BC Lions Football :: BCLionsDen.ca

You are here: Home / Archives for Buck Pierce

Bad Luck For A Great Guy: Lions Release Buck Pierce

By

Buck PierceSometimes crappy things happen to good people and today quarterback Buck Pierce is experiencing that feeling after being released by the BC Lions.

Last year at this time he had just been named the Lions undisputed number one quarterback heading into training camp. But after another season with injury troubles to both his shoulder and head (concussions), Pierce became a victim of the business side of football. There was no way the Lions could carry him and his $300,000 contract this season. He was due a bonus payment on March 15th. Pierce was released just a day after the Lions announced a contract extension for Casey Printers.

The Lions had this release on their website:

The BC Lions Football Club announced today that quarterback Buck Pierce has been released.

“Buck has been a consummate professional during his time with our organization and in addition to thanking him for his efforts over the past five seasons we also wish him the very best in the future,” said Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono.

Originally joining the club as a free agent in 2005, Piercewent on to start 34 of his 86 career games in the CFL, compiling a mark of 21-12-1. He leaves the Leos ranked seventh on the club’s all-time passing list with 8,734 yards and sixth all-time with 692 completions. His career passing efficiency rating of 93.6 is third-best among all Lions quarterbacks behind only Dave Dickenson and Casey Printers.

In 2009, he appeared in 12 of 18 games for the club including the first seven of the season and five consecutive games from September 19th to October 18th. Buck led the club in passing yards with 2,272 and 10 TD passes including three, 300-yard passing games in 2009, giving him eight for his five-year career.

Pierce is truly one of the good guys. He always had time to chat with kids or fans at practice and training camp and he made many community appearances. I had the pleasure of meeting his parents at a tailgate party one year and it was clear to see where he got his values and demeanour. As a player, Pierce was as tough as they come. Often playing hurt, Pierce gave his all to the Lions and was a valuable asset both as a starter and a backup during his time with the team.

On behalf of BCLionsDen.ca and all our members, I would like to thank Buck Pierce for his contributions to the team and our community, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

[tweetmeme]

Bombs Over BC? Printers Extends With Lions

By

Casey PrintersBombs over BC? Fans of the BC Lions fans will hope so after the club announced a contract extension for quarterback Casey Printers Sunday evening. In keeping with club policy, terms of the deal were not released.

“Casey has demonstrated that he’s not only a gifted and exciting quarterback, but that he is capable of being one of our core leaders moving forward into next season,” said Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono.

Printers rejoined the Lions during the 2009 season, and finished the year as the club’s starter after both Jackson and Pierce were lost to injury. He finished the season completing 43 of 68 passing attempts for 686 yards and three TD’s, showing flashes of the 2004 Printers that won the league’s most outstanding player award.

Despite terms of the deal not being released, it can be assumed that Printers will be paid in line with other CFL starting quarterbacks, meaning the club will likely making another announcement in the near future regarding the release or trade of one it’s QB’s. It’s an almost certainty that one of Jarious Jackson or Buck Pierce will likely be gone come training camp. With Pierce’s history of shoulder problems and concussions, he may be the one on the move, but there is no way the Lions can carry three pivots at the dollars they are making.

Printers is happy to be staying with the Lions. “As excited as I was to return last season, I am even more ecstatic to be signing this extension and getting an opportunity to contribute to the Lions in any way I can,” said Printers. “We have an outstanding group of players on both offense and defense that will make us very difficult to play against in 2010.”

[tweetmeme]

Down By Contact: Stamps 27 Lions 18

By

Well, anyone who thinks the Lions get special favours from the officials in the league can look at Friday’s game against the Calgary Stampeders to see that just isn’t the case.

As is so often the case in sports, you get breaks and you have them go against you as well. On Friday night a critical 3rd quarter play that went against the Lions changed the course of the game, and set the Stampeders up for a 27-18 victory at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

With the score tied at 17-17 the Stamps had the ball and quarterback Henry Burris launched a pass that was “caught” by Nik Lewis. The ball popped out when Lewis made contact with ground. CFL rules say the receiver must survive contact with the ground for a pass to be complete. The ball popped out on contact with the ground and was snatched out of the air by Barron Miles and the ruling on the field was an interception. The Stamps challenged the play and the league officials ruled Lewis made the catch and was down by contact. The Stamps scored the go ahead touchdown on the following play and the Lions never recovered.

Bad penalties, missed receivers, and continually finding themselves in 2nd and long did the Lions in in the second half, wasting what was looking to be their best effort of the season.

Both Martell Mallett and Joffrey Reynolds had big nights on the ground, but it was the Stamps defense that buckled down in the second half. A 4th quarter Buck Pierce interception pretty much sealed the deal.

Reynolds finished the night with 157 yards rushing, once again exposing the Lions weak run stopping defense, which has been an issue all season. The Lions special teams also failed them once again. After opening the scoring on an impressive drive early in the second quarter on a Martell Mallett 25 yard touchdown run the Lions surrendered a 75 yard return on the kickoff, transferring whatever momentum they had built up back to the Stamps, who would score four plays later on a seven yard Henry Burris run.

“Demetris Summers’ kickoff return gave us some momentum,” Stampeders coach John Hufnagel said. “We scored some points on that. Then when B.C. scored we were able to answer. Every time they scored, we answered.”

Buck Pierce had a decent night for the Lions, but the crucial interception in the fourth sealed the Lions fate. Then with the Lions driving and needing four yards to keep the drive alive late in the game, Pierce through a ball in the dirt to Martell Mallett with Paris Jackson wide open on a deeper route.

The loss dropped the Lions to 5-7 on the season, and any hopes of challenging for the division are starting to fade. They’ll need help from other teams for that to happen, and they’ll have to help themselves starting next week when the Saskatchewan Roughriders pay a visit to BC Place. The Lions are looking more and more like they’ll be slotting into a cross over spot in the east if they hope to get to Calgary in November.

Quick hits:

  • Martell Mallett: 15 carries, 136 yards and 1 TD
  • Buck Pierce: 17 for 27 236 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.
  • The Stampeders honoured Wally Buono before the game.
  • Nose Tackle Steve Williams made his Lions debut and was quickly dubbed “Little T” by those of us watching the game, because of his last name and his resemblance of former Lions great Tyrone Williams.

Report: Jarious Jackson could be done for the year

By

Radio station CKNW is reporting that quarterback Jarious Jackson could be done for the season with what is speculated to be a torn rotator cuff on his throwing shoulder.

The Lions have neither confirmed or denied the report, saying only that Jackson had underwent an MRI Thursday. Jackson has missed the last two days of practice and Buck Pierce will get the start Saturday against Toronto.

Pierce’s injury woes are well known and he’s coming off a break after suffering his second concussion of the year before the bye week.

Jackson’s injury means Zac Champion will likely be added to the active roster, and speculation will now begin if a phone call could be made to former Lion Casey Printers, who has yet to find a new home after being released by the Hamilton Tiger Cats. Buono has never ruled out bringing Printers back to the club where he had his most success, winning the leagues most outstanding player award in 2004.

Big night for Jarious Jackson at BC Place

By

Tonight at BC Place Stadium, Jarious Jackson will start another game for the BC Lions. It won’t be the first time, he has done so, but it could well be the most important start of his career if he hopes to regain the starters role.

There is no doubt Jackson has been one of the best back up QB’s in the league for a few years now. But as a starter he starts slowly and has often struggled. Getting pulled to start the 3rd quarter last week in Toronto irked Jackson, who returned to the game to lead the Lions to the win. One would have to think Jackson’s chances of securing starter status here are running out. With talk of Buck Pierce being re-evaluated after the bye week, Jackson must impress this week to have the club consider him as the number one QB, coming out of the break.

There is no doubt that Jackson posesses superior arm strength. An article in today’s Vancouver Province talks about the need for Jackson to develop and add a softer touch to his arsenal, to go along with his ability to get the ball to a receiver with zip, or go deep.

Friday is a big night for Jarious.

What are your thoughts? Let us know below, or in our forums!

Great CFL Resources

CFL West Fan Sites

CFL East Fan Sites

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.

Privacy Policy