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British Columbia Lions travel to face Toronto Argonauts

Adam Markowitz, SBR Forum • July 22, 2010 • Comments (0)

The British Columbia Lions head to Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday with two straight losses on their ledger while the Argonauts are looking to extend their two-game winning streak.

"Last season, the Lions swept this series, winning 23-17 at home and 36-28 at Rogers Centre"

With the road team playing so poorly and the home team having already exceeded most expectations for the 2010 campaign, the oddsmakers have come up with a puzzling line of BC -1½ and a ‘total’ of 47 in this one.

The offence for the Lions has been quite embarrassing so far this season, scoring just 55 total points in three games. Only the Edmonton Eskimos (53) have scored less. On the bright side, BC does have the top scoring defence in the CFL at just 21.0 points- per-game allowed. The Lions can also rest easier knowing that they are undefeated this year on the road having won at Edmonton in Week 1, while they are still winless in their new temporary home at Empire Field.

Change could be on its way at the quarterback position for head coach Wally Buono. The legendary CFL coach has to be unhappy with the way Casey Printers has handled the starting job this year. He ranks seventh amongst eight CFL starting quarterbacks in completions (50) and passing yards (591). His two touchdown passes are third fewest in the league, while his quarterback rating of 75.5 is pathetically low.

Jackson is also nursing injuries to his knee and elbow, which could put Travis Lulay under center. Another possibility is Jarious Jackson, who has been held out of action all season due to offseason shoulder surgery.

If the rushing game performs as it did last week, the Lions are in a heck of a lot of trouble. Running back Jamal Robertson, a man who Buono speaks highly of, only rushed for four yards on six carries and fumbled twice against the Alouettes. It was all part of a disappointing game on the ground for BC, which mustered just seven yards on nine carries.

For the Argos, the numbers aren’t overly pretty, but they’re on the right side of .500 now, something that no one would have predicted even three games into the season. Toronto was tabbed by the oddsmakers to win just 4.5 games this season.

The Boatmen might be winning games, but it certainly isn’t happening due to the play of the quarterback position. The Cleo Lemon experiment probably needs to come to a close. The offence has still only scored four majors all season long, just one of which has come through the air. Lemon is only completing 56.3 percent of his passes, is averaging 180.3 passing yards-per-game and has a 69.2 quarterback rating. All three numbers are worst in the CFL amongst starting quarterbacks.

Ironically, if you add up the numbers, Toronto has accounted for over double the points on special teams and defence (55) than it has on offense (24). A scoring average of 26.3 points-per-game might be tied with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for worst in the East Division, but only the Saskatchewan Roughriders out West have a better mean points per game mark.

The one superstar for Toronto this season has been running back Cory Boyd. No one in the CFL has carried the ball more times than Boyd, as he has handled the rock 47 times. His 283 rushing yards ranks second in the CFL and there is no shame in averaging 6.0 yards-per-carry.

Last season, the Lions swept this series, winning 23-17 at home and 36-28 at Rogers Centre. They have won five straight visits to Toronto, going 3-2 ATS in that stretch. BC has scored at least 24 points in all of those games, while the Double Blue have only met that point total once in five tries. Needless to say, four of the five stayed ‘under’ the ‘total.’

The Argonauts might be just 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games against teams with a losing record, but BC is only 3-7-1 ATS in its last 11 games played in the month of July.