Head coach Rick Campbell says: “We’ll roll with whatever gives us the best chance in the playoffs.”
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The B.C. Lions are giving the keys to the offence back to Vernon Adams Jr.
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Adams worked with the first team offence at practice on Tuesday and head coach Rick Campbell said afterwards he’ll be the starting quarterback when the Lions take to the field Saturday at B.C. Place to close out the regular season against the Montreal Alouettes.
This is a season that started out with so much hope and hoopla, what with B.C. Place hosting the Grey Cup on Nov. 17. Adams spearheaded the Lions to a 5-1 start to the campaign, and the buzz grew even greater.
He hurt his knee in Week 9, but Nathan Rourke returned soon after from the NFL and took over passing duties. There was a school of thought that Rourke and the offence would connect like it was the first half of 2022 all over again, but that’s still yet to materialize with any sort of consistency. Instead, the Lions (8-9) will have to win two road playoff games to get to the Grey Cup in their home building, a 39-8 loss last week to the Saskatchewan Roughriders means that they’ll have to settle for finishing third in the West.
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“He’s going to start and play this week,” Campbell told media of Adams and Saturday’s tilt versus Montreal. “He’s going to be our guy.
“We want to get him in there and see how it goes. See if we can get a change of energy, that type of thing. He’s also a very good player. … The statement from the very beginning was that we want to use both these guys. We have two starting quarterbacks. We want to use them both to the best of their abilities.
“We’ll roll with whatever gives us the best chance in the playoffs.”
It’s unfair to leave B.C.’s woes solely at the feet of Rourke, 26. The team has had issues defending, particularly with sloppy tackling. Special teams has had it lapses.
Rourke’s numbers aren’t nearly what they were in 2022, either. In 10 games that season, he threw for 3,349 yards, to go with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. In eight games this season, he’s at 1,781 yards, to go with four touchdowns and nine interceptions.
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Adams, 31, has thrown for 2,544 yards, with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s made just seven passes in the past nine weeks, all coming in the Week 15 game against the Toronto Argonauts. There were at least two or maybe three weeks there where he was too injured to play.
The Lions have gone 3-5 in their past eight with Rourke as the starter.
“I don’t think our football team’s problem is the quarterback position. I think it’s our whole football team — offence, defence and special teams not playing well enough, and coaches, too,” said Campbell. “I don’t think it’s a quarterback issue. But I think It’s a circumstance where we’re looking to change things up a bit.
“We’ve got two guys who are starting quarterbacks. We’re going to do whatever it takes to give ourselves the best chance.”
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