PASSING FANCY
Lions add another weapon to their aerial arsenal
Quarterback Travis Lulay remembers the play like it was yesterday.
In his Vancouver debut at the temporary Empire Stadium on June 23, 2011, the shifty and speedy Chris Williams made an immediate impact against the B.C. Lions.
On the first play from scrimmage, Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Kevin Glenn found the elusive Williams on a quick hook route and the wide receiver scampered through would-be tacklers for a 71-yard gain.
The exceptional effort set up a major and Williams would latch on to another offering for 32 yards to set up another touchdown before scoring one of his own in a wild 3931 victory. It helped propel him to rookie-of-the-year honours in the Canadian Football League.
Should Williams — a muchhyped off-season acquisition for B.C. — duplicate that feat today at B.C. Place Stadium in his debut with the Lions, it would go a long way to subdue the rejuvenated Saskatchewan Roughriders. Especially if he emulates that initial effort six years ago at Empire.
“He almost got tackled,” Lulay recalled Friday. “And some of our defensive players thought he was tackled because they had grabbed him and wrapped him, but he rolled over the top of our defenders’ bodies and so his body never went down.
“It’s an eight-yard play, but he popped to his feet like he was shot out of a cannon and then he splits the defence. We’re going: ‘Who is this?’ We saw him in film and he wasn’t even scheduled to play but they (Tiger-Cats) had an injury.”
As much as everybody will be waiting for Lulay to unload a deep ball to Williams, the veteran QB has an embarrassment of riches. Brian Burham, Manny Arceneaux and Nick Moore could benefit from Williams drawing double coverage on deep routes and springing him loose over the middle — much like running back Chris Rainey — could cause matchup problems.
Lulay can be methodical and work Williams into the passing package — especially after the receiver had knee surgery last October and might not be in total game condition.
“Sometimes the big play doesn’t come off the deep ball,” added Lulay. “He creates space underneath and makes one man miss and it’s just finding space for a guy like that.
“But we don’t want to force anything. We want the game to come naturally to him. The long ball will come through the rhythm of the game. If it’s the second or third quarter and he hasn’t made a big play yet, we don’t want him to be going deep and just throwing his hand up. And I think he understands that.”
The 5-9, 155-pound Williams had 77 receptions for 1,246 yards and 10 touchdowns in 14 games with the Ottawa Redblacks last season and averaged 16.2 yards per catch. The 29-year-old New Mexico State
product also had 575 total yards after receptions to attest to his game-breaking ability.
But back in 2011, he wasn’t sure what to expect that day at Empire because it was just his second career game and his first outing didn’t go well.
“I wasn’t even sure I was going to play that day and on that first play, I got spun around and was able to keep my feet going,” recalled Williams. “I just figured out the rest from there and had 190 yards.”
As for today, Williams isn’t concerned about deployment. He knows he’s going to see the ball eventually.
“You never know until the game and you see what the coverage is, but the good thing about having Travis back there is that he has seen it all and done it all,” said Williams.
But wouldn’t an early long ball help? “Sure,” he said. “Any time and whatever it (pass) is. I just want to do whatever I can to help and I’m just happy that this day is here.”
Added Lions coach Wally Buono: “Chris is not the focal point of the game, but there will be opportunities where he’s the primary read and secondary read and the ball goes to him. The big thing is confidence. He’s going to have to get a little pass, have somebody hit him, get up and realize that everything is OK.”
That said, it could be quite the air show today. The 6-5 Duron Carter looked unstoppable last week for the Roughriders with nine catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns, including a leaping one-handed stab that will rival Burnham’s major for catch of the year.
The Lions play a lot of zone coverage and will rely on safety support to try to keep Carter in check. And even though members of the Lions’ secondary like Steven Clarke and Ronnie Yell are relishing the matchup and have done some chirping, it has only added to Carter’s resolve.
“It’s all fun and games and no matter what is said before, we have to go out and play a whole game and I own that part of it,” chuckled Carter. “And I like to talk trash, so we’ll see what happens.”