Halford & Brough in the Morning - The BC Lions Came Oh So Close

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

In hour two, Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd look at yesterday's Week 10 NFL action with CBS Sports' JP Acosta (1:43), which sees the Seattle Seahawks now sitting atop the NFC, plus the boys speak with 3 Down Nation's JC Abbott (25:57) about a disappointing 3-point BC Lions Western Final loss to the Riders. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Now Lutz shifts into the backfield. Charbonnet set back. He gets the handoff. He has some running room. Jumps for over a man. Jump for over a second. Dives for the goal line. He's in. Touchdown. Seahawks. Charbonnet takes to the air. 7.02 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. You're a feature player. It's like Saturday. It's like Saturday. It's like in the sitcom credits, the neighbor at the end. It's like, and featuring this guy. Friendly wave. Yeah.

Good tune, by the way, Greg. People are liking the music today. Bringing in a Monday in style. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show. Easy listening in the morning. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two much lower payments and three, financial peace of mind for the hat trick. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. J.P. Acosta, NFL analyst for CBS is going to join us in just a moment here.

Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason. dot mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. dot mortgage. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step.

To the phone lines we go. Our next guest, as mentioned, NFL analyst for CBS. J.P. Acosta joins us now on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, J.P. How are you? I'm doing good. How about yourself? We're good as well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it.

We're going to begin with the Seattle Seahawks. We played some audio from their big win over Arizona. coming back from break. The Seahawks are now at 7 and 2. Only the Colts, the Broncos, and the Patriots, all at 8 and 2 have better records than the Seahawks. But all those teams are in the AFC.

So I got to ask you, J.P., first and foremost, are the Seahawks the best team right now in the NFC? And if not, how many, if any, teams are better than them? I think if we're just going off of how they've played as a late, I think the Seahawks are the best team in the NFC. The only teams that really, I think, can give them a run for their money are Detroit, Philadelphia, and then you play in the Rams, who you also play next week. But I think the Seahawks have this unique combination of being super, super explosive on the offensive side of the ball,

and they have a defense that has speed and talent at every single level coached by a very good defensive coordinator and Mike McDonald's. So I think that this team, they have so many different levels. through how they can win a football game, and that makes them incredibly dangerous. My next question is, how surprised are you that you're saying these things about the Seahawks through 10 weeks of the NFL season? I'm incredibly surprised, not only because it's Sam Darnold at the quarterback spot, but there's still a lot of meat left on the bone for the Seahawks offense. I mean, in their last game, it's the Cardinals, that was one of their most successful rushing games

of the season, and that was a week 10. They haven't been able to really find their groove on the ground. And so I think that with time, as that run game evolves, if Sam Donald continues to play like this, we could get an absolute wagon of an offense in Seattle. So I think it's been so surprising because there's still meat left on the bone, but the fact that there is still some stuff left to be, some of the more efficiency points to be left to be had for this offense,

and they're still one of the most efficient and explosive offices in the NFL. I think that's a really good sign. Yeah, and as you mentioned, it's with Sam Darnold, under center and there were some questions about the shift from Gino Smith to Sam Darnold in the offseason. You know, we saw how Darnold's season ended in Minnesota. What have Clint Kubiak and the rest of the coaching staff done to put Darnold in a position to have the type of season he's having? Well, I think with Sam Darnold, one of the things that he did well in Minnesota was he is such an aggressive and talented thrower of the ball downfield. He wants to go and take the deep

shots. And so what Clint Kubiak and this offense have done is they have created an offense that forces teams to play in base defense most of the time. That is all their heaviest guys. You get all the linebackers on the field and use the illusion of the run game to open up windows for the passing game. And I think that's huge because when you're in base coverage, there aren't a lot of coverages that you can run. You're not playing a lot of man coverage when you're in base defense because you don't want slower linebackers on the field. You don't You don't have a lot of coverages in the Rolodex when you have three, 240-pound linebackers on the field. So I think that the fact they're able to get base defense so much of the time and an attack downfield,

that has helped Sam Darnel become what he is right now. Yeah, and you talk about meat left on the bone and you reference the running game. The other thing I'm really curious about with the Seahawks offense is how it looks once they get Rashid Shahid fully integrated. of course first game with them on the weekend but he came over you know midweek at the trade deadline understandably not a huge part of the game plan one catch on one target for just three yards but we know what he can do is a deep threat and you talk about an offense that was already very explosive Jackson smith and jigba having a fantastic season what do you think it's going to look like once they get Rashid Shaheed kind of up to full speed and fully integrated well I think when you ask

Shaheed, you have another guy who was a legit four-three-speed player. He is one of the fastest players in the NFL right now, and not only that, but he has a huge, a large rollerdex of 80-plus yard touchdowns, 40-plus yard touchdowns. And it just adds strength

to another strength that the Sealth is shown already, which is throwing the ball deep. On top of that, I think with Shahid on the field, it's impossible to play the same offense in base personnel. Because if you don't want your slower guys, ending up having to cover the fast guys.

So then that could potentially open up some lanes for the run game as well. So I think once they get Shaheed more involved, he already has familiarity with the Clint Kubiak offense. I think that just adds another layer to this offense that I think they're really going to need come playoff time. We're speaking to CBS Sports NFL analyst J.P. Acosta here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650KJP. I want to go to some of these teams that had real bad Sundays.

The Seahawks did great. That was fantastic. There were some teams that suffered really bad losses yesterday. One of them, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, for a franchise that's had a lot of painful losses, this one might be the worst. They were up 19 with a minute and a half to go in the third quarter. They were previously 64 and 0 in games in which they had a lead like that in the third quarter. But they blew it, and it was a devastating loss, not just on Sunday, but for their playoff chances as well.

How do the Jaguars recover after losing 30 to 29? to the Texans on Sunday? This is a gut check time. This is a gut check time for the Jaguars. I think for a team that is led by first year head coach and Liam Cohen, this is a moment where you find out who you have on this team, who you really are. This is the worst loss in Jaguar's franchise history, in my opinion.

As someone who is a Jaguar fan and watching Jaguars basically my entire life, this game felt different. They were up 29 to 10 against a backup course. quarterback. Those games should not end in a loss. You put up 22 points without the Parker Washington return touchdown, but either way, you put 29 points on the number one

defense in the NFL. All you have to do is just put the game away. And the Jaguars were not able to put the game away. I think moving forward, there are some real questions to be had about this offense, but I also think there are questions we had about the defense or some of the sustainability

there. So I think that this was a real, this felt like a real gut check moment and we're about to see what the Jaguars are made of because they're still barely hanging on to that seven seed spot in the playoffs, but they're tied with the Chiefs right now for that spot. So do you trust the Chiefs more moving forward or the Jaguars? And I know who I trust. I want to turn our attention now to Sunday night football and what the Steelers didn't do in the 25 to 10 loss to Los Angeles Chargers. One of the worst individual performances of Aaron Rogers' career, two interceptions. One of

Touchdown, 51.6 completion rate. The worst numbers that he's had in a game in five years. I'm going to play the audio, and it's a short clip, but this is Mike Tomlin's response to asking about what he thought about Rogers' play and how he would review it. We'll play the audio and come back on the other side. Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rogers, right here. How would you have to perform this tonight?

How would you? Next. And next it was, and that was it. What did you make, not just of Rogers' play last night? but also Tomlin's response. Well, I think Tomlin was frustrated in the guy that he chose to help elevate this team beyond performances like this.

When you watch Aaron Rogers last night, the first thing that stood out to me was he looks old. Like, it's sort of like when you see a player that you have always known to be great, but once they get old, some of the stuff that used to work just doesn't work anymore. Like some of the things that Aaron Rogers likes to do

doesn't work because he's so he's old and he's also afraid of contact that's the biggest thing for this offense there was a play in that game where kenneth ganlow was opening the flat on a second down erin rogers goes to throw the ball to him but he sees the smallest flash of color and turns his back and throws an inaccurate ball and his incompletion that stuff doesn't happen with erin rogers erin rogers normally isn't like that but he's older now he's the hits that you used to be able to take at 27 aren't the same as when you get hit and you're 40 years old. So I think the lack of explosiveness from the offense, which also does do with Aaron Rogers' arm strength being diminished just a bit, and in him being afraid of contact, have

turned the Steelers' offense into what it is right now, which is just so constrained and so tight that it takes major acts of goodwill for them to move the football. We're speaking to J.P. Acosta from CBS Sports, our NFL analyst here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. J.P. is a presentation of the Clayton Public House in a league where, like, nothing makes sense week to week. And every time I think that I've got a handle on something, it goes in the exact opposite direction. The Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills 30 to 13 in a result that I, and a lot of people did not see coming. Is that result more about what the Dolphins did or what the Bills didn't do? I think it's more about what the Bills did. did it do and also where the bill's limitations are this year? I honestly thought the defense, despite giving up 30 points, they played fine considering that they had a large majority of their starters out of the game.

It's the offense that is really, really concerning. The offense just feels like they have no juice, no explosiveness at the receiver spot. And there was a report before the game that they tried to trade for Jalen Waddle. They were in for Chris Olavay. They're in for Rashid Shaheed. They knew what they needed and still couldn't get it. So this offense just feels so tight because everybody is on top of each other in the offense. Everybody operates and thrives in that same 10 to 15-yard range in the middle of the field.

It's like having a basketball team full of 12 guys who shoot mid-range jumpers really well. Eventually you're going to need a three-point shooter. Eventually you're going to need somebody to stretch the floor. They need their floor spacer in this offense, and they don't really have that guy right now. They have guys who are fast, but they are fast moving across the field and not down the field. JP, we started off by talking about some of the top teams in the NFC, and a pretty good Monday nighter involving two of the best teams in the NFC tonight. The Eagles visiting the Green Bay Packers.

What are you watching for in this one? I'm watching for which team is able to be. more efficient through their ground game. I think the Eagles sort of found something a little bit with their six office of linemen sets, with their jumbo sets. And then the Packers have had this really up and down season where they haven't been able to run the ball effectively. I think their ineffectiveness running the football has sort of made it a little tough

on Jordan Love and the Packers' offense to convert all these third and longs. And now without Tucker Kraft, he's out for the rest of the season with torn ACL. So you're going to have to find different ways to win after the catch. and it's going to be a big Matthew Golling game. It's going to be a Xavier-Williams game. So I'm curious how Matt LaFleur finds some more explosiveness and yards after the catch opportunities for the Packers' offense because Tucker Kraft was a large part of why the Packers' offense was so great.

And they're going up against a defense that really limits explosives. So you're going to have to create in the short-to-intermediate parts of the field. JP, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do this this morning. We really appreciate it. Enjoy Monday night football. And as you mentioned, it should be a good one. We'll do this again soon.

Of course. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate that. That's J.P. Acosta, our NFL insider from CBS Sports here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. As mentioned, that is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors.

Visit them online to the Clayton Pub.com. Okay. I want to get into some of these other NHL stories from the week. Case you missed it, hour one of the program is in the books. You can download the podcast, Apple, Spotify, PetSmart, wherever you get your podcast, go get them now. And we spent a lot of time talking about the Vancouver Canucks.

We got local, did a short but concise recap of both the BC Lions and Seahawks games. Hadn't had a chance to talk about what else went on in the National Hockey League this weekend. Shall we carve out a moment, Jamie Dodd, to talk about and praise Connor Bardard. Yeah, we probably. Well, I think there's two.

really interesting kind of big picture storylines happening in the NHL right now and one of them is Connor Bedard Maclin Celebrini and Leo Carlson I'll throw him in as well sure all three of them future Canucks that's right hey don't roll don't rule out Leo Carlson

well maybe all three once Fadr and Celebrini are here he's going to want to come too obviously Swedes do love Vancouver Vancouver that's a good point so I'm not ruling it out but what they're doing at the top of the NHL points leaderboard is so impressive. And it ties into the other story from you, which is just how muddled the standings are right now. But we can talk for a second before we get to that. I mean,

it was on the replay show here while we were talking to J.P. Acosta. Connor Bedard's wrist shot is just absolutely outrageous. And we knew that, of course. But now he has the rest of the game as well to really make that the weapon we all thought it would be. And it's just, it's really just fun to watch both of these guys live up to the hype and live up to the promise in real time. So yesterday in a 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings as Chicago continues to play very good hockey, Bedard scores on the power play 59 seconds in and eventually finishes the game,

not just a 5-1 winner, but also atop the NHL scoring leaderboard. Here's what the goal sounded like, courtesy our old buddy Rick Ball as Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks beat Detroit 5-1. all three of his assistant calgary were primaries and he scored that terrific goal to make it four zip and he's got the puck now but ar with a shot score he's caught him in art oh my goodness what a shot by number 98 to make it one nothing hawks 59 seconds into the game so where are we at here 18 points in his last eight games already the youngest chicago black hawk ever to reach 150 career points so they've got a list of fairly prominent guys who under the age of 21 have racked up 150 plus points since Bedard is still under the age of 21. He will soon catch Denny Savard. He already grabbed, I can remember who he passed earlier,

but he's got Savard and Patrick Kane in his sights, and then Eddie Olick's going to be the one. He's got 180 points before turning 21. I bring all of this up because the Bedard Revenge Tour, which was quiet and kind of understated, but everyone that paid attention to what he was doing in the offseason knew that he was not happy with how last year went. It's going better than anyone imagined.

And I, for one, incredibly happy for the individual because I watched last year. I saw the level of frustration that he had, especially in that game in Vancouver, which I think it was probably a low point for him last year, the 14 penalty minutes. His team obviously wasn't playing well. And that's the other big part of this is that it's not Bedard putting up good points. He's not a good point bad team guy. The Blackhawks look like they've taken another step and another iteration in their development. I hate to see, quite frankly.

I don't want to see that organization do anything good ever again. But for the purposes of Badaard, I'll allow it, right? And it looks like he's on a very upward trajectory. To be honest, it makes me sick. I'm happy for Badaard. I'm really genuinely happy for Badaard for all the reasons you laid out. But it's a great point. It's not just like, oh, well, this is a bottom feeder.

Hey, but it's fun to see him go out and do cool things. They're in a playoff spot right now. They've won three games in a row. And I don't know if I would bet on them to make the playoffs right now, but they don't look like a complete fluke either. They're doing some fairly impressive things. And you have a guy who's capable of putting up 18 points in eight games like Connor Bedard. That can cover up a lot of flaws. And this is part of the story with this trio of young players. The San Jose sharks have won three games in a row. Remember when their

coach was like offering to auction up a child for a win? It's true. They beat the Panthers. They're seven, two and one in their last 10. All of a sudden, they're kind of in the playoffs. mix and I'm even less confident in them than I am the Blackhawks but I think the point is they're not a rollover anymore they're not a team that you remember a couple years ago and it was like oh we're going to San Jose we're going to score 10 goals tonight. It's going to be so much fun. And it felt like that on a regular

basis. They ain't that anymore and then we really got to talk about the Anaheim Ducks and I know Carlson's not as big a name and he doesn't have the Vancouver connection like Celebrini and Bedard and it's not just the Leo Carlson show there. They've won seven in a row. They have the second

best record in the Western Conference. And the last five of those wins, 4-1 over New Jersey, 7-3 over Florida, 7-5 over Dallas, 4-3 and over time over Vegas, 4-1 against Winnipeg. That's a who's who of really, really good teams in the NHL. And if the ducks were like, oh, they're this plucky fun team, but now we'll see, you know, they'll wilt when they go up against the best of the best. instead they've thrived and if you want to tie this back into the Canucks the biggest story for the Canucks playoff chances over the last week

might have nothing to do with the Canucks themselves it might be the fact that Anaheim looks like they're not going anywhere anytime soon in the Pacific Division. Yeah, Anaheim's got Carl, by the way, I should have mentioned that Bedard's lead atop the NHL scoring leaderboard lasted for a grand total of one day because Nathan McKinnon had five points.

He was like, I'll score five points tonight. But Carlson and Bedard are tied for second in the NHL on scoring. And along with Carlson, Anaheim also has Cutter Goce who's been fantastic. He actually had another goal last night. They got wiped off the board after VAR came in and ruled it was offside for the duck. So that would have made a 5-1 against the Jets. It ended up being a 4-1 win. It's an important thing to bring up because when we had

Drans on the show last week, he talked about the rebuilds in San Jose and Anaheim and Chicago. And have they surpassed the Canucks in terms of where they're at in their trajectory, two of those three teams are in the division, right? I mean, two of those three teams right now with San Jose and Anaheim are direct competition in the Pacific that you're going to be seeing an awful lot of, which means over the next few years, the Canucks are going to see an awful lot of Mackin-Cellibrini and Will Smith. And then when they go to Anaheim, it's going to be Leo Carlson and Cutter Goce. Now, another team in the Pacific Division that made a lot of noise over the

weekend was the Edmonton Oilers. And on Saturday, for those that missed it, The Edmonton Oilers got absolutely throttled 9-1 to the Colorado Avalanche. Their worst loss at home since 2009, when they lost 10-2 to the Buffalo Sabres. I did not look that game up. I cannot believe that the Sabers went anywhere and beat a team 10-2, but they did it. It was over 15 years ago. Take my word for it. It happened.

The fallout in the aftermath of that loss in Edmonton has really been something to watch. Connor McDavid, furious at practice yesterday, was yelling. at a bunch of different people, including Evan Bouchard. It's another shame spiral. It is. Now, I want to play this audio, and it's a brief clip. Hopefully it's a little clearer than the muffled Mike Tomlin clip we played earlier, but I want to play this.

Chris Knoblock was asked after that 9-1 loss to Colorado about his goaltending. And it's not necessarily what he says, but it's more about how he says it or the time it takes to answer the question. It's a small clip, but I want to leave. listeners to hear it to see what you think about what Chris

not. I'm going to call him Chuck Knoblock. Chris Knoblock had to say or didn't say about his goalies. Here is Oiler's head coach Chris Naubleck following a 9-1 loss to Colorado on Saturday. Is this team losing some belief here when it comes to the goaltending situation? I don't believe so. Well, that's a ringing endorsement, isn't it? Wow. Can we do it one more time? Can we do it one more time?

I want to play it one more time, and then maybe eight more times during the show. But one more time at least. Here again, the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, Chris Knoblock, answering a question about his team's belief in his goaltending. Is this team losing some belief here when it comes to the goaltending situation? I don't believe so. Nice. What took longer to process?

His answer to that question, or me processing the Blue Jays World Series loss? So in light, I don't know, in light of that, this is the perfect time to pivot to tonight's one to watch, brought to you by Limitless A.V. Yeah, not bad, right? I'm pretty good at this thing. I'm not good at it. So the Edmonton Oilers are back in action tonight.

And I was trying to think, like, who's the one to watch? Because you could say the obvious one is whoever's a net for the Edmonton Oilers, right, given what happened on the weekend. But I think I might pick Connor McDavid. Because Connor McDavid is an angry man right now. There's a big story up at the front page of nchl.com talking about McDavid ripped into his teammates for being flat, how he promised a better effort

the next time out. Well, the next time the Oilers are out is tonight. They host the Columbus Blue Jackets who we saw in Vancouver over the weekend. It's a 5.30 start, and I'm going to say, let's make Connor McDavid tonight's one to watch brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audio-visual integration experts,

specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. book your personalized tour of their experience center today at limitless a.v.com. First half hour of hour two is in the books. Coming up on the other side, we're going to dive deep into the BC Lions and what happened in the West Final in Saskatchewan over the weekend. J.C. Abbott from Three Down Nation is going to talk to us about a heartbreaking, heartbreaking loss for the Lions as they failed to advance to the Grey Cup. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet, 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Grants.

Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekday. from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 733 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It's the Halford and Brough show. No Brough, though.

He's on vacation. Jamie Dodd's with me every day this week. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a death freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two, much lower payments, and three financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We're at the midway point of the show. show. J.C. Abbott from Three Down Nation is going to join us to talk about that heartbreaking

loss for the BC Lions in the Western Final, the CFL, on Saturday. Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason Hominoch at Jason.orgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.morgia. To the phone lines we go, J.C. Abbott, Three Down Nation, BC Lions reporter, joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, J.C. How are you? I'm doing great, guys. How are you?

We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. As always, we appreciate it. Bookending the weekend. J.C. was in on Friday, previewing the Western Final now back on Monday to talk about what was, look, if this show was out of Regina,

it would be about what a great comeback it was for the rough riders, but we're in B.C., mercifully and thankfully. I got to ask you, how big a blown opportunity was this for the B.C. Lions? I think it was a massive blown opportunity. for the lines, right? They had not just one, but two opportunities to kill this game with the lead, and they couldn't get a first down either time, and then at the end, you know, that touchdown wasn't a foregone conclusion. That was a long drive that the Saskatchewan

rough riders had to make, and a defense that I thought did a reasonably solid job against the pass for much of the night, got really soft. They could can get pressure with a three-man rush, and they gave up, what in my opinion is the only plays that you can't give up in that scenario, which is those intermediate shot plays, right? Because if you give up something underneath and you rally, that's okay. You're not giving up much yardage, you kill a bunch of clock. And frankly, if you give up an 80-yard touchdown, well, then at least Nathan Roark has 40 or 30 seconds to try and march the field and get a field goal.

but because you give up two 20-yard chunks and then the touchdown, now all of a sudden there's only 11 seconds left and it's no longer a feasible situation for the offense to make a play in, and that costs in the game. So a really disappointing ending for the BC Lions. You know, this is not a team that people had pegged as a West Final or a Great Cup contender at the start of the year, certainly not even at the mid-season mark where I wasn't sure

they were going to make the playoffs. They turned it around. They exceeded expectations. They took a lot of steps in the right direction. But in the end, they couldn't get it done. You know, we'll stick with the defensive side of the football before we talk about the offense and their inability to salt the thing away. But there's a few different takeaways there.

One, I guess if we're going to do these either or questions, was it the conservative defensive play calling that cost the lions in the end? Or was the execution of the guys on the field? Look, I think there's a little bit of both there, right? Mike Beneviggis isn't without, you know, some faults in all of this. I didn't love the fact that they went with three-man rushes in that scenario. I think you need to get a little bit of pressure on Trevor Harris, right? And make him uncomfortable.

I think you need to put the onus on him to make a play versus sitting back. So I don't love those calls. but if you look at the plays on that drive that really hurt the lions, it's the players on the field that aren't quite situationally aware enough to make the plays, right? Sam Emless picks up 20 and the linebackers are looking too low with no threats there. You've got, you know, Dante Myers comes to put them in the red zone at the three-yard line, and there are five BC Lions defenders on that play, all within, a clear view of that receiver and none within, you know, three yards of him, right?

That can't happen in that situation. And so I think some passive play calling led to some passive play by the defense, and the players on the field just didn't execute up to the level that they've shown over the last little bit. Because let's be real, guys, a big reason why this team was in the West Final is the defense figured it out. They turned it around, but this looked like that lost to Hamilton. It looked like that lost to Ottawa when everyone thought the sky was falling. They regressed in the final minute of this game. Well, I mean, that's another reason that this is so frustrating, I think,

is that the thing that you thought they figured out, and on the defensive side of the football, it wasn't just, you know, everything. There was a specific weakness this team had giving up plays in the crunch, in the clutch moments, and however you want to define that. I think everyone knows what we're talking about. and it looked like they had it sorted until the biggest moment of the season. That's got to add to the frustration as well. I think it does, right?

And that's something that there will be a whole off-season to look at and examine how you handle that scenario. I talked to T.J. Lee yesterday, and he said it was just the little things, right? He said you wish he took his mouth guard out on that series because they were just passing the ball, and he didn't think he communicated well enough. with the rest of the secondary because he had his mouth guarded because he was worried about having to tackle AJ let, right? And it's little things like that where, you know,

they were not on the same page in that secondary in the clutch moments and that can't happen again next season. If you want to be a contender and you want to get to the Grey Cup, then you're going to have to revamp that unit a little bit and make sure that in these critical late game situations, you have the guys who can make plays. We're speaking to J.C. Abbott from Three Down Nation here on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650, recapping the BC Lions, heartbreaking loss to the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the West Final.

What did you think of Nathan Rourke's play overall, never mind the last couple of minutes and not being able to salt the game away on offense, but Rourke's overall game in the West Final? I thought he played very well, right? He missed a couple of throws. There was one behind Keoghatcher early. There was the interception, which was catchable, but a little bit behind Hatcher, I'm sure, a throw that Rourke would want back. But overall, he did what he does. And some of the plays that he made in that game were absolutely phenomenal, some of the escapes.

I mean, the stat line in terms of sacks, I believe it was only three they gave up, wasn't horrific. But there was a lot of pressure on him from that Saskatchewan Interior. and there was a few plays where he was entirely wrapped up dead to rights play was done and he found a way to make it happen I don't think you can pin this loss on Nathan Rourke in any way, shape or form those final two drives

on the first one it seemed like there was some miscommunication on that play the snap comes a little bit hot and early Rourke has to roll out there's a little bit of pressure on him. The receivers aren't open. He's forced to throw it away and a penalty because the lines didn't

line up right. So a disaster just across the board for the entire team. I don't think you can pin that on Rourke. And then the second and three QB draw, you know, I know there's some people that criticize that play call from Buck Pierce.

To me, if you're going to put the ball in anyone's hands with the game on the line, you want it to be Nathan Rourke. And I think that play would largely be successful, but Van der Horvath got beaten in the hole, playing and simple, right? That was a one-on-one block, and A.J. Allen, Egan's lunch with textbook technique, and that's the reason Nathan Rourke got stopped, right? A guy just got beat. And I think you can look at it and say, okay, perhaps you should have flexed Horvath out, because when you've got a 230-pound running back in the backfield,

the defense is going to re-run and now you're not getting the look that you want for a draw play. I think that's valid. But ultimately, this team was one block away from potentially going to the Grey Cup. I think if Zander Horvath

is able to beat A.J. Allen on that play, Nathan Roark gets the yardage he needs. And AJ Allen made, what I think is the best defensive play of the year from just a technique standpoint and stopped them short. Rourke's quarterbacking counterpart, Trevor Harris, gets the accolades in the end and the heroics for throwing the game-winning touchdown.

But I got to ask you, J.C., was it actually a catch? Well, that seems to be the hot topic this week because there are people in the Lions organization who do not think that was a catch. Most importantly, owner Armardomond, who is generally pretty quiet. on social media, but decide to share some still shots of the catch, which he believes showed that the ball

touched the ground. General manager Ryan Rigmeadne yesterday told the media that he thought it was obviously not a catch. T.J. Lee also felt that it was not a catch. For my money,

I think it was a catch. I think what Amar Doman has circled there is actually the receiver's elbow. With that being said, I think there's some valid doubt when you look at the tape and does the ball move a little bit. I think it did touch the turf at one point. Was it fully under control? There's some skepticism there, but there's nothing definitive on the replay. And when you calling a catch on the field, and I think that was ultimately the right decision by the officials. And there's really nothing definitive to say either way in the angles that TSN was

able to show because there's bodies in the way and the goalposts and the camera's blurry, there has to be a catch. Whether it was or not is irrelevant. I think the call was made correctly by the command center because they did not have any information that could have overturned that. And, you know, it's interesting, certainly, that the lions are taking this stand and that Amar Doman is making his feelings felt. Yeah. Certainly makes for some good fodder, but I think the best perspective on it, you know, came from Nathan Rourke, who said, you know, you can't change it now. So whether it hit the ground or not, you know, the lions had to be better in other scenarios in that game

and ultimately if Tommy Neal dropped that pass, the riders would have had two more shots from the three-yard line and I have a hard time believing they wouldn't have scored in that scenario. So the BC Lions season ends in disappointment but a lot of positives from it, the big lengthy winning streak to end the season.

Nathan Rorke's standard of play throughout the year was fantastic. So reasons for optimism moving forward. What does the off-season have in store? Prognosticate and predict what happens this off-season? and then what the lines need to do going into next year? Yeah, there's some key pieces that have to be locked up.

I think that's the first priority. We'll have our full BC lines pending free agent list, either tomorrow or the next day out on three-down nation. Biggest name of the bunch is Keon Hatcher, right? The league's leagging receiver. He has taken less the last couple of years since his injury has never really seen the benefit of the first time that he led, the CFL in receiving, and I think he wants his money now, and he should, because he's been

the best receiver in the CFL. The question for the BC Lions is, how do you get that in with what you're already paying Rourke and Matchy Betts and Justin McKinnis, among others? That will be a critical negotiation, and I expect that it will last a while between Ryan Rig Maiden and Keon Hatcher. Other key names that have to be under contract. The offensive line, most of them are up. Jarrell Broxton, the outstanding left tackle. I think he would be a key re-edition. Defensive tackle, Jonah Tavai, who was spectacular.

This year is another name that jumps out. Running back James Butler, you have to make a decision on him as well. And then in the secondary, which we touched on a little bit earlier, you've got two 34-year-olds. T.J. Lee, we saw his time at the lines was over. He was such a big addition for them. down the stretch, do you run it back with him or do you try and go with the youth movement again? And the same question goes for Gary Peters, who for a long time was the best cornerback in the

CFL. I don't think that's the case anymore. He's not at the bottom of the pack, surely, but he showed his age this year. He was playing through a very serious knee injury one, which I believe might even require some off-season surgery, depending on what the doctors say here. So at 30, years old, his time with the Lions might be done. You're going to have to find some new pieces in that secondary going forward because I don't think

it's sustainable to keep relying on guys at the end of their careers to make the plays for you. Oh, JC, this isn't officially goodbye. We'll still check in with you as we get closer to the Grey Cup and then anything that happens significant this offseason. But with the Lions season now officially coming to a close

on behalf of the entire crew here at the show, I wanted to thank you for all of your coverage this season. It's been excellent. It's been great chatting with you on a near weekly basis. Enjoy the Grey Cup. Enjoy some well-deserved time off. And thanks again for everything this season. Well, thanks for having me on, guys. It's really been a pleasure. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. That's Jay C. Abbott. B.C. Lyons reported from Three Down Nation here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Okay, quick pivot as we keep it local, but go back. This is your home of the Canucks SportsNet 650. So some Canucks chatter here ahead of

Kevin Woodley, who's going to join us on the other side of the break to kick off the 8 o'clock. hour. It was a big weekend for the Vancouver Canucks. There was a lot of action on the ice. There was a lot of news off of it. A lot of people weighing into the Dunbar Limer text message in basket as well. Brock from Vancouver Texan, we really need to start acknowledging EP40

and his play on the ice overall. That defensive performance over the weekend is something that needs to be studied. We would have never seen that under Rick Tocke. Why is that? Brock from Vancouver. So I agree with part of your text, Brock. I have quibbles with others of it. I agree that EP40

deserves credit for his defensive effort, his defensive performance, the, you know, the faceoff burden that he's carrying all of that. I kind of disagree, one, that we wouldn't have seen that under Rick Tocket because he was really strong defensively last year. I mean, you remember the famous Selke game against the Leafs, right? He's blocking shots. He's doing a lot of these things. I mean, he 40's been an excellent defensive player for basically his whole career. He's had that kind of upside, that kind of ability on the defensive end. And he's been. He's been an excellent defensive player. end I also like he says we got to start acknowledging it haven't we been acknowledging it isn't that part of every discussion we have about alias peterson that hey he's doing some really good things on the defensive end and I don't want it turn it just into boilerplate right because that's often what it is it's you know hey okay I get it he's blocking shots but we need more I get what Brock is saying we need to actually give the credit and not just brush over it at the same time we do need more here's the one thing I'll say about the defensive performance.

I hope it puts to bed the idea that he's checked out, right? And you guys see the text, I'm sure, and we see them on Canucks stock. Oh, he signed the contract and he doesn't care anymore now, but he got paid. He definitely cares.

He is trying really hard to help the team win. And he's trying to find ways to help the team win. And sometimes it's laying out and throwing his face in front of a pocklate in the game like he did against Columbus. And I think he deserves a ton of credit for that.

It's, so I don't want it just to be boilerplate that we brush over it. I think Brock's right. We do need to acknowledge it and give him appropriate credit. But we can do that and also say it's a big problem that he's on pace for 53 points in 82 games. Both things are very much true. People keep asking if I'm back and I haven't really had an answer. But now, yeah, I'm thinking I'm making progress.

But I actually don't think he is, making progress I think is the wrong way to put it. I think he's just a very different player than he was earlier in his career. And he focuses much more on the defensive side of things. And he doesn't have game-breaking offensive moments anymore. For some, though. Yeah, I'm thinking he's a very different player than he was early in his career. Now we've got to re-record the clip. I will say, I think with that clip in particular,

it was more a nod to everyone. Desperately, yeah. But looking for the signs. The signs. What are the signs? Where are the signs? And for some, the dedication to the defensive. side of the game is a sign of, and you're right, it's erroneous, but for a lot of people

it's a sign of a player that is finally rededicated and re-engaged and reinvigorated. And Bruffs pointed this out too. It's never been a question of commitment or heart or dedication or effort. No. Or giving a crap, quite frankly. That's been there. The offensive side of the game, as at times seems suffocated because of the player's own doing, passing up shots. always looking to defer on the offensive side of the game. The defensive side of the game, it's been there. There have definitely been, I would say, more louder, more noticeable defensive plays this year.

But at the same time, everyone's always going to be wanting for the offense. No matter what you do in terms of your Selky resume, everyone's going to want more offense because you're getting paid $11.6 million and that number is always going to be hanging out there. And even beyond the cap hit, the whole theory of this team, is Elias Pedersen needs to be the best, capable of being the best forward on a Stanley Cup winning team. That's what he was signed.

That's what he was signed to be. Yep. So cap hit, whatever, that's the role he's supposed to be filling on this team. And despite the incredible defensive performance, he's well short of that standard right now. And until that changes, he's always going to be a major topic of conversation because if he's not going to be that guy, if he's not going to be the guy capable of, going toe to tone a playoff series and besting Jack Eichel or Nathan McKinnon or go down the list, well, where on earth are they going to find that guy? And, you know, as you say,

the defensive conversation, I think sometimes there's this idea that, well, he's not scoring because he's sacrificing his offense to play defense. And, you know, actually, that's good because it's helping the team win. And it doesn't matter how many points he scores as long as the team is winning. Patrick Alvin said something similar on after hours, right? I'd rather if a team got 100 points, then him get 100 points, and he's playing the right way. And I can buy that to a degree, but then you see the moments where he has the puck in the offensive zone. Yeah.

Okay, you're not playing defense. Now's the time. And it's just not the same player. An unsigned text came in literally why you were making this point. It says defensive specialists make $5 million a year. I mean, it's the only way you can look at it in a hard cap league is like he does bring a lot of these things on the defensive side of the puck to the table. but you're not paying the premium for that.

You're paying the premium for the Nathan McKinnons of the world who can put up offense, which wins games. Like, I understand that, you know, keeping pucks out of it is a big part of it, but there's more guys that can do that. Yes. There are more, right? And a lot of it has to do with the guys

that are willing to roll up their sleeves and do the dirty work. And it's very noble and admirable that a player of Pedersen's ilk has committed to the degree that he has. But he's going to have to score. And to be quite honest, I'm actually, this is a lot like the endless cycle of the rebuild conversation.

We just get stuck in these conversations somehow. You can't keep saying the same thing over and over again. Or can you? But maybe you can. It's nice that they were able to manufacture some offense. Actually, you know what? If you want to go to someone on the high end of the salary scale who performed well last night, I thought Hughes's offensive game was very dynamic.

I think he finished with seven shots on net. in just under 20 minutes of ice. I know that his defensive work drew some consternation and criticism online for not tying up a stick, and I get that. It's not perfect, but it's sort of the age-old thing with the

makeup of this team. It's like, well, if you could, just imagine a world where you've got Hughes playing at the level where offensively and defensively is at his peaks, and you could say the same of Pedersen, you are looking at a totally different team. Then you throw a healthy Demco into the mix, and then what are you looking at?

You're looking at a team where, again, the president of hockey ops has said, if everything goes right for this team and everything goes according to plan, we're going to be fine. But it's not that way right now. Demko didn't play it all on the weekend. Patterson was without a point. And Hughes was very good, offensively, and very dynamic, but there are still some flaws in the defensive side of things.

And it's just where it's where they're at right now. And a big reason why they're 8, 8 and 1 and the very definition of a 500 team. Okay, we're up against it for time. two hours of the show are in the books coming up on the other side Kevin Woodley, NHL.com and Ingle Magazine is going to join us. Got a lot to talk about with Kev

both in terms of what the Canucks did on the ice and then this whole situation with Demco and what was the term that they used for the preventative maintenance? Preventative maintenance. What is it? How do you spell it? Can you pronounce it without stumbling? We will try. In the final hour of the program, you're listening to the Halford & Breath Show on SportsNet 650.