# 2009 BC Lions season

The 2009 BC Lions season was the 52nd season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 56th overall. The Lions finished the season in fourth place in the West Division with a disappointing 8–10 record after losing their last three regular season games. While it was their first losing record since 2001, they still managed to play in the East-Semi Final playoff game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after that same team eliminated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the last game of the season. The Lions would go on to play in the first East Final in franchise history, which they lost to the Montreal Alouettes. It was the sixth consecutive appearance for the Lions in a division final and the third consecutive season that their season was ended by the eventual Grey Cup champions.

## Offseason
### CFL draft

The 2009 CFL Draft took place on May 2, 2009. The Lions traded their sixth and thirteenth overall picks for Hamilton's third overall pick in order to secure the chance to draft Bishop's running back Jamall Lee.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School/Club Team |
| 1 | 3 | Jamall Lee | RB | Bishop's |
| 1 | 4 | James Yurichuk | LB | Bishop's |
| 1 | 5 | Matt Carter | WR | Acadia |
| 3 | 21 | Matt Morencie | OL | Windsor |
| 4 | 29 | Tang Bacheyie | DB | Kansas |
| 5 | 37 | Jonathan Pierre-Etienne | DE | Montreal |

## Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Attendance | Record |
| A | June 17 | at Calgary Stampeders | 37–30 | Loss | 25,463 | 0–1 |
| B | June 23 | Edmonton Eskimos | 31–19 | Loss | 23,217 | 0–2 |
    # Games played with white uniforms.

## Regular season
### Season standings

West Divisionviewtalkedit :
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 514 | 484 | 21 | Details |
| Calgary Stampeders | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 514 | 443 | 21 | Details |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 469 | 502 | 18 | Details |
| BC Lions | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 431 | 502 | 16 | Details |

### Season schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Attendance | Record |
| 1 | July 3 | at Saskatchewan Roughriders | 28–24 | Loss | 30,062 | 0–1 |
| 2 | July 10 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 31–28 | Loss | 26,885 | 0–2 |
| 3 | July 16 | at Edmonton Eskimos | 40–22 | Win | 33,661 | 1–2 |
| 4 | July 24 | Calgary Stampeders | 48–10 | Loss | 27,191 | 1–3 |
| 5 | July 31 | at Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 30–18 | Loss | 20,103 | 1–4 |
| 6 | August 7 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 35–20 | Win | 30,117 | 2–4 |
| 7 | August 14 | at Toronto Argonauts | 36–28 | Win | 24,754 | 3–4 |
| 8 | August 21 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 37–10 | Loss | 27,983 | 3–5 |
| 9 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | 3–5 |
| 10 | Sept 4 | Montreal Alouettes | 19–12 | Win | 27,199 | 4–5 |
| 11 | Sept 13 | at Montreal Alouettes | 28–24 | Loss | 20,202 | 4–6 |
| 12 | Sept 19 | Toronto Argonauts | 23–17 | Win | 27,515 | 5–6 |
| 13 | Sept 25 | at Calgary Stampeders | 27–18 | Loss | 36,702 | 5–7 |
| 14 | Oct 2 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 19–16 | Win | 31,958 | 6–7 |
| 15 | Oct 9 | at Edmonton Eskimos | 34–31 | Win | 30,120 | 7–7 |
| 16 | Oct 18 | at Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 24–21 | Win | 24,048 | 8–7 |
| 17 | Oct 24 | at Saskatchewan Roughriders | 33–30 (OT) | Loss | 30,945 | 8–8 |
| 18 | Oct 31 | Calgary Stampeders | 28–26 | Loss | 27,131 | 8–9 |
| 19 | Nov 6 | Edmonton Eskimos | 45–13 | Loss | 31,515 | 8–10 |
    # Games played with colour uniforms.
    # Games played with white uniforms.
    # Games played with alternate uniforms.
    # Games played with retro uniforms.

### Coaching staff
## Player stats
### Passing

| Player | Att. | Comp | % | Yards | TD | INT | Rating |
| Buck Pierce | 315 | 199 | 63.2% | 2272 | 10 | 12 | 79.5 |
| Jarious Jackson | 155 | 90 | 58.1% | 1252 | 12 | 8 | 88.4 |
| Casey Printers | 68 | 43 | 63.2% | 686 | 3 | 2 | 99.3 |
| Travis Lulay | 36 | 22 | 61.1% | 324 | 2 | 2 | 85.9 |
| Zac Champion | 28 | 8 | 28.6% | 70 | 0 | 4 | −23.2 |
| Paul McCallum | 1 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.1 |

### Rushing

| Player | Att. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Fumbles |
| Martell Mallett | 214 | 1240 | 5.8 | 6 | 2 |
| Buck Pierce | 39 | 276 | 7.1 | 1 | 6 |
| Jarious Jackson | 32 | 143 | 4.5 | 2 | 5 |
| A.J. Harris | 33 | 141 | 4.3 | 1 | 0 |
| Travis Lulay | 17 | 133 | 7.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Casey Printers | 10 | 58 | 5.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Grice-Mullen | 8 | 42 | 5.3 | 2 | 3 |
| Ian Smart | 5 | 26 | 5.2 | 0 | 0 |

### Receiving

| Player | No. | Yards | Avg. | Long | TD |
| Geroy Simon | 79 | 1239 | 15.7 | 62 | 6 |
| Paris Jackson | 76 | 1042 | 13.7 | 57 | 8 |
| Emmanuel Arceneaux | 63 | 858 | 13.6 | 60 | 7 |
| O'Neil Wilson | 35 | 405 | 11.6 | 33 | 1 |
| Martell Mallett | 43 | 342 | 8.0 | 26 | 2 |
| Ryan Grice-Mullen | 20 | 210 | 10.5 | 27 | 1 |
| Rufus Skillern | 15 | 182 | 12.1 | 46 | 0 |

## Awards and records

* CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Ricky Foley, DE
* CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award – Martell Mallett, RB
* Commissioner's Award – Wally Buono

### 2009 CFL All-Stars

* DB – Korey Banks, CFL All-Star
* S – Barron Miles, CFL All-Star

### Western Division All-Star selections

* RB – Martell Mallett, CFL Western All-Star
* SB – Geroy Simon, CFL Western All-Star
* ST – Jason Arakgi, CFL Western All-Star
* DT – Aaron Hunt, CFL Western All-Star
* LB – Anton McKenzie, CFL Western All-Star
* DB – Korey Banks, CFL Western All-Star
* S – Barron Miles, CFL Western All-Star

### Milestones

* Barron Miles recorded his 13th career blocked kick, on a convert attempt by Saskatchewan, on Aug 7, 2009 to become the leader in that category.
* On Sept 19, 2009, head coach Wally Buono became the all-time most winningest coach in CFL history after a victory over the Toronto Argonauts.
* On Nov 6, 2009, Barron Miles recorded his 66th career interception, tying Larry Highbaugh for second all time, finishing the season 21 behind Less Browne.

## Playoffs
### Schedule

| Week | Game | Date | Time | Opponent | Score | Result | Attendance |
| 20 | East Semi-Final | Nov 15 | 10:00 AM PST | at Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 34–27 (OT) | Win | 27,430 |
| 21 | East Final | Nov 22 | 10:00 AM PST | at Montreal Alouettes | 56–18 | Loss | 53,792 |
    # Games played with white uniforms.

### Bracket

| November 15: Division Semifinals | November 15: Division Semifinals | November 15: Division Semifinals | November 22: Division Finals | November 22: Division Finals | November 22: Division Finals | November 29: 97th Grey Cup McMahon Stadium – Calgary | November 29: 97th Grey Cup McMahon Stadium – Calgary | November 29: 97th Grey Cup McMahon Stadium – Calgary |
| | | | W4 | BC Lions | 18 | | | |
| East | East | East | W4 | BC Lions | 18 | | | |
| East | East | East | E1 | Montreal Alouettes | 56 | | | |
| W4 | BC Lions | 34* | E1 | Montreal Alouettes | 56 | | | |
| E2 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 27 | | | | | | |
| E2 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 27 | | | | E1 | Montreal Alouettes | 28 |
| | | | | | | W1 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 27 |
| | | | W2 | Calgary Stampeders | 17 | | | |
| West | West | West | W2 | Calgary Stampeders | 17 | | | |
| West | West | West | W1 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 27 | | | |
| W3 | Edmonton Eskimos | 21 | W1 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 27 | | | |
| W2 | Calgary Stampeders | 24 | | | | | | |
*-Team won in Overtime.

### East Semi-Final

Date and time: Sunday, November 15, 10:00 AM Pacific Standard Time Venue: Ivor Wynne Stadium, Hamilton, Ontario
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
| BC Lions | 3 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 34 |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 3 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 27 |

### East Final

Date and time: Sunday, November 22, 10:00 AM Pacific Standard Time Venue: Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Quebec
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| BC Lions | 3 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 18 |
| Montreal Alouettes | 17 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 56 |