TORONTO \u2014 The BC Lions will try to make it three straight victories over East Division opponents when they take on the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Back-to-back wins over Hamilton and Montreal have the Lions sitting at 5-5 and bearing down on the second-place Calgary Stampeders.<\/p>\n
Toronto has dropped three straight.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s three keys to victory for both teams ahead of Saturday\u2019s 3:00 p.m. ET kickoff, which can be watched on TSN and CTV in Canada and on CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n
RELATED BC LIONS<\/p>\n 1. NATHAN ROURKE ON A ROLL<\/p>\n Nathan Rourke<\/a> has been as good as they come over the last six weeks, averaging 352.2 yards per game through the air. There\u2019s a chance he reaches the 3,000-yard mark, as he needs 314, although the Argonauts\u2019 secondary, which ranks second in passing yards allowed, may have something to say about it.<\/p>\n 2. THE LEGS OF JAMES BUTLER, THE HANDS OF KEON HATCHER<\/p>\n If head coach Buck Pierce believes in momentum and confidence, he\u2019ll continue to turn to receiver Keon Hatcher Sr. and running back James Butler<\/a>. Butler led the league entering play this week with 765 rushing yards, and Hatcher Sr. caught all 11 passes thrown his way for 156 yards and two touchdowns versus Montreal.<\/p>\n 3. DEFENCE MAKING A DIFFERENCE<\/p>\n The Lions had scored the most points of any team in the West Division and the third most overall with 273 after Week 11, but they\u2019ve also allowed 272. Since the Argos have found their offensive success primarily in the pass game, watch for defensive back Ronald Kent Jr.<\/a> downfield and linebacker Micah Awe<\/a> patrolling the middle of the field to make a difference.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n TORONTO ARGONAUTS<\/p>\n 1. NICK ARBUCKLE AIRING IT OUT<\/p>\n Look up, the balls are likely to be in the air. The Argos\u2019 first-half struggles certainly can\u2019t be pinned on quarterback Nick Arbuckle<\/a>, but any chance of the team digging their way out relies on him. Bringing 3,033 yards and 17 touchdowns into the game, don\u2019t expect Arbuckle to back down from a Lions secondary holding opposing teams to a league-best 242.3 passing yards per game.<\/p>\n 2. THEIR OWN SECONDARY<\/p>\n Was there mention of the pass games yet? The only defence that bested the Argos\u2019 265.6 average passing yards allowed after 11 weeks was the Lions\u2019. Defensive back Tarvarus McFadden<\/a> is tied for second in the league with three interceptions.<\/p>\n 3. FILLING GAPS UP FRONT<\/p>\n Linebackers Cameron Judge<\/a> and Wynton McManis<\/a> should play a key role in closing gaps up front and limiting the impact of Butler. If they can get to the quarterback, which the Argos have done 22 times this season, all the better for head coach Ryan Dinwiddie\u2019s club.<\/p>\n NEED TO KNOW:<\/p>\n Toronto swept the season series in 2024.
\u00bb Depth Charts:\u00a0BC<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0TOR<\/a>
\u00bb Game Notes: Lions at Argonauts<\/a>
\u00bb Tickets: BC at Toronto<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Injury Reports: Stay up to date<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Who\u2019s gonna win? Play CFL Pick \u2018Em presented by Old Dutch now!<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe two teams meet again in Week 17 in Vancouver.
\nKickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET, and can be watched on TSN and CTV in Canada and on CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The BC Lions will try to make it three straight victories over East Division opponents when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-95524","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\/95524","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=95524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}