West final between Lions, Stampeders marked by quarterbacks' history

Once the BC Lions decided Nathan Rourke would be their No. 1 quarterback, they decided to trade Vernon Adams Jr. to the division rival Calgary Stampeders.

Eleven months later, Adams is ready to guide his new team against his old one in a playoff setting when the Stampeders visit the Lions in the West semifinal on Saturday in Vancouver.

The Lions and Stampeders finished the regular season with matching 11-7 records, but BC swept the two-game season series to win the tiebreaker and home-field advantage in the playoff tilt. Both of the Lions' wins over Calgary came during a six-game winning streak to end the season, 52-23 on the road and 38-24 at home.

Rourke, a Most Outstanding Player candidate, finished second in the CFL with 5,290 yards, shattering the league's single-season passing record for Canadian players.

He played for the Lions from 2021-22 before a brief venture into the NFL. When he returned in the middle of the 2024 season, Rourke made eight starts before BC turned back to Adams to close out the year, including a loss in the Lions' playoff opener.

The franchise chose to stand by Rourke and dealt Adams to Calgary a few weeks later.

Adams had a fine season in his own right, throwing for 4,247 yards and helping the Stampeders win their final three games to lock up their playoff berth.

"It's a playoff game. Whether it's BC or anyone else, it means a lot," Adams told reporters this week. "... I spent some time there, but it's all good. We know we've got to get this win."

Rourke also downplayed any significance of Adams' return to Vancouver with everything on the line.

"At the end of the day, I'm not playing against (Adams), that's the way I look at it. I'm playing against the Calgary defense," Rourke said. "They're a very, very good defense. ... Obviously, I love playing against really good players. I got a lot of respect for V.A."

Adams may have to worry about the BC defense, which brushed off a poor start to the season and held opponents to 23.5 points per game during the season-ending streak.

"It's hard to pinpoint that ‘why' when it continues to just evolve," said Lions linebacker Micah Awe. "It's not this one thing. It's a combination of, ‘Hey,' at the beginning, ‘Coach, we don't like these plays.' It's a combination of ‘We can't do these plays.' It's a combination of ‘We can do these plays.'

"We honestly just learned how to play with each other just from a personal standpoint."

The winner advances to visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West final to determine who goes to the Grey Cup.

--Field Level Media