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It’s not that Casey Printers has progressed by leaps and bounds in just two weeks. It’s that Wally Buono’s initial premise was incorrect.

Printers, and not former No. 1 Buck Pierce, will start at quarterback for the B.C. Lions tonight against the Edmonton Eskimos. The winner of the showdown at B.C. Place Stadium will claim the final playoff berth in the CFL’s West Division. The loser will require a Winnipeg Blue Bombers loss on Sunday to qualify for the postseason.

This is the first time the Lions have flirted with missing the playoffs in the Buono era, and it would mark just the second non-playoff season in the coach’s illustrious 20-year sideline career.

That the game is in the hands of a quarterback who has played three contests in the last 53 weeks is not Buono’s way, and it flies in the face of the coach’s original statements about how Printers would be brought along slowly. Buono said he feared “too much, too soon” for Printers, and didn’t want to cast the former CFL most outstanding player as a saviour, repeating the mistake made by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when they signed him in September of 2007.

But even before injuries started thinning B.C.’s quarterback ranks and bumping Printers up the depth chart, Buono was already recognizing his errors. He said Printers’s memory from his first tour with B.C. was sharper than expected, and that his attitude was splendid compared with the immaturity and selfishness he displayed in 2005, his final season in Vancouver before signing with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

“My biggest concern was his emotional state of confidence, and that’s maybe where I miscalculated,” Buono said. “He’s a lot further along than I thought, and maybe I didn’t give him enough credit.”

When the quarterback signed a practice-roster agreement with the Lions on Sept. 21 – coming back to the CFL franchise where he flourished in 2004 – Buono immediately declared that it would be best for all parties if Printers didn’t have to play this year.

But then he began noticing how Printers interacted with his teammates, how he talked offence with the other pivots and assistant coaches, and that the scout team had vastly improved under its new leader.

“I misjudged his retention of what we did in years past,” Buono said. “That was something that really impressed me, and I felt that as long as he knew the signals, he would be okay.”

Printers, 28, has been more than okay, even though the team is 0-2 since he began starting.

He has passed for more than 300 yards in each of those games, and has given B.C. an explosive playmaker capable of turning broken plays into big gains. But Printers admits that he is still making mistakes on every series and that there is room for improvement.

That’s where the new attitude is most apparent.

Yesterday, for example, he said he “chooses not to be rusty” despite a nearly year-long layoff. When asked how that was possible, Printers explained that he refuses to blame mistakes on rust, rather he takes personal accountability when he misreads a defence or overthrows a receiver.

“If you say rust or you bring it into your existence, then that’s what it is,” Printers explained. “It’s about the power of thought. It’s my choice not to be rusty. If I miss a throw, it’s because I missed it.”

Neither team is expected to be missing bodies tonight, though several players on both sides are going to play in weaker states than normal.

As many as 20 B.C. players have been sick with colds or the flu over the last week or so, including reserve offensive lineman Damane Duckett, who was quarantined in a hotel with H1N1 virus. Head trainer Bill Reichelt said that he is hoping to vaccinate six asthmatic players for the virus after the game.

About six Eskimos have been hit with the flu this week, including receivers Fred Stamps and Andrew Nowacki, and return specialist Tristan Jackson.