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Video: B.C.'s Nick Moore tore his ACL celebrating a touchdown, is out for year

B.C. slotback Nick Moore is out for the year after tearing his ACL during a touchdown celebration Saturday. (CFL Time on YouTube.)

B.C. Lions' slotback Nick Moore has battled plenty of health issues over the years, and now he's out for the rest of the year thanks to a freak injury sustained celebrating a touchdown in Saturday's win over Saskatchewan. After beating DB Brandon McDonald on a corner route, making a great catch and taking it to the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown, Moore went to celebrate with teammate Loucheiz Pourifoy and did a simple jump with him, but landed wrong and went down clutching his knee. He then needed help to limp off, and Wednesday saw TSN's Farhan Lalji report the news that it's a torn ACL that will keep him out for the rest of the season. Here's video of the play and the celebration gone wrong:

There have been plenty of injuries during celebrations before, including NFL kicker Bill Gramatica's in 2001 (which this bears some resemblance to; it's also a relatively simple jump), but criticizing Moore for the celebration here is a little silly. This really wasn't excessive or terribly dangerous; players do these kinds of jumps together all the time (in fact, if you rewind the video to 2:00:30, you'll see B.C. QBs Jon Jennings and Travis Lulay celebrating with a similar one), and there's no need to try and legislate the emotion out of the game. This was just a freak accident, and one that it's hard to prevent; yes, you could say Moore shouldn't jump after a touchdown, but he's going to make that same jumping motion (and potentially collide with a defender) plenty of times during a game. It just happens to be bad luck that this was the one that he landed poorly.

Moore's injury is a big blow for the Lions, though. Through B.C.'s first four games, he had 15 receptions for 205 yards and a touchdown, third on the team behind Emmanuel Arceneaux and Bryan Burnham. He also was crucial in this game, making three grabs for 88 yards and a touchdown in the Lions' 40-27 win. He's been an important part of their surprising 3-1 start, and he won't be easy to replace.

This is also a rough break for the 30-year-old Moore, a very capable player who's in his sixth CFL season but has never appeared in all 18 games. He's also appeared in nine games or less in three of those seasons, mostly thanks to injuries. He started his career in B.C., then headed to Winnipeg for a couple of years, but returned to the Lions this offseason as one of their most impressive additions in free agency. He seemed to be fitting in well with B.C. again, and to have strong potential for an excellent statistical year. Now, he won't be able to play for the rest of the season. That's highly unfortunate for Moore, for the Lions, and for fans of the team and the league.