The B.C. Lions are in for some growing pains in the early part of the 2015 CFL season. They have a rookie head coach, and they’ve brought in George Cortez as the new offensive coordinator. The outlook on the Lions’ offense early on is poor.
Travis Lulay looked rusty in the Leos’ opening week matchup in Ottawa. That is to be expected for a quarterback who hasn’t played a meaningful football game since the 2013 western final. That isn’t to say that his talent has suddenly disappeared, it just means he will need more time to get accustomed to the new offense.
Lulay overthrew numerous receivers in the Lions’ 11-point loss to the Redblacks, leaving points on the field that the Lulay of old could have placed on the score board. He will need a couple more games to get back into the CFL rhythm.
Lions faithful can breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to Lulay’s predilection for injury, though. He seems to have adopted the self preservation technique, utilizing the feet first slide instead of the young and dumb headfirst dives to gain crucial yards. That doesn’t mean Lulay has lost his competitive edge, but he now understands a game isn’t won on a single play, but a season can be lost on it.
The highly acclaimed defence from 2014 will endure some growing pains as well. Solomon Elimimian will still be great, so will Adam Bighill, however the secondary will need time to adjust to the new rules in place before they can be that aggressive defence from the past. That isn’t taking anything away from the Lions D; every team’s defence in 2015 will get better as the season starts rolling and they have had time to adjust.
Allowing the Redblacks to score 27 points on them surely won’t be tolerated by head coach Jeff Tedford, but he will need to understand that this will take time. There’s a new quarterback – this was Kevin Glenn’s team last season. The big plays of outstanding wide out Ernest Jackson are gone, meaning a big piece of last year’s offence is unavailable to Lulay. This is a completely re-tooled coaching staff that will still be learning what they have to work with.
The West Division is shaping up to be a circus. The Stampeders suddenly look vulnerable; the Eskimos have lost their starting QB Mike Reilly for over two months; the Riders are a team with out a identity with the loss of Durant, and Winnipeg is battling the same inconsistencies they dealt with all last season. The Lions don’t have to be firing on all cylinders yet as long as they keep pace in the West; at the end it could be anyone’s.
The Lions will be battling growing pains early on. However, when they grow into the new plan they could very well find themselves in position to have a home playoff game. It’s been reported widely that Tedford has this team in shape. They didn’t look tired in humid Ottawa, they looked out of sync, and if they manage to get a home playoff game indoors, look out, because they can turn it into a track meet.
