Lionbackers.com

It looks like Jarious Jackson is now our Leos starting quarterback the rest of the way...except for injury or very poor performance. Lowell Ullrich wrote, in his blog, that Wally said he had made a mistake making Buck the starter prior to the regular season and has now reversed course. The article by Ullrich is below:

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New week, new starting quarterback.

It isn't exactly official right now because if you want to get technical it won't be firm until the opening kickoff Friday. But the Lions will give Jarious Jackson first-team reps at practice today and he'll be the first behind centre when they play host to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, as reported in The Province on Sunday.

Also confirmed by the club Monday is the signing of one of Roy Shivers' former recuits, linebacker T.J. Stancil, who'll start out on the practice roster.

Buono met with both quarterbacks on the weekend, giving them time to digest the change. And this time he says this move is cast in stone, based substantially on the fact Pierce's chronic shoulder problems leave him no choice.

But the way quarterbacks are changed the last few years around the Lions, you'd almost expect the situation to reverse itself again later in the season, just as most thought it would to start the year.

Pressed on the switch, Buono sounded concerned that he would be accused of making a flip-flip on the whole Pierce/Jackson episode. Why change a week after making Pierce your starter? Buono said he would explain his reasoning in more detail later today, but came as close to saying he'd made a mistake than any point of his Lions tenure.

"Was it a mistake on my part? I'm not saying it was a mistake or not. I'm not making two mistakes," Buono said before practice. "If I don't correct it, then I'm afraid to say maybe I didn't make a good choice."

The truth? A week ago Buono did make a good choice with Pierce, based on the information available at the time and the even performances of both quarterbacks during camp.

However the shoulder problems experienced by Pierce in Calgary is the right reason to make another switch.

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What is so disappointing is that it didn't need to happen this way. As I posted, prior to Buono naming the starting quarterback for the season, Jarious should have begun the season as the starting quarterback. I didn't believe he necessarily won the starting position at training camp but he didn't lose it either. It was close to a coin toss and Wally's meeting with both quarterbacks, prior to the season, confirmed that he really hadn't firmly cemented in his mind who he wanted to be his starting quarterback.

My reasons for wanting Jarious to start the season were based upon giving Buck more time to strengthen his shoulder and to reduce the chances of Buck getting injured until he could be integrated back into the starting lineup. Buck hadn't started a game since early last season, had some game rust on him, and an injury could have forced an early entry of Zac Champion as our backup quarterback.

Now Buck has hurt his shoulder and it's hard to determine how problematic the shoulder injury will be, longer term this season. The only good news out of this new decison regarding our starting quarterback position is that Buck will get some time to heal it rather than the risk of it becoming chronic. Last season we played an injured Buck Pierce for three of his four games and that didn't help things, especially for Buck.

The article also begs the question whether Buck should have had shoulder surgery in the off-season as Ricky Ray did. However, I think our Leos and Buck chose to attempt to allow the shoulder to heal naturally, and that is usually the best decision, rather than surgery. It may not look that way now but hindsight is a wonderful thing to have.

I'm disappointed for Buck because this new injury sets back his timeline of being our future starting quarterback, longer term. I saw Buck assuming the starting position before the halfway mark of the season. It may still turn out that way but it now appears that Wally is concerned regarding consistency, based upon health reasons, at the starting quarterback position and, with the background of Dickenson and how his injuries hurt us at playoff time, with a rusty Dickenson being a factor in three playoff losses in 2004, 2005, and 2007.

Was it wise to start Pierce for our season opener? I didn't think so. It was too soon I felt. I wanted us to bring him along a little more slowly and then assume the starting position in a few games. Now, his injury appears to have resulted in a loss of confidence by Wally, in terms of Buck being healthy enough to be the 'guy' for this season. However, things can change quickly if Jarious struggles or Buck's shoulder injury heals up faster than expected.

Wally said he made a mistake and he did. That mistake now means that Buck is hurt. It might have happened anyway but it would have reduced the chances until Buck's shoulder had more time to heal and strengthen. I just hope Buck can make a full recovery, because I still have a high regard for him as our quarterback longer term. Buck is only 26 years old and he could play a long time in a Leos uniform.

In the meantime, we really need to have a good look at our offence again. Our quarterbacks took way too many shots and pressures in the Calgary game. It was shades of 2005 and 2006, when our quarterbacks were sacked most in the league and took a brutal pounding as well. We got that fixed in 2007 and we'd better get if fixed again with Champion our only fully healthy quarterback after Jackson.

To make things even tougher...for Jarious' first start against the Riders and our Leos to get a W...Matt Dominguez has been cleared to start against us!

I wouldn' be surprised to find Buck's shoulder is much worse than the team is letting on. Certainly the game play last week wasn't enough to change the original decision, a serious injury though??

I wouldn' be surprised to find Buck's shoulder is much worse than the team is letting on.

No its not

ziggy wrote:I wouldn' be surprised to find Buck's shoulder is much worse than the team is letting on. Certainly the game play last week wasn't enough to change the original decision, a serious injury though??

Surprisingly, I don't think this is the case. Buck was throwing the ball yesterday at practice and taking reps. If his shoulder was seriously damaged, his arm would be in a sling. I like Buck's attitude - he doesn't like it, nor should he, but he's going to live with the decision and support his teammate.

I agree with Blitz on whom the starter should have been for all the reasons outlined. I hope Buck's shoulder heals well. I have every confidence in Jarious, but we're going to need two strong healthy quarterbacks at some point this season. While Zac Champion shows enormous promise, he's not ready to start just yet.

DH 8)

David wrote:

ziggy wrote:I wouldn' be surprised to find Buck's shoulder is much worse than the team is letting on. Certainly the game play last week wasn't enough to change the original decision, a serious injury though??

Surprisingly, I don't think this is the case. Buck was throwing the ball yesterday at practice and taking reps. If his shoulder was seriously damaged, his arm would be in a sling. I like Buck's attitude - he doesn't like it, nor should he, but he's going to live with the decision and support his teammate.

I agree with Blitz on whom the starter should have been for all the reasons outlined. I hope Buck's shoulder heals well. I have every confidence in Jarious, but we're going to need two strong healthy quarterbacks at some point this season. While Zac Champion shows enormous promise, he's not ready to start just yet.

DH 8)

I was very, very surprised that Buck was named the starter for Game 1 and the season. I made a statement on Lionbackers that Jarious would be our starter to begin the season. I got it very wrong. I'll try to explain why.

I knew it would be a close call, as to who our starting quarterback would be to begin this season. Based upon three things...I believed Jarious would be named the starter 1) Jarious was our starter for the majority of last season, we set a record for games won, and he provided more consistency for our offence from last season to this season.... while Buck had not played since the first half of the season...it would provide Buck more time to knock off some rust and get back into the swing. 2) Buck's shoulder could use additional time to strengthen and heal (I believe it was healed but additional time helps any injury) plus there was more risk starting Buck with Champion getting familiarized with the CFL and 3) the most important reason was Wally himself. Wally is a Jarious supporter...he likes his toughness, both physical and mental...he was very complimentary of Jarious last season.

Wally likes to get input on all decisons with his team. One of his reasons for his success is that he'll take into account everyone's point of view...from scouts, guest coaches at training camp, assistant coaches, player personell. He likes to reach consensus if possible. I believe the view from the majority of his offensive assistant coaches was to start the season with Buck Pierce. I believe Chapdelaine, who coached Buck during our 2006 Grey Cup season, when Buck led the league in passing percentage and was a close second in quarterback efficiency, wanted Buck and I have good info that supports that. However, I believe Wally had not made up his mind totally. When Buck hurt his shoulder, Wally went with where his head and gut were...and that was with Jarious.

I believe Mighty Buck is right...Buck's shoulder is not that serious. The concern might be that he might have to come out of games if it takes a serious hit. However, another part of me thinks Wally has made this call on his own for a couple of reasons..the first is that he wants a quarterback who can stay in there, even with a serious hit and secondly (and more strongly) that Jarious was his choice all along and that he made the decision to go with Jarious at the first opportunity.

Wally's comment that he 'wasn't going to make the same mistake twice' only adds more strength to that view. However, it's a long season, we'll need both quarterbacks, and I hope that Buck is able to get game reps as soon as it's feasible. He needs to play to continue to develop.

I'm actually more worried about the backup offensive lineman situation than I am about the quarterback situation. I hope Rasouli is ok because we have much more of a drop off, when one of our offensive lineman goes down than if we change quarterbacks.

I didn't think Buck looked hurt at practice either yesterday.

It appears that Buck is being tossed under the bus for the offense failing to generate the points vs Calgary.

If the HC wants consistency then how about coaching consistency!!! WB could qualify for politics with his statements on his QB situation. I certainly hope that privately they- players and coaches- know the Calgary debacle was not about QBing and had a lot to do with overall intensity and poor O line play. If they think that it is QBing the Green Riders will be kicking butt Friday night big time.

I don't expect the HC to be calling out his team any more than he has since their game but I didn't expect the starting QB to be the sacrificial lamb. Don Taylor on Sportsnet referred to the QB underperforming. I know these sports guys likely don't watch the games but that is a plain dumb comment.

The good news is that the Stamps game shows these guys the standard of play they are going to see from the top CFL teams this season and it is better to get the lesson in the first game than at year end when it is single knock out.

If there are concerns with this team after game one it has to be:
1. the loss of Dave Ritchie as DC.
2. the lack of intensity in their play last game.
3. O game planning - that lost so much of their innovative thinking/scheming from last year. Are these O coaches on the same page to quote the HC when it came to Burratto being the one off page.

Toppy Vann wrote: I didn't think Buck looked hurt at practice either yesterday.

It appears that Buck is being tossed under the bus for the offense failing to generate the points vs Calgary.
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I don't expect the HC to be calling out his team any more than he has since their game but I didn't expect the starting QB to be the sacrificial lamb. Don Taylor on Sportsnet referred to the QB underperforming. I know these sports guys likely don't watch the games but that is a plain dumb comment.

The good news is that the Stamps game shows these guys the standard of play they are going to see from the top CFL teams this season and it is better to get the lesson in the first game than at year end when it is single knock out.

.....

Buck gets bussed... I think the Sportscasters (Taylor etc...) are still pretty on the NHL. I think Taylor is better than most at being plugged into the CFL. I've seen news Sportscasters that OBVIOUSLY didn't watch CFL games I watched (I'm sure their workload is WHY). Some of those news-recaps do not do the game justice. Finally, yes, lets get this 'no-show' out of the way now. I still think I'm hearing the same kinda explanations for the game last week that I heard after the Western Final.

David wrote:

ziggy wrote:I wouldn' be surprised to find Buck's shoulder is much worse than the team is letting on. Certainly the game play last week wasn't enough to change the original decision, a serious injury though??

Surprisingly, I don't think this is the case. Buck was throwing the ball yesterday at practice and taking reps. If his shoulder was seriously damaged, his arm would be in a sling. I like Buck's attitude - he doesn't like it, nor should he, but he's going to live with the decision and support his teammate.

I agree with Blitz on whom the starter should have been for all the reasons outlined. I hope Buck's shoulder heals well. I have every confidence in Jarious, but we're going to need two strong healthy quarterbacks at some point this season. While Zac Champion shows enormous promise, he's not ready to start just yet.

DH 8)

I hope you and MB are right. I guess what I find odd is the reversing an earlier decision and declaring JJ the starter for the rest of the season and not "until further notice". I find it unusual that the HC would so quickly reverse a decision he seemed to struggle so hard to make in the first place. I thought Buck played well but was hung out to dry by the O line (or perhaps an exceptional Stamps D line). JJ didn't fare any better so why the change of heart, what have I missed?

ziggy wrote:I hope you and MB are right. I guess what I find odd is the reversing an earlier decision and declaring JJ the starter for the rest of the season and not "until further notice".

I didn't hear Wally say JJ is the starter for the rest of the season. He's expected to start this week. How long he remains the starter is a matter of speculation.

I think that we need to be careful with our QB's this year. JJack is a good QB and so is Buck. We can't afford to lose both or even one for that matter. It's early in the season and I would rather they play revolving QBs now rather than later.

B.C.FAN wrote:

ziggy wrote:I hope you and MB are right. I guess what I find odd is the reversing an earlier decision and declaring JJ the starter for the rest of the season and not "until further notice".

I didn't hear Wally say JJ is the starter for the rest of the season. He's expected to start this week. How long he remains the starter is a matter of speculation.

Good point, but then again true of every starting qb in the league.

The two QBs represent two fundamentally different ways of shaping a CFL offense.

With Jackson, Printers, Bishop, Burris and Glenn you have the potential to structure an offense around a strong running attack a somewhat mobile QB who can run and a deep ball. The sacrifice with these QBs is that they aren't necessarily the most accurate short to middle range passers.

With Calvillo, Ray, and Pierce, you have three guys whose style is more suited to short and intermediate range passing. Yes, they can load up and throw a deep one if the situation calls for it, but by and large, they are timing quarterbacks, ideally suited for the six receiver style offense.

Crandell falls into the latter territory, but he's a threat to run also.

So what we're at the center of, as BC fans, is the battle for the soul of the future CFL offense. There's the past (which only Ricky Ray still excels at, though I suppose Pierce could too if it were better designed) and the present (run+deep that Jarious is suited for), plus whatever Trestman is going to install in Montreal (which I assume will be a variation of the West Coast offense as that's his forte).

cromartie wrote:The two QBs represent two fundamentally different ways of shaping a CFL offense.

With Jackson, Printers, Bishop, Burris and Glenn you have the potential to structure an offense around a strong running attack a somewhat mobile QB who can run and a deep ball. The sacrifice with these QBs is that they aren't necessarily the most accurate short to middle range passers.

With Calvillo, Ray, and Pierce, you have three guys whose style is more suited to short and intermediate range passing. Yes, they can load up and throw a deep one if the situation calls for it, but by and large, they are timing quarterbacks, ideally suited for the six receiver style offense.

Crandell falls into the latter territory, but he's a threat to run also.

So what we're at the center of, as BC fans, is the battle for the soul of the future CFL offense. There's the past (which only Ricky Ray still excels at, though I suppose Pierce could too if it were better designed) and the present (run+deep that Jarious is suited for), plus whatever Trestman is going to install in Montreal (which I assume will be a variation of the West Coast offense as that's his forte).

Fascinating post cromartie!! The trend is away from the ball possession short and intermediate passing attack to run/vertical passing game. Of course, that doesn't mean that Chap won't try to shape Jarious into a timing quarterback focused on the shorter passing attack...but that is not his forte..

In the meantime...Wally can sure drive one crazy over the years with his quarterback sagas. He gets lots of credit for developing quarterbacks and deservedly so. He's a good judge of talent here and has a system that allows backups to develop...and he doesn't baby his quarterbacks.

However, we've had the Dickenson/Printers saga (regular season and playoffs), the Jarious/Dickenson WDF last year, and now the Buck/Jarious early season saga. B.C. football reporters should buy Wally a present at the end of every season because he gives them lots to write about when it comes to quarterbacks.

I don't like this laterst quarterback saga. I wasn't in favor of Wally's iniitial decision to go with Pierce but I love Buck and just hoped he didn't get hurt. Well he did, and it sure didn't take long....the first half of the opening game. However, while circumstance had something to do with it....we now have Jarious as our starter for at least a few games it appears and the starting position is his to lose now. I think both quarterbacks have been sent mixed signals and so have their teamates.

You have to inspire confidence in your quarterbacks and confidence in them from the rest of the team as well. Wally has struggled at times, with his quarterback starting decisions since back in 2004, outside of the 2006 season.

Hopefully Chapdelaine has a good game plan for Jarious. There is a good chance we'll be both without Murphy and Sherko. Valli has to step up. I'm more worried about our backup lineman situation than our backup quarterback situation. We can win with either Jarious or Buck. The bigger question is..can we run or protect our quarterback with Valli in there....it hurt us big time in last years WDF and it hurt us in the opening game in Calgary.

I for one do not have any confidence in JJ. Nothing he did last year inspired me and I don't think he can get the job done. I hope I am proved otherwise tomorrow night.

leo