Now, some may call this article a bit drastic. It’s not, especially if Jonathon Jennings can’t get the job done in Week 5.
Jonathon Jennings has been less than impressive
Since their opening game against the Montréal Alouettes, Jonathon Jennings has thrown zero touchdowns and three interceptions at a below average completion rate of 58% (28/48).
So far this year, including the game against the lowly Alouettes, this Lions offence looks worse than it did last year, which is saying a lot. It’s hard not to put the majority of the blame on Jonathon Jennings, especially when you consider just how good this offence looked last year when Travis Lulay was the one running it.
Travis Lulay has shown he can still play like a star
Lulay is back from the injury he sustained last year, and should be ready to go. Yes, there is the question of Lulay’s health and if he can stay healthy. You know what there isn’t a question about? How good he is.
Lulay completely torched the defences he faced last season, showing that he still has more than enough talent to be a starter in this league. Head coach Wally Buono put Lulay above Jennings after the Lions faltered with Jennings at the helm, then Lulay injured his knee again.
Even the commentators on TSN floated the idea around last night at halftime during the Lions’ game against the Blue Bombers.
BC Lions need to consider taking the risk
Simply put, it’s starting to look like this offence simply cannot get the job done with Jonathon Jennings behind centre. It’s grim, it’s blunt, and it’s unfortunate, but since 2016 neither Lions fans nor CFL fans in-general have seen the Jonathon Jennings we thought we had. The offence continuously struggles to get even minor first downs, putting an immense amount of pressure on the Lions’ defence. These losses are not the defence’s fault. The defence could’ve been a lot better, sure. But when your offence struggles so much to keep the ball in their own hands, there’s not much the defence can do.
It has been said that one of Wally Buono’s biggest regrets may be the prospect of currently having Mike Reilly in a Lions uniform instead of Jonathon Jennings.
It’s hard not to come across as too inflammatory or too critical of Jennings given how he’s played. I will be the first person in line to sing the praises of Jonathon Jennings if he can show that he can run this offence efficiently in 2018. But as a disgruntled Lions fan who thinks this team, for all intents and purposes, should be a good team, I simply cannot do so at the moment.
The Lions as a whole, Wally Buono, Ed Hervey, Jarious Jackson, whoever it needs to be to kickstart the conversation, it needs to be started. Despite his injury-prone reputation and the team having no reason to believe that’ll go away. Despite being an aging quarterback, despite having a promising young quarterback in Jonathon Jennings, despite absolutely everything: Travis Lulay is the best quarterback on the BC Lions and we currently have not seen otherwise. This team needs to heavily consider at least giving Lulay another shot as the team’s number one quarterback. End of story.
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