Pressure now shifts to Lulay
Veteran has put up eye-popping numbers when he has stepped in for QB Jennings
On the most basic level, you can understand if Travis Lulay has some misgivings about stepping in as the B.C. Lions’ new/old starting quarterback.
The Lions, after all, have lost three games in a row under a slumping Jonathon Jennings. During that slide, they have dropped to fifth and last place in the West Division and now sit out of the Canadian Football League playoffs.
The team they’re chasing, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, have won three consecutive games and are as hot as the Lions are cold.
So, amid these less than ideal circumstances, the Leos have turned to Lulay and said, in essence: “Travis, old bean, this is your team. Please save our season.”
At least that’s the way it looks from the outside looking in. The man who now occupies the hottest part of the spotlight just sees things a little differently.
“I understand that perception, but I’ve also played long enough to know that’s just not the case,” Lulay said Thursday as the Lions went through their preparation in advance of tonight’s meeting with the visiting Montreal Alouettes. “For me to help this team win I just have to do my job. I don’t have to put on a cape and be Superman. It’s not easy and it’s not going to be perfect. You just compete and let the chips fall where they may. I can’t think, ‘I have to throw for this many yards.’ I’m just going to try to help my team find a win this week.”
Which is one of the reasons this just might work.
While the football coach’s instructional guide doesn’t recommend
changing quarterbacks in mid-season, the Lions have turned to Lulay for their stretch drive and there is much about this unnatural situation that seems natural.
The Montana State product, for starters, is in his ninth season with the Lions and only Rolly Lumbala has played more years under head coach Wally Buono. He’s thrown to Manny Arceneaux and Marco Iannuzzi for seven of those years, Nick Moore for five and Bryan Burnham for four.
He’s also had some success in his nine years with the Leos. Most teams can’t call a former Most Outstanding Player off the bench, but Lulay won that award in 2011 when he led the Lions to the Grey Cup.
This season, moreover, he put up eye-popping numbers when he stepped in for the injured Jennings in Week 4. Lulay has the CFL’s highest quarterback rating and highest efficiency rating in his 4½ games and the Lions went 3-1 under his stewardship.
So what can possibly go wrong here?
Well, Lulay doesn’t have a forgiving margin of error to work with as he returns to the starter’s role.
The Lions have to win, minimally, six of their last eight starts to entertain playoff hopes. The rest of the team, meanwhile, isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders. That means Lulay might give them everything they’ve asked for and it still won’t be enough.
But Buono feels consistent, efficient production from the quarterback position will cover a lot of the Lions’ warts.
Jennings had some moments early on this season, but the unfortunate reality is the Lions’ offence couldn’t sustain drives or score points during the last three games. That offensive malaise, in turn, seemed to spread like a virus through the whole team.
Can one change fix all that? We’re about to find out.
“I’ve been through this before, but this one doesn’t feel like the sky is falling,” said linebacker Solomon Elimimian. “It just feels like, ‘OK, we’ve got Travis. Let’s get this thing going.’
“We know what to expect. He’s going to play well and give us that veteran leadership.”
That veteran leadership, in fact, is Lulay’s biggest selling point. Now just a couple of weeks from his 34th birthday, he’s far from the young colt of 2011, but there remains an intellect and character that is invaluable when the pressure is highest.
And there’s a deep connection with this franchise and its fans. During a conversation Thursday, Lulay pointed to a spot in the end zone at B.C. Place Stadium where he hit Arceneaux for a touchdown pass during a pre-season game in 2009. It might not sound like much, but that play likely ensured roster spots for both players who were fighting to make the team in their first CFL season.
“We were laughing,” Lulay recalls of that moment. “They can’t cut us now.”
Eight years later, the table stakes are a little higher.
“It doesn’t feel weird or foreign,” Lulay said. “A lot of these guys have a comfort level with me that goes beyond a guy getting plugged in at the middle of the season. But I’m not out there to do anything beyond what I can do — see the field, throw with confidence and play the position.”
And hope that’s enough.