QB ‘brothers’ armed for showdown
As Lulay and Reilly face each other for possibly the last time, plenty on the line for both teams
Back in the day, back when their worlds were smaller and a lot less complicated, the two roommates used to watch CFL games together.
Travis Lulay, to the point, had already worked his way up to the Lions’ backup role behind — wait for it — Casey Printers, but Mike Reilly’s hold on permanent employment was much more precarious.
Fresh from a series of failed NFL tryouts, the quarterback was holding down the third spot on the depth chart and his job security was dependant on his ability to learn the CFL game.
Under Lulay’s gaze, Reilly would watch the action with a whiteboard by his side, diagram the plays as they came up, then quiz his roomie on their deeper meaning.
“I still do that with my wife (Emily),” Reilly said. “I wasn’t married then so I guess Travis was my football wife. I’m sure that will make a headline!”
The Eskimos’ quarterback pauses.
“There was always a rivalry and competition and it continued until I moved to Edmonton,” he continues. “But we’ve always tried to help each other out. There have been a lot of conversations on the phone, helping each other through some tough times.
“There’s not that many people in the world who know what it means to be a starting quarterback. A lot of it’s fun. A lot of it isn’t. It’s been a good thing for both of us.”
And it endures. Through the dizzying highs and crushing lows of professional football, Reilly and Lulay have forged a friendship that’s stronger than titanium. There have been MOPs and Grey Cups for both men. There have also been injuries and heartache.
They now have their own families and their own teams but through it all, there’s been this connection, this bond that makes them seem like brothers. Literally.
“We used to watch Jeopardy together, then we’d do pushups during the commercials,” Reilly said. “I think we drove Kim (Lulay’s wife) crazy.”
“It actually got annoying,” said Lulay. “We’d be working out and we’d count each other’s reps. I’d tell him you’re supposed to do 10. If you do more, I’ll have to do them. We used to compete at everything.”
Still do and even if everything around them has changed, their friendship hasn’t.
Lulay and Reilly move on to centre stage Friday in a game of great significance for both the Lions and Eskimos. A win for the Lions guarantees them the crossover playoff spot and places the Esks’ post-season aspirations in jeopardy.
A win for Edmonton does the same to the Lions who were 3-6 at the midpoint of the season and seemingly deader than Lenin.
But this story won’t end in 2018. As it happens, both Lulay and Reilly are under expiring contracts and it isn’t a huge reach to suggest the Lions will be interested in repatriating their former backup this off-season. Lulay’s own status is uncertain, largely because of a litany of injuries known to any Lions supporter.
Back in 2012, Wally Buono swung a deal with then-Edmonton GM Ed Hervey that sent Reilly to the Eskimos shortly before he hit free agency. Now, with Hervey in Vancouver, that trade might come full circle but that’s a drama that will play out soon enough.
“I owe both those guys (Hervey and Buono) a lot,” said Reilly. “I owe them a beat down tomorrow. That’s how I look at it.”
Reilly, of course, has developed into a franchise quarterback since he was traded away by the Lions while Lulay has been cursed by buzzard’s luck. But eight years ago, the decision to build the Lions around Lulay and move Reilly was a relative no-brainer.
The man from Oregon had led the Lions to the 2011 Grey Cup and was named the CFL’s MOP that season. Reilly, for his part, had barely survived the 2011 pre-season and only won the third-string job with an eight-for-eight, 108-yard, two-touchdown performance against Saskatchewan in the Lions’ final pre-season game.
“We were going to cut him then we saw him in a game and he lit it up,” said Buono.
“It’s hard to say if you saw a future Grey Cup champ but we thought he’d be an effective starting quarterback in our league one day. Those guys grow. The thing is you don’t know how much they’ll grow.”
Reilly, in fact, was an unknown quantity when he landed in Edmonton. The Eskimos promptly went 4-14 his first season that occasioned a couple of phone calls to Lulay.
“It was hard for him,” Lulay said. “Everyone wants (the starter’s job) until they have it, then you realize there’s a lot more to it. But Mike battled through everything. He usually does.”
That favour has been returned on more than one occasion as Lulay suffered a series of devastating injuries in the latter half of his career. In some respects, Reilly’s had the career Lulay should have had but when asked if he was envious of his friend, Lulay said: “I don’t look at it that way. I just think Mike’s a guy who’s earned everything he’s got.”
And now they have this showdown, maybe their last head-to-head in the CFL.
It’s funny. Back before the big contracts and the headlines, the two would go at each other like rabid wolverines because that’s what brothers do. Whether it was the film room, the gym or the practice field, it was a competition and that meant somebody was going to win.
Reilly tells a story about running gassers during a Lions’ training camp when he was the backup and Lulay was the starter.
“I mean I was hauling ass,” he said. “I was going as fast as I could and Travis didn’t want to be left behind.”
Lulay, naturally, pulled a hamstring trying to catch up to his friend. Reilly still laughs about that one. So does Lulay.