Drew Willy and the Bombers keep rising, while Kevin Glenn and the Lions are struggling

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers' 23-6 win over the B.C. Lions Friday night had a lot to do with the two sides' respective quarterbacks, which has largely been the story of the season for these teams so far. Winnipeg won and improved to 4-1 thanks to a solid showing from Drew Willy, who completed 18 of 26 passes (69.2 per cent) for 250 yards with a touchdown and an interception. It wasn't Willy's best showing of the season, but he did more than enough through the air to help his team to victory, which has been a recurring theme so far. Meanwhile, B.C.'s loss had a lot to do with the subpar performance of Kevin Glenn, who connected on just 18 of 31 pass attempts (58.1 per cent) for 232 yards and threw two interceptions. While Glenn's performance is far from the only factor in the Lions' 2-3 record to date, his play has been a big part of the problem. There was more to this game than just the pivots' performances, but their differing levels of play were critical in producing this result.

For Winnipeg, the passing game was about the only part of the offence working Friday night. Running back Nic Grigsby had been very promising to date, but he only collected 19 yards on 15 carries (1.3 yards per rush) against the Lions' rushing defence. Moreover, 17 of those yards came on a single carry; without that, he collected two yards on 14 touches. B.C.'s defence was able to stop the rush, and they did contain the Bombers' passing attack a little bit (the Bombers settled for field goals a lot, and rookie kicker Lirim Hajrullahu's 5-for-5 showing there was a crucial part of their victory), but Willy managed to move the chains enough to lead them to a win. He was particularly effective at finding former Lion Nick Moore, a prized free-agency acquisition for Winnipeg who had seven catches for 99 yards on the night, but he also spread the ball around to six other receivers. This wasn't Willy's best game of the season, but he was still effective, and his consistently-solid play so far is a big reason why the Bombers are off to a great start.

Meanwhile, B.C.'s ongoing quarterback issues didn't show any sign of potential resolution Friday. Glenn was brought in at substantial cost (a first-round draft pick) to provide the Lions with a backup with CFL experience while Travis Lulay recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, but so far, he's played well below the level he had shown over the last couple of years. His 1,113 passing yards on the season aren't bad (in fact, they're fourth in the league), and his 62.0 per cent completion rate isn't awful, but he's thrown eight interceptions against five touchdowns so far, and his play Friday was below even what he'd shown before. He was even briefly replaced by John Beck, but Beck's one completion on two attempts didn't necessarily suggest he's the way to go either. The Lions have done okay when they've gotten solid showings in the ground game, but while Andrew Harris and Stefan Logan combined for 70 rushing yards Friday, they needed 16 carries to do so and averaged just 4.4 yards per rush. Without a superlative rushing performance, B.C.hasn't been able to do much at the moment. Unless they get more production from Glenn or Beck in the passing game, it may be a long wait until Lulay returns.