Have coaches in the CFL been able to make their ‘pivotal’ decisions after the first week of pre-season play?
In Riderville, where the backup quarterback situation has been foggy at best lately, the picture has suddenly become clearer after Saskatchewan’s 19-17 pre-season loss to the B.C. Lions on Sunday.
Entering the game, fans were wondering where Ryan Dinwiddie or Cole Bergquist would grab the reigns of the backup job. Also, fans were interested in seeing how southpaw Kent Smith would play, especially since he was kept while the much-hyped Todd Reesing was released.
After his performance against the Lions, Dinwiddie likely secured the backup quarterback position in Saskatchewan.
Dinwiddie got the first chance and looked exceptional. He led the Riders to touchdowns on two of his three drives. On the third drive, he drove Saskatchewan into B.C. territory, but threw an errant pass and was intercepted by Tad Crawford. He was 13/19 for 141 with two touchdowns and one interception on the day.
Berquist played not to poorly himself after taking over from Dinwiddie. He went 7/9 for 102 yards and helped set up a Rider field goal. Berquist, however, seemed a bit more rusty and jittery than Dinwiddie. Of Course, Dinwiddie’s performance was no easy act to follow.
As for Smith, he played, well, awful. Just look at the stat line: 2/12 for 32 yards. Furthermore, his failure to get the Riders in field goal range lost them the game. Smith seemed to step back each play and throw the ball as hard as he could. The ball didn’t often find anyone wearing Green. Smith has been released from the team.
So, the quarterback situation is pretty clear in Saskatchewan. Darian Durant is the starter, despite a few people who think their may be controversy between Dinwiddie and Durant, Dinwiddie will be the backup and Berquist will be the third stringer. The Riders don’t necessarily need to bring in another quarterback at the moment.
In Toronto and Winnipeg, the search for a starting quarterback was more of a hot topic.
The Argonauts were auditioning four quarterbacks in their preseason game against Hamilton on Sunday: Cleo Lemon, Dalton Bell, Ken Dorsey and Canadian Danny Brannagan. The results were mixed. Lemon started the game and went only 3/10 for 41 yards. Brannagan stepped in and did, well, not much better. He was 3/11 for 31 yards and an interception.
The quarterback play did improve after that. Bell came in for the second half and guided Toronto to field goal drives of 55 and 58 yards. Bell finished the game 7/10 for 94 yards. Dorsey helped complete the comeback for Toronto – who was down 10-1 at the half before eventually winning 13-10. He went 8/17 for 96 yards and an interception. He helped guide Toronto on its game winning drive.
After the game, the quarterback situation is far from settled. Toronto appears to have been high on Lemon during training camp, but his performance certainly wasn’t promising. If Brannagan was ever seriously being considered for the starting role, he likely isn’t now. The job then comes down to Bell and Dorsey. Bell was certainly the more consistent of the two in the pre-season game and does have CFL experience. Dorsey, however, has five-years of NFL experience under his belt.
Pierce looks like he will win the starting quarterback job in Winnipeg.
The battle in Toronto may have to go to another round, or in this case, the next pre-season game.
For the Blue Bombers, the candidate list was narrower. Buck Pierce and Steven Jyles were the main quarterbacks fans and coaches were keeping an eye on in Winnipeg’s 34-10 pre-season victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday.
Pierce certainly looked dazzling. In his playing time, he engineered two touchdown drives, one that was 11 plays and 104 yards long. Pierce’s stat line was also impressive: 6/10 for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Jyles did lead the Bombers to one touchdown, but was far less impressive. He went 2/8 for 42 yards and an interception. Reportedly, there were some drop balls that affected his stats slightly.
Still, the quarterback situation appears to have been settled.
Pierce, whose health has been a repeated topic of discussion throughout his career, appears to have the starting job in line if he stays healthy. Jyles will likely have to settle for the backup job, which has to be a disappointment to him.
Those are certainly the teams with the most questions surrounding the quarterback position, but other teams learned things as well.
The Lions witnessed solid play from projected starter Casey Printers. Printers was his usual elusive self, avoiding sure tacklers to buy his receivers time. He finished the game 6/12 with 82 yards and a touchdown on a scramble play. Travis Lulay also impressed, going 13/24 for 142 yards. With Jarious Jackson fighting through an injury, B.C. at least learned they have a solid quarterback in Lulay to back up Printers.
Lulay should serve as a solid backup for the Lions until Jackson gets healthy.
In Calgary, the Stampeders are set with Henry Burris as a starter, but face questions about their backup quarterback. Drew Tate saw the most action in Calgary’s 23-21 victory over Calgary on Sunday, going 18/29 for 249 yards. So is Tate the backup? Well, Calgary does have Zac Champion and have recently signed free agent quarterback Cody Pickett.
Edmonton, on the other hand, didn’t really learn much. Ricky Ray is obviously the starter. Jason Maas, who was 7/9 for 52 yards with a touchdown and an interception, will probably serve as the backup. Jared Zabransky, who was 5/11 for 51 yards a touchdown and an interception, could rise up in the future.
In Hamilton, despite false rumours that backup quarterback Quinton Porter had been released, it appears he will serve as a backup to Kevin Glenn. In Montreal, despite the fact that Chris Leak had an impressive pre-season game going 21/32 for 181 yards and a touchdown, Adrian McPherson should be the backup for now behind Anthony Calvillo.
June 16th, 2010 at 3:07 PM
As an argo season ticket holder I would love nothing more than to see a canadian qb but after the past two seasons (all of 7 wins)now is the time for a win asap qb not wait for 2-3 seasons to develop a man
June 16th, 2010 at 4:36 PM
Who do you think should be the starting pivot, Ed?