By Canadian Press

Backups step up as start of ’23 season is tough on CFL quarterbacks

Jul 24, 2023 | 11:14 AM

TORONTO — Rick Campbell and Neil McEvoy looked prophetic Saturday night.

B.C. lost starter Vernon Adams Jr. (knee) in the first quarter of its 19-9 home win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. That made the Lions the fourth CFL team this season to lose its No. 1 quarterback to injury.

Fortunately, though, the Lions had veteran Dane Evans waiting in the wings. Evans, acquired in February from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, finished 16-of-25 passing for 219 yards with a touchdown and an interception for B.C. (5-1), which sits atop the West Division having earned wins over all four of its conference rivals thus far.

The good news for the Lions is Adams’s injury isn’t considered season-ending. If he can’t play Saturday when B.C. visits the Edmonton Elks (0-6), then the Lions will continue with Evans, 29, who’s in his fifth CFL season and started two Grey Cup games (2019, ’21) with Hamilton.

“I’m really proud that he (Evans) stepped in like that,” Campbell, the Lions head coach/co-GM, told reporters following Saturday’s game. “I’m glad we got a guy we can rely on and win games with.

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“The backup quarterbacks on most teams don’t get a lot of reps in practice. It really requires a lot of mental reps and I’m proud of the way he battled.”

Adding a veteran presence behind Adams was a priority this off-season for Campbell and McEvoy, the Lions football operations director/co-GM. The team also signed Dominique Davis — who’d spent time previously with Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal — as a free agent.

B.C. wasn’t the only team playing without its starter Saturday night.

Backup Mason Fine was under centre for Saskatchewan. He made his third career start and first this year after incumbent Trevor Harris went on the six-game injured list last week.

Harris suffered a tibial plateau fracture in his right knee during Saskatchewan’s 33-31 overtime loss to Calgary on July 15. The injury required surgery but the Riders haven’t ruled out Harris returning before season’s end.

Fine was 31-of-40 passing for 278 yards and two interceptions versus B.C. He was sacked three times — twice by Woody Baron, the other by Canadian Mathieu Betts (CFL-high 10th sack).

Saskatchewan (3-3) faces the defending Grey Cup-champion Toronto Argonauts (5-0) in Halifax on Saturday afternoon.

Perhaps no team has been hit harder with injuries at quarterback than the Ottawa Redblacks, who’ve lost both veteran Jeremiah Masoli (Achilles) and youngster Tyrie Adams (knee) to season-ending ailments. Adams was hurt while leading the club to a 26-7 win over Edmonton on June 30 in his first CFL start.

The following week, Masoli made his season debut in Hamilton, a year to the day after suffering a season-ending leg injury in a game versus Saskatchewan. But Masoli suffered the Achilles injury in the first half of the Redblacks’ 21-13 loss to the Ticats on July 8.

But second-year player Dustin Crum came in and put Ottawa in position to force overtime. He had a 19-yard run on the game’s final play, reaching Hamilton’s one-yard line before being stopped by Ticats’ defender Chris Edwards.

That was just a sign of things to come.

In his first CFL start, Crum rallied Ottawa to a stunning 31-28 overtime win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on July 15. The Redblacks trailed by 19 points in the fourth quarter but Crum forced the extra session with a 12-yard TD run, then threw to Nate Behar for the two-point convert.

In overtime, the former Kent State star won the game with a 29-yard touchdown run.

Crum and Behar were back at it Sunday night in leading Ottawa to a thrilling 43-41 OT win in Calgary. After Ante Milanovic-Litre’s three-yard TD run in the extra sessions made it 41-41, Crum again passed to Behar for the deciding two-point convert.

Crum finished 23-of-29 passing for 254 yards and two TDs while also rushing for a team-high 63 yards on seven carries. Behar had eight receptions for 78 yards.

Ottawa (3-3) hosts Hamilton (2-4) on Friday night.

Rookie Taylor Powell is expected to make a second straight start for the Ticats. With veterans Bo Levi Mitchell and Matt Shiltz both on the six-game injured list, Powell was 27-of-41 passing for 282 yards and an interception while rushing four times for a team-high 37 yards and a TD in Hamilton’s 31-15 home loss to Toronto on Friday night.

Hamilton has played four games without Mitchell but could pull the veteran quarterback from the injured list if he’s deemed ready to play.

“The Bo situation is really in the doctors’ hands and how Bo feels, right, so there’s not going to be any rush there,” Orlondo Steinauer, Hamilton’s head coach/football operations director, said following Friday night’s game. “When Bo is ready, we’ll be ready.

“Taylor is our guy right now and he’ll play better, we’ll play better.”

Edmonton has also started two quarterbacks this season — Taylor Cornelius and Jarret Doege — but that’s been related to play and not injury. That’s left Winnipeg (Zach Collaros), Toronto (Chad Kelly) and Calgary (Jake Maier) as the only teams to use the same passer all season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press