Aug
BC Lion Jarious Jackson showed true character, channeled his anger
Courtesy Vancouver Sun:
It was a rip in their relationship that could have turned into a rift. But Jarious Jackson got a grip on his ego, swallowed his pride, and didn’t allow it to become a gulf.
That which made him most human revealed his personality, says Lions coach Wally Buono.
“Here’s a guy who was put down,” Buono said of his starting quarterback for tomorrow night’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. “I don’t want to say we didn’t embarrass him, we must have. He was devastated at half-time in the locker room. But my job isn’t to worry about how they feel, unfortunately. My job is get them to win. It’s really a tough process.”
Buono is referring to his decision last Friday to pull Jackson and start third-stringer Travis Lulay in the second half of the game against the Toronto Argos. Jackson was fuming about the decision. He felt he was moving the team in the right direction after replacing concussed starter Buck Pierce. But with his team behind 19-7 at half time, Buono decided to make the switch to Lulay, who had never performed in a CFL game before with the outcome on the line.
“I was disappointed. I was very angry,” Jackson said Friday, following a walk-through at BC Place. “I wanted to stay in there. But I took that anger, I guess, and just channeled it in a different way. I guess that gave me focus.”
After Lulay lasted just six plays, dazed by a hit from Argo linebacker Willie Pile, Buono was forced to call on Jackson again. Instead of telling the coach to shove it, he hoisted the blue peter and sunk the Argos, firing three touchdown passes in a stunning turnaround for a 36-28 victory.
“Everybody knows that Jarious is a good guy,” Buono said Friday. “But that showed true character. When things were the lowest for him, what did he do? He could have easily quit on us. He could have done all of the things that bad character people do. But he didn’t. He isn’t a turd. He can deal with adversity.”
Equally important, Jackson was in that frustratingly elusive zone where he made few negative plays, only good and great ones, and didn’t beat himself up. There was no need to.
And there was something new. When second-year receiver Ryan Grice-Mullen let up on a pass route, Jackson reamed him out.
“I’ve seen him take leadership, but I’ve never seen him take charge before like that,” Buono says. “There’s a difference between being a good leader and being in charge. I hope he’s gone through that passage. It’s a little hard to grasp why he can’t play and act that way on a consistent basis. It’s a little frustrating.”
With Pierce on the one-game injured list and his future clouded by repeated brushes with injury, Jackson is the next best hope. And without solid quarterbacking, there is no hope for the Lions.
In practice this week, Jackson not only looked confident, he was branching out, experiementing, adding some nuance to his game — touch passes, with some loft, instead of the steady diet of bullets.
“Sometimes my arm’s a gift. Sometimes, it’s a curse,” he admits. “Dave Dickenson could throw the ball two steps before a guy was two steps into his break. Whereas, I can wait until two steps after his break. Sometimes, that’s an advantage.”
Indeed, because of Jackson’s arm strength, receiver Paris Jackson says the quarterback can throw off his back foot, which means a play is really never dead until defenders put Jarious on the turf.
Still, there is always his alter ego, Bad Jarious, in play. If Jackson forces more mistakes upon himself instead of forcing the other team into mistakes, his career will maintain an endless tape loop of inconsistenty.
Jackson is too much the perfectionist, Buono feels, much a man after the coach’s own heart. Sometimes he wants it so badly that things just end badly.
“When Jarious threw a bad ball, you could see his shoulders sag,” Buono says. “This week in practice, he wasn’t like that at all. That’s why you practise, so you don’t put the whole burden of the world on your shoulders. Anybody who’s ever met Jarious would like him to succeed. He’s 32 years old. You hope he would be at that point in his career where it starts to come together for him, like [Calgary quarterback] Henry Burris last year.”
Even so, football teams are composed of replaceable parts and Buono will dress two other quarterbacks tonight — Lulay and Zac Champion — just in case. If Jackson looks like a lost soul out there against the Bombers, the coach won’t have any qualms about giving his “consummate pro” the hook and bringing in Lulay or Champion. Just like last week.
“This is not a good business when it comes to being fair and being gentle with people’s emotions,” Buono says. “This is a very harsh business. Coaching is not always about patting the guys on the back. Part of coaching is bringing out the best in people. And sometimes it’s not pleasant what you have to do to achieve it.”
