To know thy enemy, the B.C. Lions must become them

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Football is a copycat game. Teams are constantly stealing plays, styles, coaches, and if you’re the New England Patriots, the other team’s signs.

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Coaches will take whatever they can, adopt it, meld it into their own team’s DNA and make it their own. But it’s rare when one pro team admits that they’re trying to be like another, as B.C. Lions co-general manager Neil McEvoy did after last year’s West Final.

“Right now, we’re just trying to figure out how to beat the Bombers,” he said after the second straight playoff loss to Winnipeg. “Let’s call it what it is; they are the upper echelon football team in the Canadian Football League. We are trying to be them, and as we unfortunately saw … we’re not there yet. But I think we’re close.”

Two years in a row their season had ended in Winnipeg. And for two years in a row it was Winnipeg’s heavy brand of football that B.C. couldn’t handle. The relentless running of Bombers back Brady Oliveira saw him put up two 100-yard-plus games that ground down the defence and set up big pass plays.

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The emphasis in this past off-season was getting bigger, on both sides of the ball. They needed more beef on the defensive front, and brought in NFL veteran and Surrey native Christian Covington and Saskatchewan’s Pete Robertson, who has wreaked chaos against the Lions for years. Sione Teuhema came into camp noticeably heavier, as did linebacker Josh Woods.

Then the Lions went out and got their own big-bodied answer to Oliveira in running back William Stanback, who, while making last year’s lighter starter Taquan (Smoke) Mizzell expendable, is also saddled with a considerable amount of pressure and expectations.

B.C. had the fewest rush yards per game (77.3), attempts (297) and second-lowest average per carry (4.7) last year, and Stanback is ready to change that trend.

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“I’m excited, man. I’m so ready to get the ball rolling. New colours, new threads, new atmosphere, new guys in a locker-room that I’m around … I’m just ready to just get us started just to be dominant,” said Stanback. “I’m just gonna come here, be myself, do whatever I can do to help the team in any way that they need me. I know what type of running back I am. I’m going to do what I have to do to make sure we get over that hump late in the season.”

Defensively, the Lions were middle-of-the-pack against the run (99.3 yards, fourth best), despite the label of them being easy to run against. But part of that success was the success of their own offence. The Lions’ prolific and pass-happy style meant they forced teams to abandon the ground game and throw the ball — they had the second most pass attempts against in 2023 — instead of running. But in the games where they trailed and had to stop the ground game, they did have some weakness, as Oliveira proved in the playoffs.

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“We’re aware that that was the label. We’re all aware of that moving into this year, because it’ll be motivation,” said defensive tackle Josh Banks. “Both times (Oliveira) did post 100 yards, so the statistics speak for themselves. So it must be corrected. It must be fixed.

“Addressing it in the locker-room before Week 1 is what we’ve been working on, because by the time you’re on Week 19 or 20 in the playoffs, it’s a little too late to try to stop that. It should be a mindset in Week 1.

“We have a very aggressive group of guys with strong chins. … (They’re) a bunch of lunchpail-carrying, hard hats and steel toed boots guys. They can pass-rush, they can stop the run, they can do it all. But most importantly they love football. We’d play this game for free if we had to — and you can tell.

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“Going into this year, nobody puts fear in our hearts. We’re not intimidated by anybody. We’re just as talented, we have just as good as guys and just as good as leaders as well.”

With Mathieu Betts gone to the Detroit Lions, the defensive line has been remade. Banks, a run-stuffing, 6-foot-4, 290 pound tackle, has gotten quicker side-to-side. Marcus Moore, who played just one regular-season game but both playoff contests, is poised to take the next step in his development, as is Teuhema.

And then there’s Covington, returning to his home city after nearly a decade in the NFL. He’s made the transition back to the Canadian game — “I’ve got zero offsides so far,” he joked — and adds even more stoutness to a defence, he says, didn’t need it.

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“A lot of people that were saying that this team was lacking in that category. I don’t really see it,” said the 6-foot-2, 300-pounder. “I can see why they’ve had the success this past couple of years. I know the team is right on the cusp of greatness. I’m gonna say that word; I don’t really care at this point. It’s on the cusp of greatness right now. I’m happy to be here, happy to contribute any way I can, and now the sky’s the limit for this for the squad.

“We have one goal in mind. I’m not going to jinx nothing, but we all know where we want to be at the end of the season. We have the right pieces in play. We have the right guys in this room, right guys on this field. And now we’re putting that work in every single day.”

The work continues this Sunday, when they travel to Toronto for their season-opener against the Argos. Game time is 4 p.m. PT (TSN, AM980).

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jadams@postmedia.com

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