They road to Grey Cup 102 will be a bumpy ride for any team without a home playoff game. That’s what every team works so hard for in the regular season: to finish with a playoff game in their own barn.
In the last seven years of playoff football in the West division, six of the last seven Western semi-finals went to the team with home field advantage, while the team with home field in the Western final is 3-4 in the last seven years. You could argue that has something to do with momentum, or maybe that there’s a little extra pressure and butterflies while enjoying the bye week. But overall, the home team record in the West playoffs for the last seven years in the West are a combined 9-5.
The B.C. Lions have hosted three playoff games in the past seven seasons, all of them West finals, and they’re 1-2 in that time frame. But the Leos have some work to do if they want to earn a home playoff game this year. It will start this Saturday with a date against the Calgary Stampeders, a team they beat once already this year.
There is definitely a sense of urgency in the B.C. locker room to make a push and gain home field advantage. In 2014 the Lions are 3-4 at home and 4-1 on the road. They’ve shown signs of brilliance this year, followed by games where they look completely flat.
The key thing to focus on is consistency, something the Lions have lacked. The Lions defence was a focal point of conversation, having been ranked number one against the pass and featuring the likes of Solomon Elimimian, who leads the league in tackles. But the Argonauts came into B.C. Place and exposed them, putting 40 points on the board, and the Lions had few answers to the Argos’ aerial assault.
We can also blame leadership and identity as part of the Lions’ problems this year. With Travis Lulay out for what looks like an awfully long time, the Lions will have to continue to grow under Kevin Glenn. Glenn is a career 40,000-plus quarterback, but has never won the big game. He is prone to big mistakes at crucial moments. He will be trying to shake that label as the season comes to end.
So it’s crunch time in B.C. Who are we going to see come to play this week: a team that can hang with the best of them, or another loss and another week of more questions than answers?
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