B.C. LIONS: LULAY IGNORES THE CRITICS’ NOISE
QB refuses to beat himself up as doubters pump up volume about former MVP’s picks, back-to-back losses
It is not a great time to be a hero, when a hero’s failures can be as gigantic and consuming as his virtues, with talk radio, social media, print and web pundits lying in wait to knock him or her from the pedestal.
B.C. Lions quarterback Travis Lulay is acutely aware that his 0-2 record and four interceptions in the past two games can be twisted into something cataclysmic:
He’s getting older (32 next month). He can’t throw the deep ball anymore. He’s simply lost his mojo.
Lulay is not only ignoring the noise, he’s mostly unaware that it’s even out there.
“I understand some of the questions are being asked, and I have to respond to them (in media interviews),” Lulay said. “But, no. I learned a long time ago, in this position, you’re going to get a lot of credit when you win and a lot of blame when you lose. That’s part of playing the quarterback position.
“It’s a learned trait, to be honest. Whether what’s being said about you is good or bad, it’s a sign of weakness to react to what outside sources are telling you. You don’t want to be validated by something from the outside. That motivation, that drive, to correct yourself and become a better player has to come from within. A lot of that other stuff is a distraction. You really have to find a way to have a tunnel focus.”
At Regis, a small 2A high school in Oregon, Lulay developed a steel faith in his ability, even though he was ignored by major NCAA schools because of the level of competition. At Montana State, he learned that fan acceptance was too elusive to chase. He focused instead on winning over his teammates by winning games, and the adulation soon followed.
As a journeyman quarterback in the NFL, Lulay spent some brief time with the New Orleans Saints, and he remains heavily influenced by quarterback Drew Brees.
Doubted in San Diego, written off after major shoulder surgery, Brees never quit on himself, slowly made himself better and became AP and SI’s athlete and sportsman of the year, respectively, by bringing a Super Bowl to the Big Easy.
“After I was injured the first time, I read Drew Brees’s book (Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity),” Lulay said. “He had a statement that really stuck with me: ‘Instead of trying to prove people wrong, I want to prove everybody who believes in me right.’ And it’s the same train of thought I prescribed to for a while now.
“My motivation comes from playing my tail off for my teammates. When you make a negative play, you’re accountable to your entire team. That’s who I’m worried about.”
“He’s our leader,” said Courtney Taylor, who caught a seasonhigh four catches for 59 yards from Lulay last game against Winnipeg. “We, honestly, as a team, try to stay out of that stuff (social media and mass media thought). We’re under scrutiny every single day. There’s not a day that goes by when you feel safe. Professional sports doesn’t work like that. Lulay understands that. We understand that. They’ve always got to find somebody to be the scapegoat.”
The Lions lost two weeks ago, at home to Toronto, when they blew a 21-0 lead and couldn’t score another touchdown for close to three-quarters of the game. They lost again, last Thursday in Winnipeg, when Lulay led them to a touchdown on their first series, but they never crossed the goalline again.
A turnaround, if it does happen this week, will be no easy pickings. It’ll have to come against the Eskimos’ top-rated defence, one that has allowed only one opponent a touchdown drive in the past three games (a total of 45 possessions). Over the past four games — all wins — Edmonton yielded an average of 7.8 points to opponents.
“It’s huge for us, as receivers, to feel we can get it done against them with Travis Lulay as our quarterback,” Taylor said.
It’s an opportune time for the lapsed hero to do something magical.