‘I’m not where I want to be right now’: Nathan Rourke believes he owes B.C. Lions better play

Photo courtesy: Steven Chang/B.C. Lions

Nathan Rourke was named one of the CFL’s players of the week for his performance against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday night, but the homegrown superstar wouldn’t have selected himself for that honour.

When speaking to the media following the 30-16 victory, the B.C. Lions’ quarterback expressed disappointment in his recent level of play.

“I think we owe this one to (the defence),” Rourke said. “It’s an interesting feeling I have right now, if I can try to describe it to you. I know that it’s a great win, and it’s against a really good team, and every win is hard-fought. I don’t particularly feel like I played the way that I know I’m capable of playing. I think our defence played a ton of great plays to keep us in it.”

The 28-year-old completed 22-of-28 passes (78.6 percent) for 355 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception, while adding one carry for 19 yards. He finished with a 129.3 passer efficiency rating, but had another interception called back by penalty, at least one other potential pick dropped by the defence, and was sacked three times.

B.C. led throughout the night, but struggled to put the game away. It was a four-takeaway outing from the Lions’ defence that Rourke credited for the result, despite what he saw as personal mistakes.

“We’ve got to take advantage of that more. That should have been a way more high-scoring game than it was, and so I just feel like I’ve got to be better,” he said.

Rourke’s interception came early in the fourth quarter, as he stepped up in the pocket on first down and looked to connect with Jermaine Jackson in behind the defence on a deep shot. The ball was underthrown, which allowed safety Jaxon Ford to make a diving catch. That set up Saskatchewan’s only touchdown drive of the night, as B.C. was outscored 10-3 from that point forward.

“I called a shot on that interception. We wanted to be aggressive at that point,” head coach Buck Pierce said, dismissing the suggestion that Rourke lacked situational awareness on the throw. “We’d just gotten a big play on the sideline, and we felt that we could get this. We’d been waiting to call it, and called it, and it didn’t work out.”

Rourke appeared to be more conservative with his decisions in the aftermath, and ate two sacks that ended drives. Although he didn’t put the football at risk, he wasn’t happy with those results either.

“It was probably less about taking a sack and more about trying to get down to the checkdown, knowing that they were dropping guys in the coverage,” he said. “At the same time, knowing that you had points and already have a field goal, you would love to score a touchdown there, obviously.”

Rourke made CFL history in 2025 as the first Canadian quarterback to win Most Outstanding Player since 1969. He completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 5,290 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions over 16 regular-season starts, while adding 61 carries for 564 yards and 10 scores.

However, the league’s highest-paid player hasn’t enjoyed the same level of success this year. Through eight games, he’s connected on 69.4 percent of his throws for 2,429 yards, 11 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, while running just 11 times for 129 yards and two scores.

B.C. was pegged by many as a preseason Grey Cup favourite, but was ravaged by injuries out of the gate and began the year 0-3. Rourke was himself knocked out on the second play of their Week 7 loss to Edmonton and missed the next two games with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. He has thrown for over 300 yards in every game since his return, but remains unsatisfied with the offence.

“I think we’re playing better than we did early on. I think when it comes to me trying to become the best player I can be, I’m not where I want to be right now,” he said. “I feel like I owe it to this organization to get better.”

Despite that pessimism, the Lions have succeeded in turning things around and are arguably the hottest team in the CFL. The victory over Saskatchewan was their fourth in a row and their third straight with Rourke at the helm. The team is now .500 on the year and sits in third place in the West Division.

“In this stretch, our defence has played and won games for us, and hopefully, our offence continues to build in these next couple of games,” Rourke said, refusing to take any credit. “We go east and make a push here and start playing complementary ball where both sides of the ball are really playing at their best.”

The B.C. Lions (4-5) will visit the Ottawa Redblacks (0-10) at TD Place Stadium on Sunday, August 30 with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Lions are coming off a 30-16 win over B.C., while the Redblacks were blown out by the Montreal Alouettes.

The weather forecast in Ottawa calls for 23 degrees with a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS2 in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 730 CKNW (English) or Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 (Punjabi) in Vancouver or TSN 1200 in Ottawa.