Dave Dickenson has never won a Grey Cup ring. Oh sure, he has a winner's ring from the Canadian Football League's 1998 championship game but he didn't do much to earn it.
His biggest role eight years ago was to hold the ball for Calgary Stampeders' kicker Mark McLoughlin, who hoofed the game-winning field goal to narrowly defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The rest of the time, Dickenson stood on the sidelines and watched starting quarterback Jeff Garcia earn the game's outstanding player award.
The following season with Garcia gone, Dickenson got Calgary back to the Grey Cup but faced Hamilton with a broken collar bone. Dickenson's only other start in the Cup came in 2004 when the Lions lost to the Toronto Argonauts.
But now, the quarterback who looks like a librarian and has suffered more than his share of injuries has returned to the CFL's showcase event with his best chance to make an impact and win it.
After a season of ankle sprains and concussions, Dickenson is finally healthy, so healthy that he did a masterful job of dissecting the Saskatchewan Roughriders' vaunted defence 45-18 in the West Division final. He didn't just call the right plays at the right time; he executed them with the touch of a diamond cutter.
He rolled out. He threw short passes, medium-range passes and, on the deep ones, he gave his receivers a chance to make plays, and they did.
Without a doubt, this is the best offensive group Dickenson has ever had to work with, from power running back Joe Smith to a receiving corps that includes Paris Jackson, Ryan Thelwell, Kendrick Jones, Jason Clermont and this season's most outstanding player Geroy Simon.
And Dickenson's record against his newest Grey Cup foe, the Montreal Alouettes, isn't too shabby, either.
The Lions won both of their regular-season matches against Montreal and Dickenson's two-game total was a staggering 37 pass attempts, 28 completions for 462 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Toss in a splendid effort from No. 2 quarterback Buck Pierce (he completed 13 of 16 passes for 221 yards and three TDs versus the Als) and you can understand why the Lions beat Montreal by a combined score of 84-33.
Can the Lions do it a third time to Montreal? The two biggest ifs are Dickenson's health and the weather, which is guaranteed to be frosty with Sunday's game scheduled for Winnipeg's Canad Inns Stadium.
The Lions are a fast-track team with speed to spare. If the weather turns sloppy and slippy, it could negate at least some of that quickness. As for Dickenson's health, going the distance against Saskatchewan marked the first time he had started and finished a game in 3 ½ months. That's encouraging to the Lions, who posted the best record in the country during the season.
As for Montreal, a confident, finely-tuned Dickenson is not a good thing. It also doesn't help Montreal that Dickenson is eager to return to Winnipeg to pick up a second championship ring, only this time he plans to earn it.
In this little corner of the blog kingdome, it says he will. Lions over Montreal by five. Let the countdown commence.
In Pictures:
