EDMONTON – It’s an enormous number and a bold goal for any receiver in the Canadian Football League, especially one with one third of his season taken from his schedule. Kenny Lawler knows this as well – or better – than anyone, and yet won’t back away from it – even as audacious and unrealistic as the goal of a 2,000-yard receiving season now seems.
“That was just a number I was looking to before the season,” said Lawler who told reporters before his 2023 debut two games ago that 2,000 yards was his target. “If I played 18 games, I knew I’d be able to accomplish that. That was my goal coming in – (the media) wanted to know and I let them in a little bit on what I was thinking before the season. It still is one of my goals.
“I know I’ve lost six games this year, but throughout my career in the CFL, I plan on touching that. I take it one game at a time. It’s not something I’m fixated on, or I have to accomplish, it is something I’d like to do. I just let the game come to me and if it happens, it happens.”
Some math is in order here as we examine Lawler’s numbers through the two games, he has played…
- He has 14 receptions for 293 yards and a TD in his two starts and that average – 146.5 yards per game – would easily set him to crack the 2K mark over 18 games.
- If he had played in all 18 games, he would need to average 111.1 yards to hit 2K. As it stands, in just 12 games he’d need to average 166.7 receiving yards to hit 2K.
And, just for context, only three receivers in league history have hit the 2K mark – Calgary’s Allen Pitts holds the CFL record with 2,036 receiving yards, set in 1994. Toronto’s Terry Greer was the first to hit the mark with 2,003 yards in 1983 – in a 16-game season, no less – while Derrell Mitchell, also an Argonaut had 2,000 even in 1998. The Blue Bombers record, FYI, is 1,862 yards and was set by Milt Stegall in 1998. Those total ranks him fifth all time in the CFL.
Lawler chasing a spot among that select 2K club certainly wouldn’t have seen far-fetched when the season began, but his six-game absence as the club worked through his immigration and visa issues seemingly put that out of reach. Again, though, if a player lowers his goals, he’s also lowering his expectations. And Lawler, realist that he is, won’t go there.
“You always have to chase something,” Lawler said. “Everyone comes in with their own goals that they want to accomplish, whether it’s breaking the 46-man roster or making the team. My goal always coming into the football season, one, is to make the team. I believe anybody can be cut – I’ve seen it in pro football all the time. I just have to come in in shape and ready to make the team and then I have my goals – all-star and everything – and those are more personal that I keep to myself.”
“I know I worked my tail off in the offseason and I know with the work I put in that if I had 18 games, I know I’d be able to chase that 2,000 yards.”
Asked Wednesday afternoon by CJOB’s Derek Taylor at the team’s arrival at their hotel here in Edmonton if another 200-yard game was possible, Lawler grinned.
“I’m just one of those guys that just goes with the flow of the game, man” Lawler said. “I’m not looking at a 200-yard game, I’m not looking at having a one-catch game. I just go with the flow, and I have a great quarterback who feeds me the ball when he feels like it’s necessary. He doesn’t try to force anything.
“If it’s a 200-yard game, it’s a 200-yard game. If it’s a no-catch game, it’s a no-catch game. As long as I’m able to be on the field and contribute to a win, that’s really what matters.”
Here is the rest of this week’s Game Day Playbook to get Blue Bombers fans ready for Thursday’s road date here in Edmonton against the Elks…
MORE ON #89:
Rasheed Bailey on the return and the impact of Lawler to the Blue Bombers offence.
“You see a guy out there that’s been hungry, that’s been waiting. It’s been a blessing for him and to see and be a part of it. It takes so much pressure off me. I was playing outside, inside, in a lot of different places and having him back really completes us.
“Kenny is more than just a teammate to me, he’s my brother. I love him to death. The best part isn’t football and catching for 200. The best part is going to his house after the game and chilling with his son and his wife because you look at where things were a couple weeks ago, it was looking very dark for him. So, to see him smiling means a lot to me.”
TAKEAWAY:
Great nugget here from Chris Sinclair, aka @Stats_Junkie on what Blue Bombers Demerio Houston has down through the first eight games of the season.
CB Demerio Houston of the @Wpg_BlueBombers has interceptions in 4 consecutive games
The last player to do this for the #Bombers was Winston Rose in 2019
Unofficially, the team record is 5 games in a row with an interception by Tom Casey (1952) & Roy Bennett (1987)#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/JwBkSIesq5
— Chris 🇨🇦🏈 Stats Junkie (@Stats_Junkie) August 8, 2023
Houston has had interceptions in four consecutive games for the squad, leaving him one shy of tying the team record of five, first set by Tom Casey in 1952 and then matched by Roy Bennett in 1987. Houston joins a group at four that includes Casey again (1950) along with Less Brown (1990) and Winston Rose (2019).
“I’m proud of that, but at the end of the day I’m not satisfied,” said Houston this week. “There are bigger goals ahead of me and I’m achieving some of the smaller ones.”
Often overlooked last year was the solid start Houston had before he was injured. He carried that confidence into 2023 and it has only grown further.
“I’m more confident and comfortable with the way I’m playing right now,” he said. “I’m just focused on being around the ball and helping to make our defence more successful.”
3 NUMBERS
1. The Elks’ 21-game home losing streak is by far the longest in league history. Their last home win was October 12, 2019, against B.C.
2. Willie Jefferson and Jackson Jeffcoat are tied for ninth place on the Blue Bombers all-time sack list with 34. Next up at number eight is James West with 37.
3. Zach Collaros has gone five straight games with at least two touchdown passes. His career best is six, set last year between August 25-Oct. 8.
QUOTABLE:
“The joy level is all the way up. It’s through the meter. I get to come in here with my family, man. Any day you get to come in here and get better with a group of like-minded people is a good day. What we do is not work, we love our work. The joy and excitement to be back with my guys in meetings is just through the roof.” – Lawler on finally getting back with his teammates after the six-game suspension.
