Watch the Lions and Elks LIVE Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET\/4 p.m. PT on TSN5, the TSN App, and TSN.ca.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe need to clean up some things,\u201d Pierce said after his team practised this week at Kelowna Secondary School. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes and execution errors. Those get you beat.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can do a lot of things well, but you have those three or four plays a game that you can\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
With BC Place Stadium being used for the FIFA World Cup, the game will be played at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna, which drew over 19,000 fans against Calgary.<\/p>\n
The Lions haven\u2019t started a season 0-3 since 2019.<\/p>\n
The consequences of a poor start first took their toll on Sunday when special teams coordinator Cory McDiarmid was fired. Pierce said the Lions special teams will be coached by committee against Edmonton.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at special teams, we have guys on staff that have done those type of things in the past,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a veteran group.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to lean on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions have been moving the ball. Their average of 447 net yards per game is fourth in the league and they are second overall with 83 first downs.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Nathan Rourke, last year\u2019s Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian, threw for 462 yards against Calgary for the sixth 400-plus yard game of his career. On the season, he\u2019s thrown for 1,083 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.<\/p>\n
Rourke has never lost four consecutive games in his CFL career.<\/p>\n
A problem for the Lions is poor field position to open drives. On average, teams this season have started on their own 38-yard line. For B.C., it\u2019s been their own 32, the poorest by any club in the last 10 seasons. That six-yard difference adds up to 210 extra yards to cover.<\/p>\n
The Lions are sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 29 points a game. B.C.\u2019s rushing game is eighth in the league at 70 yards a game, with running back James Butler averaging just 3.9 yards per carry.<\/p>\n
The Lions defence has also struggled, giving up a league-high 37.7 points per game. B.C. is tied for last with Ottawa with just three sacks, and hasn\u2019t forced a turnover all year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we haven\u2019t played our best football this season yet,\u201d said linebacker Darnell Sankey, who the Lions signed as a free agent in the off-season. \u201cWe understand we\u2019re a great team. We\u2019ve just got to come together and just have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injuries have taken their toll on defence. Defensive lineman Levi Bell, linebacker Ben Hladik and defensive back T. J. Lee are all questionable for Saturday.<\/p>\n
But Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo knows the statistics don\u2019t matter once the game starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve had a lot of injuries on the defensive side, especially in the back end,\u201d said Fajardo, who has 764 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception this year. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of shuffling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a formidable opponent. We are going to have our hands full with a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Elks are off to their best start since going 7-0 in 2017. Edmonton is seventh in points scored (28 per game) but the defence has allowed a league-low 22.7 points a game.<\/p>\n
All three of Edmonton\u2019s wins have been decided in the final three minutes. Two of the games have been by four points or less.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a testament to the character we have in this locker room,\u201d said Fajardo. \u201cIt goes to show the perseverance of this team. We know we\u2019re never out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions have history on their side. They have won 12 of their last 13 against Edmonton. BC won all three games last year by a combined score of 100-52.<\/p>\n
Pierce believes the team can still turn things around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on where we can improve,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re a resilient group. At some point through the course of the season, you go through stretches like this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen improvement in some areas. The guys are understanding more and more each week what winning needs to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KELOWNA \u2014 The B.C. Lions have done a lot of things right, but it\u2019s what they\u2019ve done wrong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-777860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}