Jabar Westerman and the Lions' defence brought down Ricky Ray and the Argos Monday.
The B.C. Lions' 18-9 victory over Toronto Monday wasn't the most impressive all-around showing, but it was an incredible defensive effort. Eric Taylor, Adam Bighill, Lin-J Shell, Dante Marsh and others all stepped up and held the Argonauts' explosive Ricky Ray-led offence to just nine points, well below the average of 25.8 they'd posted thus far. The Lions' offensive execution wasn't quite all there Monday, but the defence did enough to improve the team's record to a CFL-best 4-2, executing well on the defensive line, in the linebacking corps and in the secondary. The B.C. defence looked like the unit that led the team to the Grey Cup last year, and if they can keep this kind of performance up, the Lions will certainly be contenders to win again.
Thus far in the season, B.C.'s defence had been generally more impressive than spectacular. The 110 points the Lions had conceded through their first five games made for a solid average of 22 points against, but the defence had looked rather porous in games against Hamilton (36 points allowed) and Edmonton (27). This was defensive dominance in line with what B.C. pulled off in last week's 34-8 thumping of Calgary, though, and that suggests that the defence is rounding into form, successfully integrating acquisitions like Byron Parker and Lin-J Shell into the scheme of new head coach Mike Benevides (the old defensive coordinator) and new defensive coordinator Rich Stubler. On the night, the Lions held star Argonauts running back Cory Boyd to just 23 yards on eight carries (2.9 yards per carry) and quarterback Ricky Ray to 215 passing yards, with no touchdowns, three interceptions and four sacks. If they can do that against a high-powered offence like Toronto's, you wonder what will happen the next time they face, say, Edmonton or Winnipeg.
The defensive dominance was everywhere Monday. It started up front, where former Argonaut Eric Taylor was a consistent force inside from his defensive tackle slot, recording one sack and plenty of pressure. He got help from the ends, too, as 2012 draft pick Jabar Westerman notched a sack and Khreem Smith and Keron Williams did a great job of shutting down both the ground and passing games. The linebackers were amazing despite the loss of usual stalwart Anton McKenzie to injury, with Adam Bighill (who also had a game-high seven tackles and an interception) and Anthony Reddick each notching sacks on blitzes, and James Yurichuk recording five tackles and an interception. The secondary was strong all night too, covering the deep routes and forcing Ray to often throw short, and Dante Marsh did very well to come up with the game-clinching interception late. This was a game that showed the tremendous ability of B.C.'s defensive players when they work as a unit, and if they can maintain this level of play, they're going to frighten a lot of opponents.