Canadian Football League

Thursday, November 17, 2005

B.C. announces starting QB for Canadian Football League West Final

Wally Buono has decided to go with the one who got him there, naming Dave Dickenson as the B.C. Lions starting quarterback for Sunday's CFL West final against the Edmonton Eskimos.
"Dave has been our starting quarterback all year, and has had a tremendous year, and has done nothing to lose his job," Buono, the Lions head coach and general manager, told The Team 1040 all-sports radio station Tuesday.
"There has to be a pecking order based on the whole season."
Buono used last week's three days of practice to make a choice between Dickenson and Casey Printers. He said Dickenson showed he had fully recovered from a Oct. 1 concussion which caused him to miss three games.
"The bye week proved to me, because the workouts were very intense, he's back to being 100 per cent," said Buono.



"He functioned at a level that he can do what we need to do to win. "
All last week there was speculation over whether Dickenson, 32, or Printers, 24, would get the start against the Eskimos on Sunday (6 p.m. ET). The winner of the game earns a berth in the Grey Cup.
Dickenson brings veteran experience and patience in the pocket. The more mobile Printers has the ability to scramble away from the rush and head up field when he can't find an open receiver.
Buono said he'd go to the bullpen if Dickenson wasn't getting the job done.
"The person that starts, if he finishes it's because we've done a great job," he said. "If he's not getting it done, we feel we have a tremendous luxury that you can put the other quarterback in and he's going to get the job done."
The Lions finished with a 12-6 record but backed into first place after the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Eskimos in the final game of the year. The Lions lost six of their last seven regular-season games, including two losses to Edmonton.
Both Dickenson and Printers are former league MVPs.
Dickenson played in 12 games this year, has better numbers and is a big reason why the Lions started the season 11-0.
He's completed 253 of 342 passes for an astonishing 74 per cent completion ratio. He's thrown for 3,339 yards, 21 touchdowns and just five interceptions.
Printers started the season hobbled by a toe injury that needed off-season surgery and didn't make his first start until August. He's also been bothered by a sore shoulder which kept him on the sidelines.
In the eight games he played he completed 132 of 217 passes for 1,767 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions

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