Photo courtesy: Steven Chang/B.C. Lions

On a night when hot rods and Lamborghinis rolled up to BC Place in droves, the B.C. Lions proved their offence was the best sports car at the Show N’ Shine thanks to their star driver, beating the brakes off the Montreal Alouettes 36-18.

Here are my thoughts on the game.

This one’s for the scribes

Nathan Rourke had some fun with Global News’ Jay Janower at practice earlier this week, responding to a question about the offence by stressing the importance of always playing up to the media’s standards. It was a glimpse at the type of dry, tongue-in-cheek humour that the Canadian pivot rarely shows to the fans, but it also served as a poetic bit of foreshadowing.

If Rourke was hoping to impress us lowly tape-recorder jockeys, he did so in spades on Saturday night.

“Those are very kind words. I appreciate that, especially coming from you,” Rourke grinned playfully post-game when I asked him about his impressive performance. “Whenever we can get your approval, that’s good stuff.”

Simply put, Rourke was brilliant against Montreal, seeing the field with a clarity that no prescription lens could ever replicate. The whole stadium felt at his disposal as he effortlessly slid around in the pocket and dished out passes to his entire receiving corps, finishing 26-of-34 for 382 yards and four touchdowns.

There were a handful of blemishes, including an ill-advised interception early, where he should have simply run for the first down. But, as head coach Buck Pierce laid out at practice this week, you accept some of those plays and allow players like Rourke to toe the line of disaster in exchange for the greatness that comes after.

“He was spot on. From protection, to knowing where his checkdowns were, to there was multiple times where he was able to have a deep opportunity and then get to a second or third option,” Pierce said of his quarterback.

“I think that’s what he does really well. If he’s got the picture, he trusts his guy down the field. If not, he’s able to play within the pocket, trust the protection, and get through his reads and find a completion. And if not, he’ll improvise and make a play on his own.”

Rourke and the offence took some time to carefully poke and prod Noel Thorpe’s defence in the first half, starting methodically rather than slowly. That all paid off in the second half, as the Lions cashed in on everything they set up and made adjustments to hit the Alouettes deep time after time.

It was in that final 30 minutes that Rourke’s brilliance truly shone through. Deep throws to Hatcher and Eberhardt were both picture perfect, as was a touchdown threaded into Stanley Berryhill III. He had just one incompletion down the stretch, by that point a meaningless throw to the sideline.

In a career that has had no shortage of exceptional outings, this was as good as any of them.

Pressure pack

Whatever the B.C. Lions’ defensive line had for their pre-game meal needs to become a regular offering.

After weeks of bemoaning the Lions’ lack of pressure, the front four brought the heat against the Alouettes right from the start. As Montreal hung around early, three B.C. sacks killed drives and forced punts or field goals. Sione Teuhema had his best game of the season with two of those takedowns, while Jonah Tavai had mop-up duty on another after Tomasi Laulile beat Pier-Olivier Lestage as cleanly as you’ll ever see in professional football.

As much as the pressure laid the framework for a strong defensive outing, it also fundamentally changed the course of the game. Montreal was already starting their third-string quarterback in Caleb Evans, but his night ended on an innocuous-looking chasedown from Teuhema. The 27-year-old was visibly distraught as he was tended to and spent the rest of the game sitting with ice on his knee, suggesting an injury that could keep him out long term.

James Morgan took over and performed respectably in his first significant action, but never really seemed a threat to overtake the Lions. Ironically, the less mobile of the two Montreal passers was never sacked, but the defensive line continued to make an impact, even if they slowed down slightly. Big hits forced several errant passes, and Mathieu Betts smartly batted another throw that could have been a touchdown.

It is tough to assess just what will translate defensively when you succeed against such an undermanned opponent, but the Lions will need more pass rush performances like this if they hope to climb the standings.

Hatcher the Snatcher

As good as Nathan Rourke looked in this game, Keon Hatcher may still have claimed the status of top offensive performer. The 30-year-old was the clear leader on a night when the entire receiving corps got involved, catching all 11 passes thrown his direction for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

The passes were all on the money, but part of that placement relied on Hatcher making the right adjustments. On one long throw from deep in the Lions’ territory, Rourke drilled it back shoulder up the seam in a place where defensive back Ciante Evans couldn’t hope to get to it. The former — and future — all-CFL selection made that grab look as easy as all the others.

I’ve always felt that Hatcher was this team’s best weapon, but watching him go through the motions last year at a fraction of his previous dominance was difficult. You can’t put a price on health, though, and now that he has it, I’m not sure you can properly quantify Hatcher’s value either.

Wait by the phone

Despite my rave reviews, all was not golden for the Lions at home. Some things were yellow — namely, the 12 penalty flags they were assessed.

I’m sure fans will have several complaints with how the game was called by the officials, and I certainly didn’t agree with every piece of laundry thrown. The roughing the passer call against Sione Teuhema felt cheap because he slowed down to hold the alleged victim up, and I felt the illegal contact penalty against Patrice Rene, which erased Cristophe Beaulieu’s interception, was ticky-tack.

With that said, discipline has been a serious and recurring issue for B.C., and they earned the majority of the 137 yards surrendered with bone-headed errors.

No one was more guilty of that than Micah Awe, who took two major penalties and was very nearly assessed another before the review official picked it up. Delivering big hits and playing on the edge has always been a part of the middle linebacker’s game, but he crossed the line in this one.

His roughing the passer flag wasn’t egregious, but he acknowledged it was a clear penalty due to the head contact on Morgan. A later spear to the head of Montreal’s David Dallaire along the sideline, which left the young Canadian dazed and injured, was a far worse offence, though Awe felt it required some context.

“That one’s tough because it’s a fullback; he has 30 pounds on me. The moment I don’t go full speed, he runs me over, and now I’m in the newspaper another way,” he said, noting that he has been personally rendered unconscious by letting up on similar hits in the past.

“If he would have got me and I got knocked out, the honest truth is the offence is not going to get penalized for that. For me, it’s never malice. It’s just me. That’s what I do. I run to the ball. That’s the only reason why I’ve lasted eight years is because I have effort and I show it.”

Awe may well be the single smartest player in the CFL, and I respect his perspective, but this was a dangerous play, and I’m sure a fine will be imposed. It was also the second time he lowered his head in a similar circumstance in this game, with the first only being forgiven because his helmet made direct contact with the ball.

He needs to be better in these moments, as do the rest of the Lions, who are giving away far too much for free.

Objects at rest

The single worst call of the night wasn’t a penalty, but rather a fumble. Justin McInnis was completely immobilized by four Alouettes late in the second quarter and had been completely stationary for nearly three seconds when he was stripped by Wesley Sutton. You’ll never be able to convince me that forward progress wasn’t stopped before that ball came out.

For anyone wondering why Buck Pierce didn’t throw the challenge flag, turnovers are already automatically reviewed by the command centre, so asking them to triple-check the ruling would have been a great way to waste a resource. Pierce said after the game that he was not immediately provided an explanation for the call, but indicated that he would be seeking one afterwards.

For their part, the Alouettes wasted the prime opportunity with a two-and-out. Ball don’t lie.

Paying the enemy

It didn’t make many pre-game headlines, but Saturday marked the quiet return of Alexander Hollins to B.C.

The one-time West Division all-star racked up 2,227 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns during three seasons for the Lions, but made more headlines for his complex departure. The team first attempted to renegotiate his contract after his production tailed off at the end of the 2024 season, but opted to release him ahead of an offseason bonus when talks broke down. That’s standard practice in the CFL — and part of the reason why bonuses exist — but Hollins got the last laugh, filing a grievance through the CFLPA that he was an injured veteran at the time of the transaction after having his knees scoped following the season and therefore ineligible for release.

An independent arbiter sided with the receiver, and it briefly appeared like the two sides would reunite. However, a middle ground couldn’t be reached, and Hollins was allowed to walk with $75,000 in bonus money in his pocket — all of which counts against the Lions’ current salary cap.

It has been a hard road for the once-electric deep threat since then, as he landed in Edmonton but was cut after a training camp in which he was never deemed fully healthy. Since arriving in Montreal, he has played three games and caught just three passes for 31 yards, including a single catch for eight yards on Saturday. All of that has served to prove that B.C. made the correct decision this offseason.

Sure, you’d rather not pay someone the equivalent of a league minimum salary to play against you, but the alternative was paying Hollins like an elite receiver to keep him around. The Lions couldn’t afford that, especially for a player who no longer fits the definition of one.

Une échappatoire geante

Canadian rookie Tiger Shanks was listed as the Alouettes’ starter at left tackle in this game, but he barely played at all. That’s due to a massive loophole in the CFL rulebook, which effectively allowed Montreal to circumvent the ratio.

Shanks had to be listed at the top of the depth chart in order to fulfill the seven Canadian starter requirement after an injury to running back Sean Thomas-Erlington last week. However, his American backup — and the team’s regular starter — Nick Callender has enough years of service to qualify as a designated nationalized American, which allows him to play up to 25 snaps in place of a specific Canadian starter or their backups.

In this case, that was supposed to be left guard Pier-Olivier Lestage, but Montreal didn’t take advantage of that rule. Instead, they subbed Callender directly for Shanks under the provision that states a nationalized American can replace any injured Canadian. Which would be all well and good, except that Shanks did not appear to be injured at all and continued to come out with the field goal unit. This was all legal, of course, because the rule allows the injured Canadian to return at any point.

I can’t claim to have done a careful accounting of every snap played, but the Alouettes had 50 of them on offence. I never saw Callender on the bench after the first play, even after he was actually injured in the fourth quarter. This appears to have been a blatant manipulation of a well-intentioned rule, and only undermines the integrity of the league as a whole.

The saving grace was that Callender gave Montreal little discernible advantage. They got their butts kicked up front, and he allowed the pressure that ended in Caleb Evans’ injury.

Shooting stars

I believe we have a group of extremely knowledgeable contributors at 3DownNation who generally get things right. However, they made an egregious error when putting together our mid-season awards and all-stars this week.

Lions’ left tackle Jarell Broxton didn’t have the votes needed to qualify for the first all-star unit and didn’t even make it onto the podium when it came to Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. That is utter lunacy! While it would be tough to argue against Saskatchewan’s Jermarcus Hardrick as the league’s top blocker right now, Broxton is the only other player who deserves to be in the conversation and the drop-off to the third-best tackle — which, in my opinion, is Calgary’s Josh Coker — is considerable.

Perhaps I only have myself to blame for the criminal disrespect being paid to Broxton. I have regularly expressed skepticism regarding the Lions’ offensive line in pass protection, and believe their lack of sacks surrendered is inflated due to a combination of  Rourke’s quick release and impressive escapability. That still holds true in my mind, even if the unit played exceptionally well against a tough Montreal front, but Broxton has always been the standout. The fact that he allows pressure on less than one percent of his pass blocking snaps is damn near absurd and puts even other elite linemen to shame.

Other than Broxton’s omission, I felt the Lions were properly represented on our list. Keon Hatcher, James Butler, and Carl Meyer are all no-doubters as first-team all-stars, Patrice Rene is right up there as a special teamer, and while Micah Awe’s limitations as a pass defender keep him out of the top tier of linebackers, his pure volume of production makes him a deserving second-teamer. Rourke isn’t in the MOP or all-star conversation yet, but he’s the runaway Most Outstanding Canadian right now.

Other potential all-star candidates like Justin McInnis, Cristophe Beaulieu, Garry Peters, Mathieu Betts, and Korey Woodruff all face immense competition within their position group or have inconsistencies on their resumes. A strong last eight games could easily put them into play for recognition, but they aren’t there yet.

#1 fans

The Uproar Dance Team invited a contingent of the team’s former cheerleaders to do a special alumni performance, which resulted in one of the cutest moments I can remember witnessing at a football game.

Two young girls to the left of the press box, the oldest of whom couldn’t have been older than 10, got out of their seats as the alumni were introduced, ready to support their mom, who was on the field. In mock cheerleader outfits of their own, they proceeded to meticulously perform the entire choreography of the dance in the aisles as they watched, making it evident that the family had been practicing together in preparation for mom’s big day. They continued to hoot and holler in support the entire time, and for much of the rest of the game. It was simply adorable.

We often get to see parents cheering on their children while they do what they’re passionate about, but we so rarely get to witness the reverse. I hope their mom felt all that love at field level.

Come from away

I had a unique gameday experience this week, as instead of making the usual trek from my home in White Rock, I commuted back and forth from my family cabin on the Sunshine Coast.

It was my first time making that particular journey for a game, and I was pleasantly surprised by just how many people on the ferry were decked out in their Lions’ hats, shirts and jerseys. There was even one passenger sporting a Russ Jackson replica jersey and a “Radically Canadian” baseball cap — a combination that guarantees you’ll be the coolest person in any room.

Those of us who live in the Lower Mainland probably don’t appreciate just how much the Lions are B.C.’s team, and this was a pleasant reminder. Even in an area of the province without much of a football footprint, there are still fans willing to go the extra mile — literally — to express their passion.

No free spaces

The Lions did exactly what they needed to do in this game, making a strong statement against a depleted opponent they absolutely should have beaten. That can’t be taken for granted, but we should be careful not to laud it as outside the norm either.

Next week will present a similar circumstance, as B.C. visits a Toronto team that appears to be rapidly spiralling out of control. There are no free spaces on the gameboard of the CFL season, but you also can’t forgo a chance to advance a few squares when you roll the right matchup. Next Saturday should provide exactly that opportunity, as the Lions look to jump above .500 before their second bye week.