The Lions may have gotten that first win, but they came crashing back to earth this week, falling hard to the Arrows in a disappointing 19-3 defeat, with the team once again unable to get anything offensively on the board bare a field goal from Orlando Norris, who is proving to be a suitable replacement to Jeffery Paz this season, already looking like a top ten kicker across the league, however, it wasn’t a field goal to keep the game close, it came late in the fourth quarter when the game was basically all but over for the Lions once again, with Penrith forced into an interception, a missed field goal and nine straight punts, while the Arrows just ran riot over the Lions, with running back William Dugan rushing for 73 yards and quarterback Yuan Shao throwing for a season-high 269 yards and while he was sacked three times, the touchdown late in the first quarter was the spark that the Arrows needed and got to push forward.

After another loss, some have wondered if the days are numbered for Roy Rodriguez, but after the game he was asked about this very thing and immediately shut it down:-

“Honestly, I have a contract. End of discussion. Ownership and I discuss the team week after week, and we are confident together that we will get through this rough patch, and we will be better out the other side for the tough times. I have a contract, I know that it’s very easy for the ownership group and the board to just terminate that contract, but our conversations have always been positive, and we are all on the same page and frankly speaking, it’s not going to do any good to go around making rash decisions just for the sake of a so-called bump that may not even be there. We are going to keep doing what we do each week, and that is pushing ourselves even harder and pushing to make things better for the short-term and the long-term, for the team, for the franchise and for the community”.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Lions, as they welcome the Derry Mean Machine to The Lions Den this week, a team that has clearly bounced back from the opening two losses to wipe the Lengths off the map 27-6, and will look to get another solid victory on the books, as they work towards another divisional push, while the Lions will look to just get another win, but a win over a postseason contending team, could be a positive and uplifting thing for a roster that just looks lost, and a team that just seems to have lost it’s way. Derry look to be back to their winning ways, a solid run game, and a passing game that is firing on all cylinders now, with the likes of Gunner Nagel and Frank Bell leading the ground game and seeing fifth-year wide receiver K’Waun De Longhe manage a career-high two touchdowns in the victory, on only 54 yards receiving. Quarterback Locrian Fugue is again back to his best, another 158 yards passing, and despite three interceptions, he has found the form that he had towards the end of last season.

On the other side of the field, the Lions are in disarray. The offense is once again struggling beyond all doubt, quarterback Joe Chacon with 7 interceptions, and a solitary touchdown, and 7 sacks, still towards the top of the league, which is now becoming even more of a problem, with some wondering how long it will be that the team preservers with him before moving onto the John Decaro, they have an offense that has scored the sixth least amount of points so far this season, that single touchdown being the only addition beyond the seven field goals from Orlando Norris. Even the trade for Baconthorpe didn’t provide any serious addition or improvement to the offense, with Baconthorpe managing only 24 yards on 2 receptions. However, it’s the defense that is again showing up with Eugene Perry blasting his way through to 15 tackles and Dwayne Tabor with 10 tackles on his own, and defensive end Ernest Delcambre with 2 more sacks, keeping the Lions defense up at the top of most leaderboards throughout the league through the opening three weeks of the season.

The Lions will be without several players, with defensive end Gavin Blair out for at least this game after injuring his arm at practice this week, while rookie fullback Ray LaBlanc also going onto the injury report with a neck complaint, with doctors opting to pull him from the active roster as a precaution. In some good news, linebacker Craig Brinson may likely be returning next week, with his injured ankle recovering much faster than first expected, and while the team have still given a 2-3 week diagnosis, reports are that this was more conservative than anything else, and that they will reevaluate his fitness next week.

Game Prediction: Nah, sorry. Lions aren’t getting the victory here. Derry could easily run the score up, let’s hope they don’t or it stays close.

Penrith once again had a chance to take the game, pushing the Mean Machine to the end of it, but an Alcides Richenbach field goal with 7:50 left on the clock was all she wrote as the Mean Machine managed a tough 10-6 victory over the Lions. The issue again with the Lions is with the offense, with quarterback Joe Chacon being sacked three more times, and intercepted on the opening drive of the second half, with a run game that basically has not bothered to show up at all, and a passing game that can get some yards but no clue what to do once they get the ball, even with Chacon attempting to throw the ball 61 times, a record for him since he threw 60 attempts back in 2026. Whatever has happened to this offense over the last couple of seasons is proving to be a real problem, and something that many are wondering whether or not it will ever be improved on and fixed, so that this team can try to fire on all cylinders, as right now, it is like this team is stuck in neutral or even reverse.

Speaking after the game, Offensive Coordinator Bryan Lynch spoke to the media and addressed not only why he was at the press conference but also about the struggles of the offense this season:-

“Roy actually lost his voice, just after the end of the first quarter, we had to really had to go about the gameplan from the sidelines in a different sort of way, limit Roy using his voice as much as possible, and that was difficult. The guys on the field and the sidelines all knew that the play calling would be done differently for the remainder of the game, and we pulled through. We are all on the same page when it comes to the gameplan, we have the meetings, we all work together in practice each week, so there wasn’t a missed step. Granted, the offense has had some struggles over the last several weeks, going back to last season even, but we are positive that we will get there. It’s a long road, and we will succeed”.

The Lions could have a chance to get back to winning ways, as they finish off their four-game home streak with a matchup against the Los Angeles Earthquake, but with the Earthquake smashing the Rangers 29-2 last week, the game could be another blowout victory for them, or any number of different outcomes. The Earthquake themselves have had some struggles, also at 1-3, and with quarterback Mike Tyson struggling with a single touchdown to his name this season, however, the advantage that Los Angeles has is that they have a run game that can actually also score points for the team, with an average of 81.8 yards between the five players who have had rushing yards this season, compared to the Lions who are at an average of 71.75 yards, which causes more problems. Even both quarterbacks are struggling, Tyson is at a 61.8% pass completion rate this season, where Chacon is down at 52.1%, and for someone who was up at 66.8% back in 2024, he has just dropped off every season after that.

On the injury front, the Lions will be without offensive tackle Dirk Shafter who is likely to miss the next three to four weeks with a nasty cut to his arm, suffered at a birthday party on Sunday night, while the only other serious injury concerns have been with offensive guard Philip Conway and tight end Matthew Dobbins, both of whom will likely miss the next five weeks with leg injuries, both suffered during the loss to Derry. Doctors have confirmed that neither was serious enough to warrant surgery but again they have opted to err on the side of caution with the injuries and the medical report issued earlier this week had both players missing the game, with the Lions opting to bring in both offensive guard Nathan Peterson and veteran tight end Marcus Keillor into the squad, whilst releasing linebacker Everett Keillor and defensive tackle Joseph Brown.

For the Lions to even have a chance at victory, they need to get something going on offense once again, looking back to what went right in previous matches, making changes and just honestly find a way to get back to the good times that this team have seen before, and keep on pushing on with getting back to a contending team, be it for victories and maybe, just maybe one day, a championship.

Game Prediction: Who really knows with this game at the moment? Could honestly go either way.

The wonders of what the Lions actually are came out on full display, with a shutout victory over the Los Angeles Earthquake, a solid 18-0 win that pushed the Lions to a 2-3 record on the season and has given a glimmer of hope that something could come out of this season and after two straight losses, a win like this could really spur on the team heading into what is looking like a strong middle part of the season. The Lions took the game straight out of the Earthquake, forcing a fumble within 90 seconds of the game starting and despite a lacklustre 3-and-out drive worth nothing, they still came out of it with a field goal and, taking on another field goal early in the second quarter, they had the game in their hands and never looked back.

The offense may have found something as well, with wide receiver Chidobe Baconthorpe catching his first touchdown as a Lions player, despite it only being worth 4 yards, quarterback Joe Chacon again was prolific in his passing attempts, with 50 attempts in the game, for 201 yards, however, another five sacks clearly outlines the major deficiency in the offensive line and shows the gap that the Lions need to breach if they are going to get back to winning ways in a more consistent manner.

Finally with his voice back, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was confident that a win like this, even with a lack of offense, showing that the team can perform at a high standard:

“A win like that, it hurts the opposition, but it also shows us that we have a good team that can perform at a high enough level that we can fight for wins each week, and fight for each yard and each score. We have a lot still to work on and a lot that we still need to work and improve on. We can’t just say that because we shut out an opponent that we have managed everything we want and we can rest on that, certainly not. We have things to work on, things that are good, but overall, we have another week to prepare for, another game to be ready for and we will get there this week and come game time, we will be ready to take on our next opponent, this time it’s Porth Emmett”

Porth Emmett being the next opponent, who are facing a crisis of their own, going down 20-13 to Heliopolis last week and looking to bounce back. Their only victory so far this season being a tough and close 1-point victory over Nottingham, and are struggling to find an offense as well, with quarterback Clifford Blake finding it difficult to get the ball into the endzone, with only 751 yards and three touchdowns this season, compared with Joe Chacon who is at 1023 yards but only two touchdowns himself. These two offences have really found it difficult to get anything firing, and a game like this could be a spark that either side needs to get things moving in somewhat of the right direction and while it won’t be a one-game turnaround, it could be that spark.

The injury front for the Lions is not looking good at the moment as the team heads into the middle of the season, with offensive guard Philip Conway and tight end Matthew Dobbins being the worst injuries, both of which are looking at least being off the field for the next month, with very similar leg injuries. The team brought in Marcus Keillor to provide suitable cover in the tight end room, in an attempt to hopefully find something on offense and despite a few minor injuries and niggles on the defensive side of the ball, the defense is looking at being in a much stronger and better position heading into the middle of the season, with the only real concern is with Ernest Delcambre who may also be in line for an early return next week.

Game Prediction: Penrith got that shutout win last week, won’t be a shutout but I think it will be another victory for the Lions

If things could get a bit better, then it happened with the Lions managing another victory, a 12-3 win over the Auctioneers, to pull together a second straight win, the first time they have achieved that since Weeks 10 and 11 last season and to improve to 3-3 on the season. The offense seemed to find a spark, with Joel Coder managing a season, and career-high 76 rushing yards, and wide receiver Chidobe Baconthorpe pushing through with 98 yards himself, also a career-high and for someone who was struggling to get any sort of game time with the Mean Machine, he has come into his own with 233 yards in five games and despite only managing one touchdown in that time, he has shown that a change of scenery has been the welcome change he needed.

Pushing the Auctioneers to 7 straight punts, an average of 11.8 yards per drive off only 32 plays is a positive that the Lions can look at, in the same amount of drives, the Lions averaged 21.1 yards per drive on 36 plays, resulting in a field goal and an interception (which resulted in the Auctioneer’s only points) and despite five punts, as well as an additional two interceptions, bringing Joe Chacon’s total to 13 interceptions (third most in the league), the Lions still managed to hold Porth Emmett off throughout the second half.

Speaking after the game, in what this season has been his first interview, Team Owner Leam Mark Farrar was confident that the team could see that they were improving and that the dark days are getting further and further behind:

“I think we have honestly begun to turn a corner, it’s tough on all of us and we aren’t out of the woods just yet, but I think we can be turning that corner now. It’s still going to be a long road ahead, it’s going to have a lot of speedbumps and crossroads, and we will falter a lot more, but we are not afraid of where we are going and what we are doing. We will get to where we want to be at some point and I know that we have a desire to achieve and perform at the highest levels and I hope that we are getting there with each and every practice, each and every game.”

Penrith now have another away match, as they head into a few weeks of the schedule that could be tough, or they could be easy. First up is the Nice Baguettes, a team that they have failed to beat in three previous attempts, the only victory being all the way back in 2022, and the last up loss back in 2026, the Lions really need to try to keep the momentum going and try to stop the momentum of the Baguettes, who in their last two games, have limited both opponents to field goals, something that the Lions seem to be good at, with Orlando Norris being the third best kicker in terms of field goals, sitting at 88.9%, the Lions have seen an improvement in their average score, managing 15 points over the last two weeks, while being down at 8.5 points over the first four weeks, and when the Lions offense can get firing, they are scoring on average 16.3 points, while when they are restricted, they are down to 5 points on average.

Nice, on the other hand, have an offense that is coming back into it’s own, despite starting 0-4 this season, they have effectively smothered their last two opponents off the back of a solid set of performances from Risky Hail-Mary, who has 425 yards and four touchdowns in those games, along with only 2 sacks and no interceptions, it could be a struggle for a Lions defence that has managed 150 tackles in the last three games, and 10 sacks, with leading tackler being Miguel Logan (44 tackles, equal-7th) and a total defense that has limited opponents to 4.3 points per game over the last three, this could be a defensive struggle, but it could also be a blowout. The Lions will need to be on their best against Nice if they are going to manage a third straight victory.

Penrith head into the game with a small injury crisis, with the worst being John Jones who looks to be done for the next 6 weeks, maybe longer with a serious foot injury, however, the positives were this week that he does not require surgery and will be hopefully able to return to light training in the next few weeks. Tight end Matthew Dobbins failed his fitness test this week and will miss another week as he recovers from a leg injury, as well as losing defensive tackle Aaron James at least for the next month will hurt the defense, they can be confident that the likes of Clarence Hoff and Tony Threatt can bounce back and provide the support the defense needs to keep moving forward.

Game Prediction: Sorry Lions fans, the Baguettes have had our number for a while and this will be another one of them.cv

The Lions might have given the Baguettes a scare, but it wasn’t for too long as Nice headed off the attack and managed a 20-10 victory over Penrith, as the Lions dropped right off in the second half, filled with 7 drives and worth nothing beyond another field goal from Orlando Norris. Quarterback Joe Chacon did basically the same thing that he has done all season so far, a poor 162 yards in the air, tacking on another three sacks, and despite 46 rushing yards, it was worth nothing as the Baguettes ran over the offense, 15 first downs to 6 and a solid 201 yards from Risky Hail-Mary, and with Breadrick Lepain tacking on 62 receiving yards and another receiving touchdown, to drop Penrith to 3-4 on the season and heading into a risky part of the season coming up, it could be a tough few weeks coming up, but a game like this may be alright, despite the loss.

Nice were just too strong, and while the Lions defence again pushed the Baguettes into 8 punts (340 yards from Julio FedEx), they fell short with several aspects, letting in 7 drives over 15 yards (including two straight drives that resulted in touchdowns), they leant too much on the likes of linebackers Mark Bass and Vincent Lopez, both of whom collected 10 tackles, and rookie defensive tackle Tony Threatt coming in with nine tackles for himself. It was once again the offense that struggled to get anything done, the only positive being from wide receiver Dane Blackburn collecting a solid 79 receiving yards and Larry Larson managing the only touchdown for the Lions, his first for the season and now making it a third straight season for him in the endzone.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Roy Rodriguez was confident that the Lions could bounce back, and despite the loss, the team is looking towards the future and the positives from it:

“It hurts a lot to lose any game, it hurts a lot. The guys are hurting, the coaches are hurting and it’s tough on all of us, and it’s tough on our fans and the community. We aren’t going to shy away from the fact that losing sucks, losing hurts, but we are not going to feel sorry for ourselves and want everyone to give in to that, because we aren’t a team like that. We are going to sit down and review the game, as we do each week and make the changes that we need to make, we are going to practice hard, gameplan for the upcoming game against the Wildcats, and we will make sure that come gametime, we will be 100% ready and focussed to take it on again. Next week is just that, another week to prove and show ourselves, our fans and the community that we can achieve great things, and it all comes with hard work and commitment. That’s something we all have abundance of”.

Penrith will now head into Week 8 into a double run of divisional games, starting with a matchup against the 5-2 North York Wildcats, a team that has come even more into it’s own this season to lead the division, and despite a last up 17-3 loss to Cheesy Philly, they have won three of their last four games by an average of 4.6 points, and comparing to where they were last season, they are in a much better position compared to the Lions, who are basically where they were last season this time around, and the Wildcats will also be looking to get another victory on their belt in the division, and keeping their unbeaten record in the division this season which will most certainly give them a leg up as the division title race heats up between themselves and the Fools, a team Penrith don’t see on the field until Week 12.

The Lions honestly need to find a way to get their offense through the dark days, and find a way to make it start working a lot better than it has been right now, while they are ranked 3rd in the league for pass attempts per game, they are letting in almost 34 pass attempts per game, but are struggling at only 4.3 yards per attempt per game (letting in 5.3 yards per attempt) and ranked fourth worst for rushing yards per game (67.6 yards per game), and while the Wildcats are relatively close in comparison, they are seeing a resurgence in their offense as a whole, lead by quarterback Quimbus Baconmaker, with a very low sack count (7 sacks at the moment, fifth best amongst qualifying quarterbacks), 12th most passing yards and 11th best for QBR (74.29). The one stat that has gotten most excited has been Baconmaker passing at nearly 69% this season, at the moment his best season since 2022. Compare that to Joe Chacon, who is down again on last season (54.4% pass completion, 28th in the league), third least touchdowns (3) and the fifth most sacked quarterback in the league with 20 at the moment, there is a concern that his best days are far behind him, with the questions now being how long they will push on with him before handing the keys over to the rookie.

Penrith, do, however, welcome back a few injured players to the active roster for the game this week, with tight end Matthew Dobbins returning to the roster after spending several weeks off with his injury, while they also welcome back defensive end Gavin Blair, offensive tackle Dirk Shafter and Philip Conway to the offensive line, which will hopefully provide a fresh start for an offensive line that has found it difficult to manage much lately. The other only serious concern has been with defensive tackle Aaron James, who is likely to miss another month of football with his ankle injury not recovering as quickly as doctors had thought. Both cornerback Thomas Hartley and wide receiver Chidobe Baconthorpe had fitness tests this week after suffering niggling concerns following the Nice game, but both passed them and will dress for the game, but will likely be watched in more detail from the medical staff, while Michael Nelson also passed after a slight issue with his knee following the game.

Game Prediction: Sorry, don’t see a victory happening here. North York are way too strong again this season.