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Batman delivered: Alexander Hollins’ career night helps boost B.C. Lions past the Winnipeg Blue Bombers
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Published Jun 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
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B.C. Lions’ Justin McInnis, left, Travis Fulgham, middle, and Alexander Hollins celebrate Hollins’ touchdown during second half of Friday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium. Photo by John Wood/CP /PNG
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Vernon Adams Jr.’s reaction was all of us.
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“How much did he go for?” the B.C. Lions quarterback asked in the post-game scrum, referring to his standout wide receiver, Alexander (Ali B) Hollins.
The answer, 215 yards, turned his eyes into saucers, bought his fist to his face and elicited a Ric Flair-esque “whooooooo!”
“Ali B!” Adams exclaimed. “Dude was open, man. He did what he did. The Bat signal was out, and Batman delivered.”
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It wasn’t just Hollins. The entire Lions team delivered Friday in their 26-24 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium.
But Hollins was certainly the biggest. The Yazoo City, Mississippi, native told offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic he felt like he had 200 in him during the pre-game warm-ups, then came out and did it. It was the most receiving yards in a CFL game since Calgary’s Kamar Jorden put up 249 — also against the Blue Bombers — in 2018. Hollins also put up the highest total since Geroy Simon’s 238-yard game in 2003, and was the sixth-highest total in history.
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Of his seven catches, two were for touchdowns of 71 and 29 yards, but it was his heads-up play in the game’s dying minutes that stood out. On second-and-10 from the Lions 20, and 1:50 left, he caught a 63-yard bomb from Adams that took B.C. down to the Bombers 27. The play call was for Justin McInnis, but Winnipeg lined up in man coverage and Hollins’ ran a skinny post that caught DB Brandon Alexander flat-footed. He got behind the defence but slowed to catch the ball, allowing the Winnipeg defender to get the angle on him, and instead of trying to fight for a few extra yards, Hollins took a knee on the sideline to keep the clock moving. Two first downs later, the Lions were able to kneel out the clock on the one-yard line.
“Man, I just had a great feeling. I always have a good feeling, but I had a great feeling about this game plan,” Hollins said. “Just looking at what they were doing on film, I knew it was probably gonna be a big night for one of us. … I know my team is expecting me to make big plays. And that’s what I did.”
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Hollins, who was the league leader in receptions and targets through two weeks, jumped past McInnis to be the clubhouse leader in yardage as well, with 402 yards heading into the rest of the weekend’s games.
The Lions (2-1) game plan was clear, as it’s been all year: test the defence deep and vertically. Adams led the league in both average passes (10.3), and attempts (20) and completions (9) over 20 yards coming into the game, and was 5-of-7 over that distance against the Bombers (0-3).
The deep ball mitigated the Lions’ inefficiency in the red zone, as they were 0-4 on Friday night. That includes the final drive, which B.C. elected to take a knee on the one-yard line to run out the clock.
Adams finished 21-of-33 for 398 yards and two touchdowns and, behind a revitalized offensive line, was only sacked once. The front five gave their best pass protection performance of the season, opened up holes for running back William Stanback (16 carries, 83 yards) and even caught the ball — Andrew Pierson caught a second-quarter pass for 13 yards, his first career reception.
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“My O-line was blocking their ass off, run blocking everything … it was a great game, man,” said Adams. “(Winnipeg) were getting there … (but) maybe a second too late. That’s giving credit to my O-line. That’s a good D-line, even with some of the guys they have out. Willie Jefferson, is still Willie Jefferson.
“It’s a character win. Man, like I said, we went through adversity. That’s a good team. The records don’t (mean) anything. That’s a great organization with great players over there.”
The win leaves the Lions in second place in the West Division behind the unbeaten Saskatchewan Roughriders (2-0), who host the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-2) on Sunday. B.C. hosts Edmonton next Thursday on yet another short week; the Elks (0-2) faced off with the Argonauts in Toronto on Saturday afternoon.
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/football/cfl/bc-lions/bc-lions-26-vs-winnipeg-blue-bombers-24-alex-hollins