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Current bye week in schedule gives time to fix things but also means that loss lingers a little longer in court of public opinion
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Published Aug 25, 2025 • 3 minute read
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Argonauts wide receiver Kevin Mital evades a tackle from B.C. Lions defensive back Robert Carter Jr. during Saturday’s game in Toronto. Photo by Sammy Kogan /The Canadian PressArticle content
This bye week in the B.C. Lions’ schedule means team staff have a little extra time to figure out how to right the ship.
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It also means that Saturday’s 52-34 road loss to the Toronto Argonauts is the most prominent memory of the club for all of us for a little bit longer.
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There is only so much attention available in the Lower Mainland sports scene, only so much oxygen up for grabs. The Vancouver Canucks swallow up the majority of it all, and they are starting to come back to the forefront again. Players are skating at local rinks, prepping for training camp. The first on-ice sessions go Sept. 18 in Penticton.
The Vancouver Whitecaps are trending in the right direction at the moment in the court of public opinion, too, with more spotlight coming their way since the addition of Thomas Müller.
The Lions had a chance to make a statement in that regard going into Saturday. They had won two straight, and another victory would undoubtedly have started up conversations about chasing down second place in the West Division and the playoff home date that goes with it.
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They were up 14-3 early against the Argos. Things disintegrated after that. B.C. had no answers for Toronto quarterback Nick Arbuckle and his crew. Consider that the Lions’ scoring outburst on the day would have been enough to win 28 of the 46 other games played so far in the CFL season.
Saturday was bad for business for B.C., and especially with the added time between their games.
The Lions (5-6) now don’t play again until Sept. 5, when they visit the Ottawa Redblacks. The Calgary Stampeders (7-3) and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-4) are second and third in the West, respectively, and they both have a game in hand on the Lions.
The problems are crystal clear. B.C. needs to dial in their defence. The Lions go into this week in action across the league eighth in the nine-team CFL in points against (29.5 per game). They are second from the bottom in big plays against (33), which counts things such as rushes of 20 or more yards and passes of 30 or more yards. And they’re last in turnover ratio (minus-11).
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It is cutdown week in the NFL as teams get ready for the opening of the regular season, and B.C. general manager Ryan Rigmaiden will be searching through the batch of player releases for someone who could help his club, just like the rest of his CFL colleagues will be doing for their teams.
There could be a fit for the Lions somewhere in all of that. Historically, though, players who are among the final cuts in the NFL tend to stay down south and bide their time, hoping for an opening with another team. B.C. getting Nathan Rourke and Mathieu Betts back last season from the NFL was more aberration than indication.
The biggest names on the B.C. injured list right now are veteran offensive lineman Dejon Allen and Michael Couture. They both could be back for Ottawa, or soon after that, to help out the offence.
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In the end, this is likely the roster that Rigmaiden, head coach Buck Pierce and defensive coordinator Mike Benevides will have to find ways to make things work.
Maybe Pierce winds up being more aggressive offensively on third down in scoring territory, giving opportunities to Rourke to dictate outcomes and take pressure off the defence. On the flip side, Benevides needs to find ways to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks. He has been in the league in some function since 2000, so you would think that he’s still got a trick or two up his sleeve.
“I think it really comes down to guys understanding where we are and our beliefs,” Pierce told reporters in Toronto after the game. “Mentally, we need to make sure that we still believe and are able to move on and play better in close games. It’s something we’ve talked about. It’s something we’ll evaluate as coaches … other ways to do things.
“We’re all in this together. We will continue to coach and we’ll look at the film and evaluate where we are at and move forward.”
We are going to learn about what this combination of Rigmaiden, Pierce and Benevides can spearhead. It’s just going to take us a little extra time, because of the bye week.
@SteveEwen
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