From the Lions' Den

In the CFL, one learns to never take any opponent lightly, especially one as talented as the Hamilton TigerCats.

Jason Maas, D.J. Flick, Jesse Lumsden, Terry Vaughn, and on Defence  Cody, Young, Armour; this team can rip an opponent to shreds. So it was that a very leery Lions team came to Ivor Wynne, the prettiest Park in the CFL, to see whether the TiCats would dismantle the Lions as they had the defending Grey Cup Champion Edmonton Eskimos.

Lions had problems of their own to deal with, foremost of which was the health of fourth year staring quarterback Dave Dickenson, who would stand on the sidelines thanks to the concussion suffered when his head struck the turf on Sept. 16^th, when tackled by Alouette Lineman Ed Phillion. #2 Pivot Buck Pierce would start in Hamilton, with 3^rd stringer Jarious Jackson backing him up, and Dave Dickenson charting the plays on the sidelines.

Buck started fairly well, going 8 of 12 for 139 yards and 2 TD passes, but then suffered a bone contusion to the elbow, a sort of super “funny bone”. Buck left the game, and was replaced by Jarious Jackson, and the Faithful held their collective breath. Jarious had seen limited action this season, and did not look sharp against the Argos at BC Place in late June. Since then, Jackson has been part of the short yardage offence, relegated to gaining the 1^st down yardage that the other two could be injured doing.

Jarious played very, very well though, going 12 of 21 for 180 yards and 2 TDs, looking polished doing it. Lions fans breathed a sigh of relief that not only did the TiCats not bite us as we feared, but that the Lions didn’t suffer from losing yet another quarterback, nor did they drop their level of play as much as many of us had feared.

After returning to Surrey, Wally brought back quarterback Todd Mortensen, who had visited some 2 weeks earlier. Todd took reps with the Practice Squad all week this week, and is expected to stay on the roster for the remainder of the season.

With Mortensen’s arrival, Lions fans now have to face the unpleasant proposition that Dave Dickenson’s days as a starting quarterback may be numbered far lower than anyone had feared. Once the cycle of Concussion is started, it seems to spiral out of control in many athletes, such as Brett and Eric Lindross, Matt Dunigan, and Steve Young. 

Can SuperDave break the cycle? Perhaps, but he won’t play at home this Friday against the Stampeders. Dave will heal, and may not be seen for the remainder of the regular season. Why? Because a Lions win coupled with a Saskatchewan loss clinches first place for the Lions in the CFL West. And while that can’t come soon enough, it is far from a sure thing; Stampeders have the best team in the CFL, and are itching to avenge a 40-23 July loss at McMahon, and have begun Trash Talking it, with Carl Kidd playing Defence for the Leos. And the fact that Don Matthews has now left the Alouettes (GM Jim Popp will coach the Als for the remainder of 2006) will play huge in the matchup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Monday.

Dave needs to be healthy in November Cross your fingers, Lions fans.