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B.C. Lions to dress nine defensive linemen for clash with Alouettes
By 3Down Staff -August 15, 2025
The B.C. Lions will have no shortage of defensive linemen when they face the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday.
Defensive tackle Jonah Tavai draws back into the lineup this week after sitting out the last game with a leg injury. In five games this season, the 24-year-old has made 10 tackles and one sack. He steps into an interior rotation that already includes Tomasi Laulile, DeWayne Hendrix, and Christian Covington.
Things are even more crowded on the edges, where Mathieu Betts, Sione Teuhema, Kemoko Turay, and Nathan Cherry all remain on the roster. Joining them as a ninth defensive lineman is former first-round CFL Draft pick Anthony Bennett, who signed with the Lions earlier this week and is expected to contribute on special teams.
To make room for the two pass rushers, American linebacker Jeremy Lewis has been demoted to the practice roster. Rookie Canadian fullback Jacob Bond will sit out this week with a thigh injury.
The B.C. Lions (4-5) will host the Montreal Alouettes (5-4) at BC Place Stadium on Saturday, August 16 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Alouettes suffered a late collapse against the Edmonton Elks last week, while the Lions completed a comeback win over the red-hot Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on TSN 690 in Montreal and 730 CKNW in Vancouver.
https://3downnation.com/2025/08/15/b-c-lions-to-dress-nine-defensive-linemen-for-clash-with-alouettes/
First-round CFL Draft pick Tiger Shanks making first start at left tackle for Montreal Alouettes
By 3Down Staff -August 15, 2025
The Montreal Alouettes will have a new quarterback this week and a new man protecting his blindside.
Rookie Canadian Tiger Shanks will be making his first career start at left tackle on Saturday. The Alouettes selected Shanks fifth overall in the 2025 CFL Draft out of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and he has dressed in all nine games in a depth capacity. During his time with the Rebels, the Vancouver, B.C.-born blocker started 51 games and became the first UNLV lineman to earn consecutive first-team All-Mountain West honours.
The 23-year-old's insertion into the lineup appears to be largely ratio-related, as the team's regular left tackle, Nick Callender, will still dress and has been listed as a designated nationalized American. Under CFL rules, he can replace Shanks indefinitely if he is injured, or play 25 snaps in the game in place of a designated Canadian starter or his backup. In this case, the Alouettes have listed left guard Pier-Olivier Lestage and sixth man Jesse Gibbon as the players who can be rotated.
The move was necessitated by the absence of running back Sean Thomas-Erlington, who is out this week with a neck injury. The veteran Canadian ball carrier has rushed 80 times for 361 yards and two touchdowns this year, while catching nine passes for 68 yards and another score. American rookie Travis Theis will step into the starting role, with Stevie Scott III coming on to back him up.
The two big changes on offence occur at the same time as the Alouettes turn to Caleb Evans, the team's opening day third-stringer, at quarterback. The 27-year-old has 15 career starts under his belt with Ottawa and Montreal, and threw for 113 yards and a touchdown last week in relief. The benched McLeod Bethel-Thompson has been placed on the six-game injured list with an undisclosed issue, with newly signed QB Cameron Dukes joining James Morgan as the second backup.
Additionally, Canadian receiver Kaseem Ferdinand will dress, while American defensive tackle Kori Roberson Jr. has been placed on the practice roster.
The Montreal Alouettes (5-4) will visit the B.C. Lions (4-5) at BC Place Stadium on Saturday, August 16 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Alouettes suffered a late collapse against the Edmonton Elks last week, while the Lions completed a comeback win over the red-hot Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on TSN 690 in Montreal and 730 CKNW in Vancouver.
https://3downnation.com/2025/08/15/first-round-cfl-draft-pick-tiger-shanks-making-first-start-at-left-tackle-for-montreal-alouettes/
yikes. see on twitter that Evans is hurt now.
Quote from: The Zipp on August 17, 2025, 12:02:47 AMyikes. see on twitter that Evans is hurt now.
Montreal just can't keep their QBs healthy. Sucks.
Morgan doesn't look too bad, actually.
Awe standing over a guy menacing... should have been a penalty.
Refs again not good.
Hollins hit him on the hands... drop. That's why we didn't want him.
Quote from: markf on August 17, 2025, 12:58:41 AMAwe standing over a guy menacing... should have been a penalty.
Refs again not good.
Can't stand that dirty player, hopefully he gets fined for that spearing
Are people watching preseason nfl, so not here?
Re this weekends games
.... Not an encouraging outlook for the Bombers for the balance of the season.
Quote from: markf on August 17, 2025, 12:58:41 AMAwe standing over a guy menacing... should have been a penalty.
Refs again not good.
All the BS after a big hit should be a penalty, its so classless it isn't even funny, and players that do that show no respect, so none should be given to them. Especially Awe, biggest D bag in the league!! But still, call that crap and get it out of the game.
I don't understand the IC flag 2Q7:05 on Rene. It's a simple jam within 5Y. It's also the MTL guy mugging him as Rene is trying to get to his RB/QB spy position. Rene is just pushing him off to shed the rub.
The best view is the live shot.
Seriously bad reffing this weekend.
Quote from: The Zipp on August 17, 2025, 12:02:47 AMyikes. see on twitter that Evans is hurt now.
I'm just starting watching.
For those keeping score: another "running QB" hurt while running! Lower body injury. Yada yada "running QBs get hurt less", yeah right.
As for the injury, the contact was very little on his knee, so I think it's another ACL/MCL non-contact injury while he was trying to stop / change direction. Just like we saw the other day.
QBs dropping like flies. MTL in tough. MTL regretting that they hid MBT on the 6GIR right about now!! He should have been dressed as #2 for this game. Watch for his hangnail to be magically cured next week.
2Q0:45 The strip fumble: so stupid. That's textbook stopped forward progress. REC had 2 DBs fully wrap their arms around him. He wasn't going forward. He was just trying to hang on.
It's literally exactly what the rule says. This is exactly why the rule exists. The D can't just mob and gang up to strip the ball.
Literally dumbest thing I've seen in the CFL all week.
Oh, and on the next play with MTL on O, NOW the refs blow the play dead instantly once wrapped up, LOL.
3Q13:57 The DPI challenge by Maas: this proves '25 command is working to a different standard compared to '24 command. In '24 this would not be overturned because in real time it's too close to call. Only in slow-mo can you tell something is majorly wrong. (And it wouldn't have been overturned if called and challenged, too.)
Last year they said "no freeze frame, frame by frame" checking. This year they clearly are allowing slow-mo / freeze frame to decide "subjective" things like DPI. And they aren't shy about overturning. It's actually overturn city this season.
It makes me think even more that we should have challenged some of those awful calls that went against us vs OTT. You'll win a lot more of them now.
This game has no end of bad reffing...
3Q12:58 The MTL TE gets up out of 2 pt stance and walks away from the line to draw BC offside. Great, he's allowed to do that.
BUT before the BC guy actually goes into the neutral zone, the TE's LT buddy snaps his head to the left. It's easy to confirm on the live shot in slow mo. And no, it doesn't matter that Betts is moving early, he can move all he wants: it's whether he's in the neutral zone that matters.
I thought command was supposed to step in for confusing IP/OS calls? Did they get it wrong too? Shambles.
P.S. What a cheap TE-gets-up trick. Maas reduced to that to have a shot at a W. SSK used to do this too.
Quote from: markf on August 17, 2025, 12:58:41 AMAwe standing over a guy menacing... should have been a penalty.
Awe doing Awe things. Dude should be renamed to a Shakespearian-sound King Spear. I was surprised they picked up that flag earlier in the game. Was a total spear. And then command calls this 2nd one spearing when it was half the spear the first one was?! The inconsistency is laughable.
OMG 3Q6:19 MTL jumps offside on hard count by Rourke, which causes the LG to start moving early once he's in the neutral zone. Half a yard in with OL getting up everywhere the C finally snaps it. Huge deep completion to Hatcher.
Easily visible something was amiss in real time. No replay needed except to sort out exactly what happened first (but I called it right as OS MTL).
REFS MISSED EVERYTHING and acted like nothing was wrong. This wasn't a close call, this was an early jump and if you missed that then an IP.
(You can even see it on the replay even though TSN tries to hide it by starting the replay at a late juncture. Frame step pre-snap and the MTL dude is clearly OS and the ball is still on the turf.)
I'm losing faith in the officiating. It's reached a new low.
Wow, Snead channeled his inner Duron Carter facemasking the DB and pulling him aggressively into the turf at the sideline. I haven't seen such reckless garbage since DC was kicked out of the league.
Snead: fine incoming.
P.S. My opinion of him just dropped down 10 notches. He's close to DC poop-list levels now.
4Q14:44 Refs don't even blow the play dead. Just crickets. The 2 players are sitting there on the turf looking around "is the play over yet?". And just decide "yup" and get up.
What is going on?
Quote from: markf on August 17, 2025, 01:42:43 AM.... Not an encouraging outlook for the Bombers for the balance of the season.
I don't know. The only depressing thing from this weekend is seeing that DL of SSK...
I'm very happy MTL is hot garbage. They may be the worst team in the league right now because of injuries to basically everyone who has talent, on both sides. If we play like we did vs OTT we
will beat MTL in 1 week.
HAM also looks beatable. 3 teams have shown us how you can negate Kenny. 2 teams have managed to do it without sacrificing freebies to the other RECs. And if anyone knows Kenny's weaknesses, it's us.
BC we don't play anymore, so who cares if they are good now.
And SSK gets to lose to a bye-week-rested CGY next week.
If anything, things are looking up until LDC! If we can win the Banjo Bowl, and get Pokey, Lofton, Parker & Schoen back before the 3rd SSK game, we could be a powerhouse wreaking all sorts of havoc.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on August 17, 2025, 07:14:59 AMQuote from: TecnoGenius on August 17, 2025, 07:14:59 AMI don't know. The only depressing thing from this weekend is seeing that DL of SSK...
Assuming no injuries, BC, Stamps, Riders all have better quarterbacking than us. Maybe even Elks have better than us.
Even if we have fixed our D problems, that is a tough obstacle.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on August 17, 2025, 05:54:36 AMThis game has no end of bad reffing...
3Q12:58 The MTL TE gets up out of 2 pt stance and walks away from the line to draw BC offside. Great, he's allowed to do that.
BUT before the BC guy actually goes into the neutral zone, the TE's LT buddy snaps his head to the left. It's easy to confirm on the live shot in slow mo. And no, it doesn't matter that Betts is moving early, he can move all he wants: it's whether he's in the neutral zone that matters.
I thought command was supposed to step in for confusing IP/OS calls? Did they get it wrong too? Shambles.
P.S. What a cheap TE-gets-up trick. Maas reduced to that to have a shot at a W. SSK used to do this too.
Ya, they need to change this rule to if you're in the close line play area, whether you're in 2, 3 or 4 point stance, once you're set, you're set, no moving, as doing so is an attempt to draw the D offside. If you line up, you line up, but don't move after you line up.
Henoc on the panel about Awe was so stupid. "He doesn't try to hurt you, but he will bring pain". No, Awe hits in a way that does inflict maximum pain, sure, but he does it in a way that does not prevent him from injuring players.
There are ways to hit to inflict pain and do not increase the chance of injury. But Awe leads with his head too often and hits high.
Shoulder to the solar plexus is the optimal "bring pain" hit. Its tough, its legal, and it can put a player out for three plays just by knocking the wind out of him.
Helmet to helmet, helmet first, shooting for the shins/ankles, hitting high or low is just intent to injure, and has no place.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on August 17, 2025, 06:26:48 AMWow, Snead channeled his inner Duron Carter facemasking the DB and pulling him aggressively into the turf at the sideline. I haven't seen such reckless garbage since DC was kicked out of the league.
Snead: fine incoming.
P.S. My opinion of him just dropped down 10 notches. He's close to DC poop-list levels now.
I love Snead, would put him in my top 5 CFL receivers. Can't feel sorry for any player on defence especially the secondary and LB's, they gang up on receivers all the time trying to intimidate them with borderline dirty hits. Just watch how much extra abuse a receiver like Schoen takes in a game, it wouldn't happen in hockey, an enforcer would come off the bench to punch their lights out for taking liberties with a highly skilled player.
Quote from: dd on August 17, 2025, 03:53:30 PMYa, they need to change this rule to if you're in the close line play area, whether you're in 2, 3 or 4 point stance, once you're set, you're set, no moving, as doing so is an attempt to draw the D offside. If you line up, you line up, but don't move after you line up.
I agree. It's a cheap shot by a usually desperate O. I think we even did it once a couple of years back (was it Mike Miller?) and they flagged us and I think the penalty stood, even though we were allowed to do it. Each season a few teams will try it.
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 17, 2025, 07:54:32 PMI love Snead, would put him in my top 5 CFL receivers. Can't feel sorry for any player on defence especially the secondary and LB's, they gang up on receivers all the time trying to intimidate them with borderline dirty hits.
Ya, but I've only seen a REC slamming a DB to the turf
by the facemask twice in my 10 years of football. Duron Carter and Snead. That's not the type of company you want to be in.
Snead may get max fine for that stunt. That's not a good look on an up & coming player, eh?
Quote from: TecnoGenius on August 17, 2025, 05:54:36 AMThis game has no end of bad reffing...
3Q12:58 The MTL TE gets up out of 2 pt stance and walks away from the line to draw BC offside. Great, he's allowed to do that.
BUT before the BC guy actually goes into the neutral zone, the TE's LT buddy snaps his head to the left. It's easy to confirm on the live shot in slow mo. And no, it doesn't matter that Betts is moving early, he can move all he wants: it's whether he's in the neutral zone that matters.
I thought command was supposed to step in for confusing IP/OS calls? Did they get it wrong too? Shambles.
P.S. What a cheap TE-gets-up trick. Maas reduced to that to have a shot at a W. SSK used to do this too.
Neither of them got it wrong. The head snap and the motion into the neutral zone occurred at virtually the same time. Milliseconds difference, if any. There was nothing the RC could add to the discussion, so they went with the call on the field.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on August 18, 2025, 05:28:33 AMYa, but I've only seen a REC slamming a DB to the turf by the facemask twice in my 10 years of football. Duron Carter and Snead. That's not the type of company you want to be in.
Snead may get max fine for that stunt. That's not a good look on an up & coming player, eh?
Andrew Harris liked to grab the facemask as well and give it a twist as part of his stiff arm, it was the only time he could get some payback.
Quote from: bomb squad on August 18, 2025, 02:38:38 PMNeither of them got it wrong. The head snap and the motion into the neutral zone occurred at virtually the same time. Milliseconds difference, if any. There was nothing the RC could add to the discussion, so they went with the call on the field.
Tenths of seconds. But when it comes to confusing/simultaneous OS/IP usually command will go down to the frame level and call it right. In fact, I would say they almost always get it right when they take this amount of time to look at it. It's one of the things the do well and never stopped the "we can use slowmo/freeze" standard.
This was the rare odd wrong call. Either they didn't see the head jerk move, or for some reason they are saying a head move is legal?
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 18, 2025, 05:30:59 PMAndrew Harris liked to grab the facemask as well and give it a twist as part of his stiff arm, it was the only time he could get some payback.
Ya, but AH *never* took a guy to the ground OOB head first slamming on the facemask like this. You need to rewatch in slow-mo, it's extremely nasty and dangerous. DC's was even worse, but this one was pretty bad.
Guys can get crippled because of this.
AH was smart enough to do it either around an obfuscating mob, or very subtly (and leeward of the nearest ref!).
Quote from: TecnoGenius on August 19, 2025, 04:25:55 AMYa, but AH *never* took a guy to the ground OOB head first slamming on the facemask like this. You need to rewatch in slow-mo, it's extremely nasty and dangerous. DC's was even worse, but this one was pretty bad.
Guys can get crippled because of this.
AH was smart enough to do it either around an obfuscating mob, or very subtly (and leeward of the nearest ref!).
You forget the infamous 2021 Banjo Bowl Brawl in the endzone? :D
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on August 19, 2025, 05:01:47 PMYou forget the infamous 2021 Banjo Bowl Brawl in the endzone? :D
Still not the same thing. That's a post-whistle fight where you know you'll get flagged. And it still wasn't a dangerous full-speed run FM takedown. You can't get crippled from what AH did.
Maybe people didn't really see what Snead just did? You have to watch all the angles and hopefully in slow-mo. Full speed run REC FM takedown of DB. Only Duron has done that before. (At least what was caught on camera.)
P.S. I always said that AH stunt could have easily been an ejection. I think the only reason he didn't get ejected is he was the star player in one of the biggest games.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on August 20, 2025, 07:20:52 AMStill not the same thing. That's a post-whistle fight where you know you'll get flagged. And it still wasn't a dangerous full-speed run FM takedown. You can't get crippled from what AH did.
Maybe people didn't really see what Snead just did? You have to watch all the angles and hopefully in slow-mo. Full speed run REC FM takedown of DB. Only Duron has done that before. (At least what was caught on camera.)
P.S. I always said that AH stunt could have easily been an ejection. I think the only reason he didn't get ejected is he was the star player in one of the biggest games.
Agree 100%
His head-butt of Simoni Lawrence in the Grey Cup game could have been one too!