Will Lulay play? Cue the conspiracists
REST OR RUST?:: Benevides won’t say whether he’ll start the MOP or let him heal for another week
Conspiracy theorists, take note.
There was another gunman behind the grassy knoll. The UFO did land in Roswell. And Mike Benevides still isn’t committing to Travis Lulay as his starting quarterback on Saturday, which can only mean one thing.
We’re just not sure what that one thing is.
“He had a pretty good day today, but I’m still going to reserve judgment until (Saturday’s pre-game) warmup,” the B.C. Lions head coach said on Thursday, two days before his team’s regular-season finale against Saskatchewan.
“I feel good about it, but I’m going to be cautious.”
No, you can never be too careful. Someone might be watching. Someone might be listening. Someone might have already planted the microchip in Lulay’s brain stem.
“Yeah, I think so,” Lulay answered when asked if he was starting against the ‘Riders.
“That’s been the plan all along, unless something has changed.”
At least we think it was Lulay talking. Maybe, just before kickoff, the guy we thought was Lulay will rip off his Travis face and reveal it’s Casey Printers. You can never be too sure as we approach the CFL playoffs.
The question, after all, isn’t if we’re paranoid — it’s are we paranoid enough?
On the surface, the intrigue over Lulay and Saturday’s starting assignment for the Leos isn’t all that, well, intriguing. The league’s reigning most outstanding player injured his throwing shoulder three weeks ago against Hamilton and missed the next two starts. This week at practice, he started slowly and built, reportedly, to a boffo session on Thursday.
He says he’s ready. Geroy Simon says he’s ready.
The Lions P.R. staff — which announced Lulay would take the majority of first-half snaps in a Thursday news release — says he’s ready.
So why should we believe any differently?
You shouldn’t. Except Benevides remains a dissenting voice on Lulay’s status and his opinion carries some weight. The Lions also closed their workout to the media on Thursday, a practice which only encourages the conspiracists. And Benevides did say the expected rehab for this injury was four to six weeks, and Lulay isn’t there yet.
We’ll know what it all means on Saturday. In the meantime, here’s something else to think about it.
Did they really land on the moon back in ‘69 or was that a sound stage?
“It’s encouraging,” said Simon. “He’s ready. I think it’s important that he gets in there and shows it.”
Which is how Benevides sees things ... to a point.
“I’d love to get him 20 reps and a feel for the game,” he said. “I think that’s important.
“I’m in the middle right now. I would like to say ‘yes.’ But I’m not going to risk him.”
So we wait. Lulay says the issue isn’t necessarily timing or playing in game conditions so much as it’s testing the shoulder’s reliability. He threw a bit on Tuesday. He threw a bit more in the rain on Wednesday.
Thursday, he said, was his best day, which leads us to Saturday and — more to the point — the Western final on Nov. 18.
As everyone from Peahead Walker to Don Matthews can tell you, the CFL playoffs are an unusual animal which has everything to do with momentum and confidence and precious little to do with regularseason win-loss records.
Lulay, as it happens, was coming off his best outing of the season when he banged up his shoulder against Hamilton and the sense here is it’s important for the Lions’ collective psyche to see their leader back in action.
“I think it matters not only to him, but the whole team,” Benevides said. “We’re talking about the MOP, one of the best guys in the league. It’s important for everyone to see that.”
“We want to send a message,” said Simon. “We want to show everyone why we are where we are.”
But if Lulay doesn’t play on Saturday, it will mean five weeks of inactivity leading up to the Western final. That’s five weeks of uncertainty. Five weeks of guesswork.
It also means five weeks of crazy talk. On that basis alone, please give the man the start.