B.C. Lions get back on track with 24-16 home-opener victory over the Toronto Argonauts

After a dismal start to the 2013 season in Calgary last week, the B.C. Lions looked more like the betting favourites they entered the year as in their home opener Thursday with a 24-16 win over the Toronto Argonauts. They addressed most of their three key problem areas from Week One to greater or lesser degrees, and they also received strong performances in other areas. Still, what's perhaps most significant here is that they managed to knock off a very good team, the defending CFL champions. It wasn't an ideal performance from B.C., but it was a big step in the right direction for that team.

Looking at those problem areas that doomed the Lions against the Stampeders, there was at least some progress on each front Thursday against Toronto. The rushing defence improved spectacularly: a week after Jon Cornish tore them up for 172 rushing yards on 24 carries, they held Chad Kackert (perhaps as skilled a back, and certainly as big of a name) to just 20 yards on eight carries. The offensive line play was also generally more favourable, as they paved the way for a successful ground game and protected quarterback Travis Lulay decently. They still conceded three sacks, which is far from ideal and the same total they allowed in Calgary, but there were positive signs for B.C. fans here. Even the special teams were a little better than they were against the Stampeders, although they remained an area of weakness.

The Lions also had some other players step up. The most notable may have been running back Andrew Harris, who collected 103 rushing yards on 15 carries (an average of 6.9 yards per carry) and added a touchdown. He wasn't the only one, though: slotback Nick Moore caught six passes for 107 yards, while wide receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux added 50 receiving yards on just two catches and also contributed 40 rushing yards on three attempts. Linebacker Solomon Elimimian also turned in an impressive performance, recording a game-high nine tackles. All of those figures and others helped here.

It's how effectively B.C. shut down a very explosive Toronto offence that should have the rest of the league worried, though. Facing Kackert, Ricky Ray, Chad Owens and the rest of the Argos' offensive firepower, the Lions conceded just 16 points, 215 passing yards and 34 rushing yards. Those are totals in line with their dominant defence from last year, and that suggests they may be back on their way to being a CFL power. This is still just one game, so it shouldn't necessarily carry more weight than what they did (or didn't do) in Week One, but this looked at least partly like the B.C. team many expected to see this year, especially on defence. That could be frightening for opponents.