Elks 102-25 over the 2 games.

On another note wasn't it a great feeling at halftime having to navigate a packed concourse to wind up standing in line just to get into the men's washroom? It felt like the good old days!

[SammyGreene]

What a night! Just bought a couple of hats that I definitely don’t need but wanted to support their 24 percent off 24 hour sale in tribute to Butler’s big game. Again another brilliant idea.

Will take a closer look at the outstanding on field performance later as we have 2 weeks to dwell on it. Players are now off until June 20.

[Toppy Vann]

It was a fun game to watch and the second-half tail off was predictable. I had hoped to see more of O'Connor in the second half but it's understandable that Nathan Rourke needs that experience.

Hopefully they have some good run packages as not all teams will be that easy but Butler 's runs showed talent and brilliance irrespective of who they played againts.

Sucks that it's a bye week so soon.

MLSE comments drew a response from The Rock and that's frustrating as we get too much distraction from the Commissioner as it is. Rubbish talk that does nothing to promote the actual game and the players. A commish busy with his head into too many rabbit holes none of which have rabbits in them as he's searching in the wrong places.

But Lions swept POW:

https://www.tsn.ca/canadian-qb-nathan-r ... -1.1812871

TORONTO — Led by Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke, the B.C. Lions swept top performer honours for Week 1 of the 2022 CFL season.

Running back James Butler and defensive back T.J. Lee were also honoured for their contributions to the Lions' season-opening 59-15 rout of visiting Edmonton on Saturday.

Rourke was 26-of-29 passing (89.7 per cent) for 282 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in his first game as the Lions' full-time starter.

The Victoria native was just as dangerous on the ground, rushing for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

Butler had 108 rushing yards on 17 carries and two TDs and added six receptions for 33 yards and two scores.

Lee led the defence with three tackles and two interceptions. He picked off Elks quarterback Nick Arbuckle in the first quarter and intercepted backup Tre Ford in the second.

The Lions' 42 points over the first two quarters set a team record for points in a half, and its 59 points was the third-highest total in franchise history.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2022.

[B.C.FAN]

Lions swept POW:

https://www.tsn.ca/canadian-qb-nathan-r ... -1.1812871

TORONTO — Led by Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke, the B.C. Lions swept top performer honours for Week 1 of the 2022 CFL season.

Running back James Butler and defensive back T.J. Lee were also honoured for their contributions to the Lions' season-opening 59-15 rout of visiting Edmonton on Saturday.

Rourke was 26-of-29 passing (89.7 per cent) for 282 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in his first game as the Lions' full-time starter.

The Victoria native was just as dangerous on the ground, rushing for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

Butler had 108 rushing yards on 17 carries and two TDs and added six receptions for 33 yards and two scores.

Lee led the defence with three tackles and two interceptions. He picked off Elks quarterback Nick Arbuckle in the first quarter and intercepted backup Tre Ford in the second.

The Lions' 42 points over the first two quarters set a team record for points in a half, and its 59 points was the third-highest total in franchise history.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2022.

Well deserved honours! The Lions also moved up a couple of spots in league power rankings now that people outside B.C. have had a taste of Rourke's talent.

6. BC Lions
Record: 1-0
Last Week: 8
Wow. After an off-season full of questions about Nathan Rourke‘s ability to play as a starter and the Lions’ faith in him, the 24-year-old went out and pulled the strings on one of the most convincing wins you might ever see in the CFL. It’s unfair to expect lopsided wins every week and there will certainly be ups and downs for Rourke and the Lions as they navigate this season, but Rourke showed that he belonged in Week 1. That bodes well for a Lions team with a ton of talent surrounding him.

https://www.cfl.ca/2022/06/13/power-ran ... -the-gate/

[David]

* Wow. That most fun I've had a Leos game since we hosted the 2011 Grey Cup. The club should be proud as they hit it out of the park. On and off the field. Even the "celeb" sightings at the game (e.g., actor Scott Wolf, former NFLer Mitch Berger etc. - all guests of Mr. Doman) gave the game a kind of "big league" feel and aesthetic, the likes of which we have never seen before (even the Pezim years).

* It was clear to me that our Leos fed off the energy that 34, 000 orange and black-clad fans can provide. I was begging for this kind of exposure during the latter part of the David Braley era. Just get fans in the building. It will lift our club. Too many nights when there were 16K or 17K fans rattling around the massive dome, it felt like club was mailing it in, if that doesn't sound too harsh.

* I was very happy that the club didn't move on from James Butler. I saw just enough from him at the tail end of the 2021 season that made me take notice. It wasn't lack of talent that led to so many <50-yard rushing nights. It was scheme. Now that we've gone to a more simplified inside zone rushing attack, he has the room to juke and jive his way upfield. Reminds me a lot of Calgary's Ka'Deem Carey. Similar explosiveness.

* Interesting to see our depth chart for the Argo game, whether Sione Teuhema's 3-sack performance was enough to unseat Obum Gwachum at DE. Either way, I have confidence in our bookend tandems this year. Looks like the success of the inside of the line will done by committee.

* Happy to see us re-up Keon Hatcher. I've been impressed by his hands. With all the attention paid to Lucky and Burnham, he, Cottoy and Rhymes will have plenty of chances to shine this year. Not sure I'd replace our receiving unit with any other CFL teams'. In fact, I know I wouldn't.


DH