Forget picking favourites, Lulay excited to watch both opponents
Reared in Oregon, now a resident of Blaine, Wash., and a former Seattle Seahawk who now plays for the B. C. Lions, quarterback Travis Lulay has deep roots in Cascadia.
Yet, despite his Left Coast leanings, Lulay spent time with the New Orleans Saints ( 2008), where his tutelage, under Drew Brees, he believes, was influential in making him the player he is today.
Lulay, like many residents up and down the West Coast, will be glued to his TV set on Saturday for the National Football League playoff game between the Saints and the favoured Seahawks at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. But he remains impartial, having experiences with both teams and being an admirer of both quarterbacks — one an old master, the other a sophomore who took the league by storm in his rookie year.
“I’m definitely a big fan of football in general,” Lulay said. “I love the college bowl season, and the NFL wild- card games. They were phenomenal. It’ll be fun for me to watch that matchup ( Saints and Seahawks) and see where it goes.”
On Dec. 2, when the Saints and Seahawks matched up the last time at The Clink, it did not go well for the visitors. The game was viewed as a prime- time, no- beer- runs- or- bathroom- breaks matchup between two NFC titans. Which one would emerge as the lead horse for a Super Bowl run?
The answer came quickly, essentially from the opening kickoff. The Saints weren’t in the same league as the Seahawks, going down meekly, 34- 7.
“Seattle is really tough at home, and New Orleans will have to put together a really good one to win in Seattle,” Lulay said. “But I don’t think it will
be a blowout as it was a few weeks ago. I look on this game with as much intrigue as any game out there.”
Seahawks star Russell Wilson was one of only nine rookie quarterbacks ever to be selected to the Pro Bowl game, when he met up with his athletic idol, Brees, last year in Honolulu.
Wilson thinks, throws, prepares and comports himself in the same self- possessed manner of the former Super Bowl MVP, who took the Saints to their first championship in 2010. Each time, so the story goes, when a young Russell Wilson watched Brees on TV, he saw himself.
“I’ve read his book — twice,” Wilson admitted.
Brees’ tome — Coming Back
Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity — is also required reading for Lulay.
Earlier in his career, when he was trying to establish himself as an NFL quarterback, Lulay spent a number of weeks watching the author at work firsthand in the camp of the Saints.
“I was only with them for a few months, from OTAs ( organized team activities) in April to sometime in August,” Lulay said. “I was there long enough to pick up what an exceptional leader Drew is. He exudes so much confidence that he lifts the guys around him.
“His fire and his competitiveness are remarkable. During his extra time, I saw some of the things he did for the
community and how he included his teammates in them. He made a really strong impression on me. He’s a guy who does it right.”
Lulay not only embraces the same values of family, fidelity and fraternity as Brees, he also shares something of a parallel medical history.
When Brees tore up his shoulder in December ’ 05 with the San Diego Chargers, it took great faith to believe he was anything but a spent force. His career hanging by a tendon, Brees travelled to the clinic of famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews, knowing that if surgery wasn’t successful, he would be forced to retire. Eight Pro Bowls and one Super Bowl later, the Saints have been rewarded handsomely for being the only NFL team to throw the dice and take a chance on Brees.
A year after Brees had his surgery, Lulay visited the same Birmingham, Ala., clinic for repairs ( performed by a colleague of Andrews) after suffering a torn labrum in his right ( throwing) shoulder playing for the Berlin Thunder, in NFL Europa. Whenever he’s feeling low, he just needs to reach for the book to be cheered.
“I’ve read Drew’s book, about his shoulder injury, and the work he had to put in to come back from the injury,” Lulay said. “It’s inspirational, one of my favourites.”
Following the fourth documented injury to his right shoulder, in a Sept. 15 game against the Montreal
Alouettes, Lulay had a procedure on Nov. 21 to tighten ligaments in the area in the hope of preventing another dislocation.
He is rehabbing under the watchful eye of Lions’ medical trainer Bill Reichelt and UBC physiotherapist Ron Mattison, a shoulder specialist who was worked with the Canadian Olympic swim team and major league pitcher Jeff Francis. Reichelt, Mattison and Lions’ orthopedist Bob McCormack are part of the surgical/ rehab team which hopes to have Lulay throwing again by mid- March, well before the start of training camp at the end of May.
“Travis’s is a commonplace injury,” McCormack explained. “The risks from the repair are low, but surgery is only one part of it. Good rehab is important, to establish the range of motion. The expectation is he won’t have this injury again, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. It’s a contract sport, and Travis plays a vulnerable position.”
Until he’s ready to air it out again, Lulay will have to be content to watch others grip it and rip it in the NFL playoffs. “I think, what makes Russell Wilson so special, is his ability to manufacture a play,” Lulay said.
“He has a good head on his shoulders. He stays patient, he doesn’t force things. And he’s so athletic.
“He plays a little bit more like a CFL quarterback than Drew, who’s more of a pocket passer. Drew is so good at processing information quickly, going through his progressions, getting the ball out on the second or third read — bang, bang, bang. Such great vision. He has the best eyes in the game.”
At home, even in repose, Lulay can’t escape the gravitational pull of a great NFL gunslinger.