Ex-Redblacks coach Campbell hopes Nathan Rourke lifts Lions

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Coming back to the city where he won a Grey Cup and where he met his wife, B.C. Lions head coach Rick Campbell will push the sentiment aside when he returns to TD Place for the first time in two years Saturday.

Facing the Ottawa Redblacks, a team he coached from 2014-19, Campbell will be more focused on putting a halt to a four-game losing streak. And for that to happen, the Lions, with Nathan Rourke at quarterback, will need to put the jumper cables to a passing game that has been lifeless recently.

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The Lions roared to a 5-1 start, reeling off five straight wins following an opening-game loss to Toronto. But it has been a four-game slide since.

With eight games remaining in their regular season, the Lions still are in good shape, sitting in second place in a tight West Division race.

But, if B.C. — which is hosting their year’s Grey Cup — has any hopes of playing in the championship game, the passing game needs to find an offensive spark.

What was and should be a prolific passing attack has disappeared. Since putting up 2,203 passing yards — an average of 367.2 per game — with 12 touchdowns over the first five games, the Lions have come crashing to earth with 650 passing yards — an average of 162.5 per game — and two TDs in the past four.

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“Our passing game is gone, that’s where we’ve lost our mojo,” Campbell said. “We’ve gone backwards. The last couple of weeks, we’ve been running the ball well, but haven’t been able to throw. We have to solve our passing game issues, I’m optimistic we can do that. Earlier in the season, that was our strength, but it’s kind of disappeared.”

Much of the early passing yardage came from the arm of Vernon Adams, who has been out since injuring a knee three weeks ago in a 25-0 loss to Winnipeg. With Jake Dolegala as the starting QB, the Lions lost 33-16 to Edmonton.

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Then, with last week’s return to the lineup of the talented Rourke, who has bounced around several NFL camps over the past couple of years, B.C. lost 20-11 to Winnipeg. Rourke completed just 8-of-25 passes for 126 yards with two of the passes intercepted.

With just a bit of pre-season football under his belt for two years, it’s not hard to understand why Rourke, who recently agreed to return to the CFL and the Lions, was rusty.

“I factor in playing against Winnipeg’s defence (twice); that defence is really good and is going to give people problems,” Campbell said. “Then, there’s three quarterbacks in three weeks. We’re going through one of those phases. If we can get the passing game just to operate at an efficient level, we’re definitely going to have more success.”

The Lions need more from Rourke, who got a three-year contract that will reportedly pay him $250,000 for the remainder of this season, then more than $600,000 each of the next two years.

“It was kind of a whirlwind for Nathan,” Campbell said. “He flew to Vancouver (last week), then had three days of practice. He had a good week, that’s why we played him. Winnipeg caused us problems. I’m not making an excuse for him, but (the Bombers) made Vernon look bad, too. We didn’t have a good answer for what they were doing.

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“(Rourke is) on track, he’ll have another week of practice. As he plays more more, he’ll start looking like the guy people have seen before.”

As for the return of Adams, who was putting Most Outstanding Player-like stats up before his injury, it could happen as early as next week, when the Redblacks go west to Victoria to play the Lions in a game the CFL is calling Touchdown Pacific.

The question many are asking is what happens to Adams when he returns?

“There are multiple examples of teams who have won with two starting quarterbacks,” Campbell said. “They like each other. When Nathan got hurt in 2022, we traded for Vernon and Vernon stepped in for him. So, they’ve been down this road before. We’ve said we’re going to do what’s best for the B.C. Lions, whatever gives us the best chance to win. For right now, that’s Nathan because Vernon is not available.”

Asked about facing the Redblacks, Campbell said: “They’re a good football team. They’re aggressive, they play hard. Their defence and special teams are very, very good and they’ve had moments on offence. They fight hard for 60 minutes, they play the way the game should be played.”

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There’s no panic button. Campbell, who has a 5-0 record vs. the Redblacks since leaving Ottawa, believes there are brighter days and victories ahead. He says the Lions players have kept the right attitude about turning it around.

“It’s not like we have to dig ourselves out of a hole — we’re 5-5 and the division is wide open,” he said. “It’s anybody’s game in the West.

“It does grind on you when you lose four in a row, when you don’t have success. Our guys work hard and if they continue to do that, there’s reason to believe we can get back on the winning track. We’ll definitely compete these last eight games, we’ll see how it goes.”

As for returning to Ottawa, he said: “We didn’t play there last year and we were there early in the season the previous year. So, it’s been a long time, but I’m definitely looking forward to coming back. It’s weird because I’m not from Ottawa, and I didn’t grow up in Ontario, but Ottawa feels like one of my home towns.”

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