Watching Nathan Rourke in his highly-hyped return to the CFL to close out Week 11, I had a strong sense of comeback deja vu.
My mind went all the way back to March 19, 1995, when Michael Jordan returned to basketball and the Chicago Bulls after missing more than a season-and-a-half of play, when he’d retired and pursued a baseball career.
The teammates were largely the same, as was the now legendary coaching staff of Phil Jackson and Tex Winter, with their equally legendary triangle offence. On paper it seemed like it could be a plug-and-play situation. Drop the face of the franchise back into the equation and watch the results pick up where they left off.
Except, of course, that wasn’t the case.
Jordan made 7-28 shots that day, looking fatigued as the Bulls lost their game with the Indiana Pacers.
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In the only instance you wouldn’t want your name linked to basketball’s GOAT in the same sentence, Rourke’s comeback performance last week was Jordan-like in many ways. The chemistry with his receivers was a smidge off; the Bombers’ pressure on him seemed overwhelming in a sense; the two interceptions he threw, in hindsight, felt like an inevitability for the kind of day he was having.
None of those are reasons to put your hands anywhere near the panic button. Rourke’s performance will likely be better this week as the Lions travel to Ottawa to face the REDBLACKS. And his performance the week after in his hometown of Victoria B.C. for the Touchdown Pacific Game will likely be better than what we see from him on Saturday night. As Rourke’s comfort returns with in-game situations and as he gets a better feel for the outstretched hands looking for his passes, the Lions’ offence will get the boost it’s been chasing through this now four-game losing streak.
“I think it’s hard,” Rourke said to The Canadian Press this week, of the re-integration process. “I think it’s good knowing the offence, and having some reps with some of the guys. But it certainly has its challenges.”
After going 8-25 for 126 yards with zero touchdowns in his return, Rourke apologized for his performance. It’s safe to say that by the time the Lions are back at BC Place again on Fri. Sept. 13, there won’t be any need for those kinds of post-game gestures.
Lions’ head coach Rick Campbell stressed to The Canadian Press this week that he’s looking at the big picture. His team is a point out of first place in the West and has eight games to try to make a move back to the top of the standings. The Lions’ offensive problems began to seep in before Vernon Adams Jr. was injured. Averaging 367.2 passing yards per game in their 5-1 start, they’ve managed 162.5 passing yards per game in their four-game slide.
“Our pass game hasn’t been what it was before,” Campbell told The Canadian Press. “We actually do some good stuff on defence and special teams and we’ve been running the ball. (William) Stanback ran the ball for 100 yards (against the Bombers). Usually the conversation with us is ‘How come you can’t run the ball better? Why are you throwing all the time?’
“We’ve just got to get our mojo back in the pass game. And when we do, we’ll be on the right side of the scoreboard in these games.”
Rourke will hope to be more Jordan-like as he settles back into his orange and black uniform. Once Jordan found his legs he started to look more like himself in his comeback season. He hit a buzzer-beater to win his fourth game back, then in his sixth game had one of the greatest performances of his career, scoring 55 points in a win against the New York Knicks.
This isn’t a guarantee of a monster game this week or next. Just like this past week, you can’t expect Rourke to be a giant-slayer in an instant; this will be a process, but one that should land the Lions in a good place. The second half of this season will feel like a sprint, but the Lions know they’re only in the middle of the marathon. When Rourke is all the way back, the Lions will be as dangerous as ever.