Jennings was pulled late in the third quarter against Toronto. At that point Jennings was 11-of-18 passing, 132 yards, with a 60.4 QB rating. We had run the football very well but we had struggled to finish drives. Two fumbles and a holding penalty had also hurt our offence to that point.
Travis Lulay was 12-of-15 passing, for 156 yards and a 106.5 efficiency rating. He threw an interception on his last drive but looked very good overall and his arm strength looked more like 2011 and 2012.
But Lulay's performance in relief will not lead to a start in our next game. There will be no quarterback controversy, as in times past (eg: Dickenson/Printers or Pierce/Jackson). Wally has learned from those times it appears. Jennings role and Lulay's role on this 2016 Leos team was established prior to training camp and will remain that way it looks, at present.
However, as Sammy Greene illustrated, in his recent post on Post Game Comments, Jennings numbers have mostly been down trending in his 9 starts.
364
372
224
247
259
56 (playoff game, injured)
248
228
132 (pulled late in 3rd quarter)
Jennings is 8th in passing yards in the CFL, so far this season.
Jonathan Jennings, (along with Buono's return to the sideines) was a key reason for so much positive attention for our B.C. Lions in this off-season. Jennings, will not replicate the 2004 season of Casey Printers, who only had 4 throws in 2003, before he went on to his 2004 MOP season. Jennings could still mirror the 2011 season of Travis Lulay. Lulay had a number of starts in 2010, had some struggles in early 2011, and then went on to play incredibly well to become the 2011 MOP.
But Jennings could also not become a Top Tier quarterback. He seems to have all the tools. He is poised in the pocket, has a quick release, an accurate arm, and he can make all the throws. He is mobile and a dual threat quarterback.
Jennings, this season, has been provided with the CFL's best running attack and decent pass protection, other than the first half of our season opener. But our offence has still had its struggles.
There is a big difference, in term of pressure, between being a 3rd string quarterback, as Jennings was in 2015, and getting an opportunity to start and being anointed as the leader of an offence for an entire season, as Jennings has been for 2016.
Another question that has to be asked is whether Jennings is being surrounded with the necessary ingredients for success. Two questions emerge. Are our recievers good enough? Is our passing offence the right fit for Jennings?
In reading recent Lionbackers posts, the one question that seems to predominate, regarding our receivers is that we do not have a burner type of receiver who can threaten defenses deep. I view Arsenault as a deep threat who can also outfight defenders on deep footballs. Iannuzzi has deep speed but is rarely used in that way. Burnham, Moore, and Gore have good speed but not burner speed. Still, many CFL teams do not have a Chris Williams type of receiver. Boldejiwn could be an asset down the road to our receiving crew.
I view our passing offence as more of an issue for Jennings. We line up Gore outside almost all the time. We line up Iannuzzi wide almost all the time in our five pack receiver set. Arsenault, Moore, and Burnham are almost always in the slot, using the waggle. We don't take advantage of matchups.
For example, at times, we could line up four receivers to the wide side of the field and isolate Arsenault on the short side. He can beat single coverage, especially against a corner that we can exploit, and if they double him, we go to the wide side, where one of our receivers should be open. We could move receivers around more (we used to do that with Simon) and use motion more often to create space.
Right now our passing game is very easy to predict and therefore defend. Stubler played his safety up to take away our slotback routes and cover the inside of the field. Jennings is rarely given a set passing play and goes through progression reads on almost every play. We don't seem to be making it easier for him, knowing that he lacks experience.
Expectations for Jennings are being tempered from the very high optimism that was in abundance for 2016. Perhaps those expectations were too high. I think Wally made the right decision to pull him last game and also the right decision to come back with Jennings as our starter.
I also think we need to be more innovative in our passing attack. More play action passes, with our running game going so well, would also help. Higher percentage pass plays on second and short would also be beneficial.
We have a very long week to make positive change. Hopefully Jennings will have a very good game against Regina. Jones will be bringing a lot of blitzes and playing our receivers tight. We'll need to be ready for that type of defense.
Jennings shakes off the hook, expected to start Lions next game
Mike Beamish
July 8, 2016
B.C. Lions' quarterback Jonathon Jennings, left, is sacked by Toronto Argonauts' Ken Bishop during the second half of a CFL football game in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday July 7, 2016.
Thursday was a tough night for the young Lions QB.
In his college days at Montana State, Travis Lulay was known as the Comeback Kid for his Joe Montana-esque ability to pull off wins on the final drive of the game.
That knack for summoning the power of the possible came with him to the Canadian Football League. And it was what B.C. Lions head coach Wally Buono secretly hoped might happen when he inserted Lulay late into the third quarter of Thursday’s 25-14 defeat to the visiting Toronto Argonauts, with starting quarterback Jonathon Jennings looking a little like a lost soul.
Nobody likes spitting into the face of a lost cause more than Lulay.
“Travis definitely did give us a spark,” said running back Anthony Allen. “Don’t get me wrong — Jon is the leader of this team. Jon is the quarterback. But Travis is such an exciting player. He’s been here for so long. He’s so comfortable in there. As players, we feel that comfort. He was relaxed, and he made us relax. That’s when we started rolling.”
With the Lions down 22-6, Lulay had guns blazing in his second turn at the wheel, completing all five pass attempts on an 82-yard scoring drive he finished off with a touchdown pass to Allen, before tossing a two-point convert to Nick Moore.
It was not enough. The Lions pulled within eight points but got no closer. Still, Lulay hung in there, threatening to score again with less than two minutes remaining when he had the Lions on the move — he completed five passes on the drive — only to throw a game-ending interception.
The final stat line read: Lulay, 12-of-15 passing, 156 yards, 106.5 efficiency rating. Jennings: 11-of-18 passing, 132 yards, 60.4 QB rating.
Jennings or Lulay? Who starts next Saturday’s game in Regina against the Roughriders? Buono doesn’t think the decision is difficult.
“Jennings is starting,” he said Friday. “We’re not changing the process. He didn’t fumble (the Lions lost two). He didn’t get the holding calls. But we were in a rut in the third quarter. The fact we have two quarterbacks we have a lot of confidence in allows us to be able to do what we did. It’s all part of the growth process.
“We’re not going to put Jonathon in a situation where all the pressure is on him. If you have a guy like Travis around, why not utilize him?”
For Jennings, getting pulled represented a rite of passage. Thursday was the first time he’d been relieved in the course of a game he started. It hadn’t happened before at Westerville South high school, Saginaw Valley State or during his short, 10-game career as a starter in the CFL.
“We weren’t making plays,” Jennings acknowledged at Friday’s team rundown in Surrey. “The scoreboard wasn’t showing what we were doing on the field. That’s our fault for not finishing.”
The question of pulling Jennings was not just what was best for the team, or what the Lions owed Lulay, who had yet to take a snap this season, but also what Buono believed was in the quarterback’s best interests.
“When you have a young quarterback, you gotta be careful that you don’t try and force him to do things when the situation is not going well,” Buono said. “The pressure on him is released. He knows it’s not all on him. It takes heat off him, and puts it on the team. I believed it was the right thing to do.”
“I’m not worried about pressure,” said Jennings, who turns 24 in two weeks. “But when you feel you need to make every play, to make every correct throw and make the team run, it makes it a lot tougher. When I went to the sidelines, I saw the game in a different light, because you don’t have the pressure on you.”
If he was annoyed by the coaching decision, Jennings is not letting on. But Buono would be disappointed if he wasn’t.
Lulay recalls being pulled twice before in his CFL career. The second came early in 2011, at Empire Field. It must have caught his attention. He went on to become the league’s most outstanding player that year.
“The first time Wally took me out, he took me aside and said, ‘Look, Trev, this happens to everybody,’” Lulay said. “You gotta be mentally tough to not let that affect you. Wally pulled Doug Flutie out of a game. ‘I’ll pull anybody out of a game,’ he told me, if it’s not their game.
“The thing is, you can’t take it personally. And I don’t think it will affect Jon. You just need to swallow your pride a little, decide to move on and get better.”
mbeamish@postmedia.co
NEXT GAME
Saturday, July 16
B.C. Lions at Saskatchewan Roughriders
4 p.m., Mosaic Stadium
