Jennings says he doesn’t lack confidence
After ups and downs, it’s time for pivot to show greatness
In trying to explain the inexplicable inconsistency in Jonathon Jennings’ game, one word is invariably used. Confidence.
Jennings’ confidence, his many analysts believe, took one in the ’nads last season and when you review his year, that theory makes sense.
Early on the Lions quarterback suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder before he was rushed back and promptly tossed four interceptions in a lopsided loss in Saskatchewan. He eventually lost the starter’s job to Travis Lulay, returned to his former post when Lulay suffered a season-ending knee injury, and finished the year looking lost and confused on a bad Lions team.
Add it all up and, as any armchair psychologist will tell you, the issue has to be confidence.
In his first full season as a CFL starter, Jennings looked like a star in the making. In his second, he looked like a career backup. So there had to be something going on with his noodle, something which caused this precipitous fall from grace.
Yes, in theory, it’s a fine theory. There’s just one thing: “It’s overblown,” Jennings said.
“That word is used when people think there’s something wrong. Everyone wants to figure out what the problem is and they want to have an answer for it. It wasn’t confidence for me.
“Any time you’re not playing up to what people expect, you’re going to hear that. It’s understandable. But I know what I can do. I know I can play at a high level. It doesn’t just evaporate. I know I can play.”
And the Lions hope he’s right because their season is now riding on him.
In another roller-coaster of a campaign, Jennings has again stepped onto centre stage but this time the circumstances have changed.
After another dismal start, when he again lost the starter’s job to Lulay, he’s helped engineer three consecutive wins, including a standout 347-yard, threetouchdown performance against Hamilton last Saturday when he helped direct a semi-miraculous comeback win.
Down eight points with nine seconds left on the clock and the ball on the Lions’ 51, Jennings first threw a 39-yard laser to Shaq Johnson, then found Bryan Burnham for a 20-yard touchdown on the penultimate play from scrimmage, before hitting Burnham again for the two-pointer that forced overtime.
The Lions, of course, finally brought home the 35-32 win in extra time, but the larger point from that game is this: Over the second half, Jennings looked like an elite quarterback, a nerveless gunslinger capable of eviscerating any secondary in the league.
True, you might like to see it for more than 30 minutes but if he’s that guy, it changes a lot of things for the Lions this season. Jennings maintains he’s that guy.
“Coming back from my shoulder (injury) last year, it took a while,” Jennings said. “I wasn’t throwing the ball the same way. I lost a lot of velocity and a lot of touch. It took a while to get it back. I feel pretty good right now.”
His teammates and coaches feel the same. Then again, they have to, right?
Coach Wally Buono pointed to the throw Jennings made to Burnham for the crucial touchdown, a strike under pressure, into a tight window.
“That’s a throw a good quarterback makes,” Buono said.
“That’s what gives quarterbacks confidence. The ability to see what nobody else can see. The ability to put a ball where only the receiver can make the play.
“When you look at building confidence, those are the things you get measured by. The curl, the check-downs, that’s fine. But when the game’s on the line, when the pressure’s on, everyone looks at the quarterback and what he did and didn’t do.”
Notice he used the word “confidence” twice in that answer? He wasn’t the only one.
“That ball was coming out with confidence,” said Burnham. “He knew where he wanted to go and he was putting it in the right spot. It was definitely good seeing Jon with that velocity and that confidence.”
So maybe confidence does have something to do with it. Jennings, however, doesn’t concede that point. He says his travails are simply part of a quarterback’s journey, something everyone who’s played the position has experienced.
To support his argument he cites Henry Burris, a quarterback who was criticized for his up-anddown performances throughout his career.
Burris also wrapped up his 17 years in the CFL in
2016 with an epic Grey Cup win with Ottawa, the third national championship of his career.
He’ll next be seen entering the Hall of Fame.
“It’s a process with every single quarterback,” Jennings said. “You look at a guy like Hank (Burris) and he had a tremendous career. But he got pulled early in his career, he came back and he was pulled again. Everyone was like, ‘What’s wrong with Hank?’
“It’s just a process. You’ve got to stick with it. It’s not always going to be perfect. It happens to everyone.”
But not everyone comes out the other side. Ultimately, that’s what defines a great quarterback.
We’re about to find out if Jennings has greatness within him.