Photo courtesy: Keke Yousseff/B.C. Lions

In pro football, there are games you lose, games where you are beaten, and games where you get embarrassed. Unfortunately for the B.C. Lions, their performance on Saturday afternoon fell decisively into that final category, as the Toronto Argonauts effectively pantsed them in front of the BMO Field crowd with a 52-34 drubbing.

Here are my thoughts on the game.

Cotton candy upchuck

Saturday’s game was hosted in conjunction with the Canadian National Exhibition, bringing scores of fair attendees into the stadium. The B.C. Lions’ defence might as well have joined the fans for a few pre-game corn dogs and roller-coaster rides, because at least that would have provided a compelling explanation for why they vomited all over their jerseys when the action kicked off.

There is no reasonable way to sugarcoat this game for Mike Benevides’ unit. Facing a 2-8 team with arguably the worst offensive line in the country, they allowed 529 yards of net offence and eight scoring drives. Veteran backup quarterback Nick Arbuckle was allowed to look like the second coming of Ricky Ray, as he amassed a career-high 430 yards through the air. All this while the Argos’ top offensive weapon, Damonte Coxie, stood on the sideline in street clothes.

On a down-to-down basis, the Lions’ soft coverage, lax pressure, and suspect tackling allowed ample time for the Argos to operate. While the longest drive of the day for a reasonably successful B.C. offence lasted seven plays, Toronto easily marched along on four drives longer than that. All five of their touchdown drives saw them go over 70 yards, much of it done with relative ease, and they converted 70.8 percent of the time on second down.

But what made this performance so utterly demoralizing was the repeated outright busts, which came against players who are hardly household CFL names. Four times the Argos ripped off passes of over 30 yards and found success every time.

Deontai Williams had a particularly rough outing at halfback, getting caught flat-footed on a 43-yard shot to Dejon Brissett early in the second quarter that led to Toronto’s first touchdown and completely mistiming his jump on a 40-yard Jake Herslow touchdown catch late in the third. Brissett later caught safety Cristophe Beaulieu too low in his zone for a 57-yard bomb, while Herslow blew past Garry Peters for a back-breaking 70-yard major early in the fourth quarter when nobody took responsibility for the deep zone.

Not even in the red zone could the Lions get on the same page. Kevin Mital was left uncovered on his 15-yard touchdown catch when Patrice Rene failed to pick him up in man coverage. Even on Nick Arbuckle’s short touchdown run, there was a key defensive mishap as both Mathieu Betts and Micah Awe sprinted out to cover the swing pass from the running back and left the entire left side open for a QB draw.

All night, the Lions looked more dazed and confused than a peewee team on install day. That was especially disappointing after a couple of better outings from the group had provided the fan base with hope that this had all been figured out. The scheme and the personnel have not been able to click consistently this year, and some serious self-scouting will once again be required during the upcoming bye week.

Too much respect for the airway

It became clear very early on that if the Lions were going to win this game, it was going to come via a shootout, and B.C. was certainly playing at a high enough level offensively to pull that off. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to inform head coach Buck Pierce, as he made several painfully conservative game management decisions that sucked the wind out of his team’s sails.

The first came after the Argos went up 28-21 at the end of the first half, retaking a touchdown lead with 33 seconds left. Rather than take a few shots and try to claw back momentum with a field goal, the Lions opted to kneel out the clock and live to fight another day. While hardly an indefensible decision, it seemed incongruous with the flow of the game to that point, as the visitors had been on the back foot since taking a 14-3 lead early.

On the first drive after the break, the Lions marched 61 yards into scoring position and had a prime opportunity to tie the game. However, after a missed outlet throw to James Butler, Pierce trotted out the field goal team on third-and-goal from the three-yard line. In my opinion, that was the moment the game was lost, when B.C. refused to put their foot on Toronto’s throat and opted not to match them shot for shot.

While the Lions did later score a touchdown on a third-and-goal decision from the one, they also kicked a field goal on third-and-three from the six. That call from Pierce turned a two-score game into, well, a two-score game. Sure, there was lots of time left to play, but things were already out of control on defence and B.C. desperately needed to keep pace.

They never seemed to alter their urgency in order to do so, and the game kept slipping further away as a result. This was a contest where they had to force a momentum swing or die trying; instead, they just died.

On any other day

While the aggressiveness of their decision-maker left something to be desired, the Lions’ offence did more than enough to win 99 percent of football games.

Nathan Rourke wasn’t quite as sensational as he looked in the second half last week, but he still threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns, while taking off for a 46-yard scamper. The Canadian QB consistently hit the shots down the field that were available to him and was generally on target, though he’ll likely want a couple of high throws in the red zone back.

Surprisingly, James Butler was held without a catch for just the second time all season, but was productive on the ground with 83 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. While some fans were miffed that he continued to get touches late when they wanted to see B.C. push for bigger plays, I continue to appreciate Pierce’s commitment to balance. It was working, but every time B.C. scored, Toronto had a more emphatic answer.

Hand in your homework

Football is a game where those making the extra effort off the field are more visible than any other, and Argos’ cornerback Benjie Franklin had clearly been grinding the film before this one. He made two tremendous plays while reading route concepts, turning the second one into a 56-yard pick-six when he ignored the vertical routes to sit on an in and boxed out big Jevon Cottoy for the football. It wasn’t a perfect throw by Rourke, but it wasn’t a major error either, and Franklin delayed just enough to bait it.

He nearly made an even more impressive interception earlier in the game when he correctly anticipated that Rourke would be looking for James Butler at the sticks and abandoned his coverage of Keon Hatcher to drive on it. The ball hit him dead on but deflected up into the air for an Ayden Eberhardt circus catch. B.C. scored shortly after.

Franklin may have exposed some tendencies that the Lions will have to be aware of going forward. It isn’t his first time dissecting a Pierce-led offence either, as he dropped off coverage to make a timely interception in last year’s Grey Cup.

Preschool pass rush

It would be incorrect to state that the Lions had absolutely no pass rush against the Argos, as they somehow mustered three sacks. However, the inconsistent application of pressure throughout the night was as shameful as any gaffe that happened in the secondary.

After a glimmer of hope last week against Montreal, B.C. struggled yet again to get to the quarterback when rushing four. When they did create disruption, it seemed to be one at a time, like schoolchildren lined up to get into their classroom. That allowed Nick Arbuckle to easily sidestep or evade the first man and continue slinging the ball downfield.

Given that Toronto’s offensive line has been essentially as bad as it gets this season and has been routinely publicly berated by their head coach, the fact that someone like Mathieu Betts didn’t have a tangible impact until a meaningless fourth-quarter sack is infuriating. The Lions are paying the former Most Outstanding Defensive Player a sum of $260,000 to be the cornerstone of their defence, and sacrificed valuable draft picks to bring him in last year. He remains a solid player, but has not come close to the heights expected because of those dollars. There is a legitimate chance his contract is on the chopping block come season’s end if that doesn’t change.

The rest of the defensive end group has been largely replacement-level or worse, and it is undermining some very strong play by the interior trio of Jonah Tavai, Tomasi Laulile, and DeWayne Hendrix. Too many times, we’ve seen a defensive tackle break through, only for a weak edge to ruin his pressure. They desperately need help in that group, though immediate solutions appear scarce.

Bullet meets foot

You might look at the Lions’ penalty totals from this game, just five infractions for 36 yards, and think it was a massive improvement from previous weeks. That is probably true, but it didn’t stop the team from getting in their own way with a couple of costly infractions.

Much will be made of the Patrice Rene pass interference penalty that turned a potential field goal situation into a touchdown for the Argos in the second quarter. B.C. unsuccessfully challenged the call, and several people have argued that because it came at the five-yard mark and before the ball had been thrown that a flag shouldn’t have been awarded. I see their point when it comes to interference, but to me, the call at least fit the definition of illegal contact because Rene was no longer “face up and in front of” the receiver and appeared to impede him with a tug. Those two flags give basically the same result at that spot on the field, so I have no interest in arguing over semantics when a DB is sloppy with his hands.

Offensively, Toronto’s pick-six came after B.C. had an impressive Nathan Rourke run erased by an illegal formation call. The Lions had no end on the play as, assuming everybody was on the correct side of the formation, it looked like either Keon Hatcher needed to be on the line or Jevon Cottoy should have been aligned at tight end instead of fullback. Given how the team was moving, that minor error may have amounted to a 14-point swing.

Finally, it didn’t come back to bite the Lions, but Ronald Kent Jr.’s misconduct penalty late in the fourth quarter after the defence had finally forced a punt was exactly the type of boneheadedness that has plagued B.C. all year. Amidst all the other issues, that discipline still needs to be addressed.

Swing and a miss

It only resulted in one sack, but right tackle Chris Schleuger had another poor game in a string of them lately. The 30-year-old veteran has been a substantial drop-off from the injured Dejon Allen and struggled to match Andrew Chatfield’s speed off the end. Ironically, that may have actually helped his team since Toronto’s top edge rusher couldn’t stop roughing the passer. He also let Da’Marcus Johnson blow by him for a certain sack, only for Nathan Rourke to spin away for a 46-yard run.

I thought centre Andrew Peirson also struggled more in pass protection against Anthony Lanier than he has the last few weeks, though he continued to do his job in the run game. The worst block of the day — or lack thereof — came courtesy of left guard Kory Woodruff on a fourth-quarter strip sack, when he elected to slide away from Wynton McManis even after the linebacker crept up to blitz inside.

Milestone moment

With seven receptions for 131 yards in this game, Keon Hatcher officially became the first receiver to surpass 1,000 yards in 2025.

The current league-leader has now played exactly the same number of games that he was able to last year, and the contrast is stark. He has managed 23 more receptions, 401 more yards, and four more touchdowns, placing him on track to surpass his previous career-highs across the board. You just can’t put a price on health.

Living up to their name

It will be lost in the mud of the defeat, but I thought the special teams unit had a quietly strong game. Facing a lethal returner in Janarion Grant, Carl Meyer only had one of his three punts fielded for eight yards, and the reigning Most Outstanding Special Teamer was limited to 18.5 yards on four kickoffs. Jake Herslow had one longer return, but it was still a solid night.

It was especially nice to see rookie safety Jackson Findlay get some love with a pair of kick coverage tackles, leading the unit. He also delivered a key pass breakup in some early defensive action, potentially earning back some of the trust he lost with a blown assignment in the loss to Hamilton.

Seven McGee had one of his best kickoff returns of the year with a 61-yarder, but that was as much a testament to the blocking as it was to him. Jonah Tavai delivered a great shot inside, and Robert Carter Jr. sold out to spring him outside, which is the type of execution that has been missing this year.

Wave the white flag

Even in the midst of a gut-wrenching loss, you want to see players fight until the echo of the final whistle. I didn’t see that from the beleaguered B.C. defence, as they allowed backup Spencer Brown and the worst running team in football to grind out 85 yards, much of it on the final two series.

It was an added insult on top of a lifeless performance that should haunt the team as they enter their second bye week. This was a game that the Lions not only should have won based on raw talent, but needed to in order to keep pace with Winnipeg and maintain a Western crossover as the likeliest scenario. Now, they’ve let the Argos off the mat and dropped below .500 going into Labour Day.

One of the great contrasts entering this game was the difference between Buck Pierce’s understated coaching style and Ryan Dinwiddie’s unbridled fire, which hasn’t always been a strength for Toronto this year. Nevertheless, it may be time for one former CFL QB to learn from the other and demand more from his charges, because performances like these can’t keep happening if B.C. wants to become contenders.

The Lions (5-6) will return to action on Friday, September 5, when they visit the Ottawa Redblacks (3-8) in another game that can’t be taken for granted.