Aug
Buck still passing for Lions
Courtesy Vancouver Sun:
In professional football, a quarterback rating of 158.3 is perfect, 107.2 is considered exceptional and 72.0 is regarded as not very good.
So who should be the starting quarterback for the B.C. Lions Friday against the Saskatchewan Roughriders —Jarious Jackson, with a passer rating of 107.2, or Buck Pierce at a lowly 72.0?
It doesn’t matter what the numbers say. It’s Pierce who gets the ball, the lowest-ranked starting quarterback in the CFL.
Lions coach Wally Buono was not a math major at Idaho State, but even he can see that Jackson is superior to Pierce in a couple of interesting categories — (1) average gain per pass, (2) percentage of passes thrown for touchdowns — with both men nearly identical in percentage of completed passes and interception frequency.
That’s not to say that Jackson is a better quarterback than Pierce. But, statistically, a case can be made that he is.
Still, while Jackson’s formidable arm can muscle the ball 60 yards downfield, Buono prefers to go with Pierce’s quicker feet and reflexes and the X factor.
The efficiency rating system is measure of a quarterback’s passing success, not a gauge of his leadership, play-calling, and clock management skills and certainly not of his ability to take a hit and get back up.
“I don’t look at any of those stats,” Pierce says. “I just look at, ‘Am I improving week to week?’ It’s all about wins and losses and what we do out there the next week. My role is to go out there and execute the offence. We’ve got a lot new faces who are finally getting up to speed. I believe it’s coming together. That’s why I was encouraged about last week. Guys are starting to understand what we want to do now.”
Pierce threw two interceptions last game — a 30-18 loss July 31 in Hamilton — giving him seven for the season versus just five touchdown throws. But videotape replay shows that Geroy Simon, the intended receiver, was knocked down and interferred with on the first interception. The second INT came late in the game, as Ryan Grice-Mullen tried to run under a deep ball. He was tripped up before he could get there, which should have resulted in another flag.
“Those interceptions don’t affect my judgment that Buck was doing the right things at the right time,” Buono says. “And there are the dropped balls. The quarterback rating drops because of that deficiency. The ability to be disciplined, to be consistent and the ability to execute your offence better … we believe Buck can do that better than Jarious, and that’s why he’s our starter.”
There are lies, damn lies and statistics, as Buono points out. Who would have guessed that the 1-4 Lions are first in the CFL in passing touchdowns (nine), second in touchdowns scored (14), tied for No. 1 in passing first downs (66), and third in passing yardage (1,313)? Based on those selective numbers, a case could be made that the offence is operating fairly consistently. It’s not.
“Those stats are deceiving,” Buono says. “What’s critical for a quarterback and an offence is scoring points and wins. When you do that you have a lot fewer turnovers and losses.”
If the Lions had graded Pierce in their previous home game — a 48-10 loss to the Calgary Stampeders at BC Place, July 24 — he might have graded out as a player in peril of losing his job. And even though the Lions didn’t bounce back with a win a week later in Hamilton, Buono believes it was another game of growth for Pierce, who had 282 passing yards, a touchdown throw and two rushes for 29 yards.
“We managed the game well, and he made some very very good throws,” Buono says. “He was agressive with his feet running the football. Now this is what you don’t know. He’s hurt in the game. But he doesn’t pull himself out of the game. Therefore, he’s developing the ability to rebound. He doesn’t let adversity bring him down. He can handle the physical punishment. That showed me again he was the ability to absorb something that could tear you apart.”
Pierce got a violent reception the first time the Lions played the Roughriders on July 3 when Saskatchewan’s defence rang up nine sacks against a slow-response and overwhelmed B.C. offensive line. Again, Pierce’s gutsy resilience sent Buono’s mettle detector crackling with positive signals.
“Their [Roughriders] defence likes to get after you,” Pierce says. “They show you some crazy fronts, and put pressure on the quarterback and get him to make decisions he wouldn’t normally make. We have to be consistent, block, run our plays and get first downs.”
Judging by a Vancouver Sun web poll, protecting the quarterback consistently is the most serious issue confronting the Lions. About 54 per cent said the O-line needed the most improvement. Just 18 per cent put in on the quarterbacks.
It’s a public understanding that for him to reach a higher plane of efficiency, Buck Pierce can’t be delivering the ball in a discomfort zone.
