BCLions.com
VANCOUVER — Vernon Adams Jr. changed his jersey number this off-season from No. 8 to No. 3, the same number of touchdowns passes he scored Thursday night.
The veteran quarterback was nearly perfect in his preseason debut as the BC Lions beat the Calgary Stampeders 25-22 at BC Place in the teams’ final preseason game.
Despite completing all 12 of his pass attempts for 213 yards and three scores, the 30-year-old made it seem like routine, choosing instead to praise the offence around him.
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“Felt like I was seeing things clearly,” said the quarterback after the game. “(Offensive coordinator) Jordan (Maksymic) did a great job dialing things up, guys were making tremendous catches for me, offensive line did their thing. Used my feet a little bit to extend some drives and things like that.
“I’m just so proud of how the team played and how (Dominique Davis) finished that drive to go down and get us three. It was good.”
Adams Jr. was able to lead the Lions to three touchdown drives in only two quarters of play without letting a single pass hit the ground, connecting with wide receivers Lucky Whitehead, Dominique Rhymes and Justin McInnis for the scores.
Despite the gaudy stats, the veteran knows that it’s all about doing it again in seven days when BC takes on the Stampeders at McMahon Stadium.
“(The Stampeders) left some guys home but Calgary’s defence goes by their system. We need to do that same thing next week, when it really counts,” added the signal-caller. “I’m just ready for that”.
Adams Jr. is entering his first regular season in BC as the starter after being traded from Montreal midway through last year.
That means it’s his first chance to work with the team in preseason to fine-tune the offence towards his skills. So far so good.
“I really just want to dial in and be a consistent quarterback,” said Adams Jr. “It’s just the first preseason game. I got a lot more to do, to show and to prove to myself and I plan on doing that. It’s going to take one game at a time and having the whole off-season, quarterback meetings and everything in this offence, I just felt a lot more comfortable out there in seeing things better.”
The Lions and Stamps face each other again to open Week 1 of the 2023 regular season in Calgary on June 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET.
