Watching the Lions play the Argos last week was sort of like watching the third period of a lot of the Canucks’ games last season – you could swear that the team was on the verge of blowing a lead, but somehow, the game ended before they could.

The Lions looked very much like a team still in pre-season mode in taking down Toronto 24-22. However, when the defending Grey Cup Champions return 20 starters, they can perhaps get away with more mistakes than other teams early in the season, and that certainly appeared to be the case Thursday night.

Dave Dickenson was far from at his best. Normally masterful in his precision, Dickenson went just 17 for 27 with no touchdowns and an interception. However, running back Joe Smith was there to power for two short-yardage touchdowns to make up the difference. When a Paul McCallum missed FG led to Bashir Levingston exploding for a CFL-record 129-yard TD return, Ian Smart uncorked a gem of his own, rumbling 76 yards off a kick return to set up a score. Just when it looked as if Michael Bishop would lead the Argos back from a nine-point deficit to take the lead in front of 29,157 raucous home fans, the Lions defence finally buckled down and made several key stands.

No one on the winning team was pretending it was a vintage performance. “The offence still has to find its identity," said Lions quarterback Dave Dickenson. As far as we can tell, that basically means “we played pretty badly, and somehow we won.” Dickenson also added, “We tried a lot of things differently, throwing short, long, run, [and] we need to settle with what works.” Our translation of that would be, “nothing really worked, but somehow just enough worked that we won.”

There were certainly a few positives. Joe Smith looked to be on top of his game as he powered for two TDs against one of the league’s best defences. Dickenson and the offence will only improve, and it was great to see that the defence could step up and make big stops when they had to. All in all, it was an encouraging performance, and we can expect the Leos will build on it this week against the Eskimos.

Post edited by: admin, at: 2007/07/10 01:59