B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke back at the top of his game
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It's what the running back has come to expect from the B.C. Lions star quarterback.
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'To me, that's just Nate being Nate. It's on brand for Nate,' Butler said at the team's training facility in Surrey on Tuesday. 'I've been saying this since I met him — whenever No. 12 is back there, he just gives you a chance.'
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After struggling in his return to the CFL last season, Rourke is back at the top of his game.
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The 27-year-old Canadian earned player of the week honours for leading the Lions to a decisive 36-18 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday.
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Rourke has shown 'steady growth' this season and the player of the week nod shows the team's entire offence has been clicking, said Lions head coach Buck Pierce.
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'I think the guys around him are performing at a high level as well,' he said. 'And when quarterbacks receive that type of honour, it means a lot of guys around him are performing well, too.'
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Rourke connected on 26 of his 34 pass attempts Saturday, throwing for 382 yards with four touchdowns and an interception.
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The performance marked his sixth 300-plus yard game of the season and the fourth time he's thrown multiple TD passes in his last five starts.
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'Great leader, great quarterback, great man. Aspire to be like him in a few ways,' said Lions receiver Keon Hatcher, who leads the league in receiving yards (878), receptions (54) and targets (85).
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'Nate's done great. Excited to see how he can finish this season. He's a great leader. He does a great job in and out of the huddle and I just can't wait to see what the future holds.'
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Since returning from an oblique injury on July 5, Rourke has averaged 352 passing yards per game.
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He currently sits third in the CFL for most passing yards (2,686) this season behind Bo Levi Mitchell of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3,057) and Nick Arbuckle of the Toronto Argonauts (3,033), and is third in TD passes (16).
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The success follows a difficult end to the 2024 campaign.
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Rourke wasn't in the CFL to start the season, working instead to find a permanent home in the NFL. Last August, he re-signed with B.C. — the team where he had a breakout campaign in 2022 and earned most-outstanding Canadian honours — taking over for the injured Vernon Adams Jr.
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The homegrown talent went 3-5, throwing four touchdowns and nine interceptions and B.C. finished the regular season with a 9-9 record. The Lions were ousted from the West semifinal by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
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