Nathan Rourke just keeps making good impressions, and really after his career thus far, why wouldn’t he? Of course by now you all know that the Lions decimated the Toronto Argonauts, Toronto being handed a very large helping of the old humble pie I’m afraid. The Lions won 44 to 3.
And hey…this is football. Of course it happens, but we wonder if it would have happened at all without Nathan Rourke in that QB position. Right place right time? Hardly, folks. This young man has been playing the game for a while and it shows.
Of course these words feel like nothing but understatements, but in essence they need to be said. In the end, he broke records….
The record he set: He threw for a whopping 436 yards…4 touchdowns…and all this, a single game record for a QB in the CFL…and a Canadian one at that.
But he‘s humble to boot and he didn’t take the credit for his performance. Here’s some of what he had to say on the monumental moment in his young career:
“Those guys have all the all the faith in me and that gives me so much confidence…It’s a system, the guys are in the right positions…I’m just a distributor in football there. Those guys are getting in the right positions and they’re making big plays for me…
I mean, there’s pros today especially in the first half where I wasn’t, I wasn’t near as accurate as I need to do but those guys made some plays for me and it making me look good out there.”
via dailyhive.com
Lions defensive back, Gary Peters, also had a few words:
“When you come into the facility, he’s the first one there. And I’m one of the last people to leave. He’s literally there after me, walking, eating a peanut butter jelly sandwich, trying to find something to do. He’s always working no matter what…”
via dailyhive.com (link above)
In the end, Rourke is proving his worth and showing that all the support and all the belief in him was well founded and well placed. He’s doing an incredible job and for someone so young, it’s refreshing to see, and in the end, for a Canadian to be doing so well in the CFL…well that’s statement enough in and of itself. Keep your eyes on this promising QB, dear readers.
Bryan Burnham suffers broken ribs
For a whopping 5 seasons in the CFL, Burnham has been a standby for the team. He only missed a few games in that time…2 in 2017 and 1 in 2019! Now that’s an attendance record if you ask me, or it’s up there at least. I don’t have everyone’s attendance sheet from the last 5 years, but this has got to be among the best.
Which makes what occurred all the more sad.
The BC Lions are set to face the Ottawa Redblacks on Thursday June 30th at 7:30 PM EST, and sadly Burnham will miss that game due to the aforementioned broken ribs. The injury was administered by Toronto’s Shaq Richardson during last week’s game unfortunately.
Word is, he’ll be missing a heck of a lot more than just this week’s game however.
Head coach Rick Campbell had some words on the issue and looking ahead:
“He will be back, which is good news…We just have to be patient on this one but we expect him to play a lot of meaningful football for us, and especially in the second part of the season…We’ll definitely miss him, but we’ll have to move on and win the next few games without him…
James Butler has an excellent chance to play. He needs to practice tomorrow, but he’s trending very well. I like the fact our guys haven’t gotten caught up in the outside stuff. You hope that they are intrinsically motivated.”
via The Province
James Butler left the Toronto game with concerns about a concussion, but it looks promising that he’ll play as Campbell stated. Butler had some words as well:
“We can’t sit here and get comfortable. It’s only been two games. It’s still early. We’re trying to be present, be where our feet are at, as our coach likes to say…
Personally, I think the hype is never fun. I don’t think the hype is real. Once you start reading the newspaper clippings and watching the TV a little bit more, you start getting lackadaisical about your preparation. We know that we have to treat each game as its own entity. Every team in this league has good players…
I’m the type of guy who’s head down, head down and work as hard as you possibly can. At the end of the season, that’s when you look up. Whatever hype is happening then, that’s what matters.”
via The province (link above)
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