Three of the four teams in the playoffs Sunday say they're starting second-choice quarterbacks

Earlier this week, three of the four playoff-bound teams were facing serious questions about who they planned to start Sunday. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions all had to decide if their first-choice starter was recovered enough from injury to go, or if they were going to have to rely on backups. As of Friday, those questions all appear to have been resolved (according to team statements, at least), but they all seem to have gone in favour of the quarterbacks who didn't start the season.

For Saskatchewan, that's Kerry Joseph, maybe the most surprising name on this list. The 41-year-old Joseph wasn't even a consideration at the start of this year, as he only came out of retirement to join the Riders in October. Young quarterbacks Tino Sunseri and Seth Doege struggled once Darian Durant went down with an elbow injury in early September though, and while Joseph hasn't set the world on fire so far in his return to Saskatchewan, he's been better than the two inexperienced options. The Riders' hope was that Durant would be ready to go by the playoffs, but they announced Thursday that Joseph will get the start. They did add that Durant is expected to dress and be available, so he may wind up coming in here, but it looks like Joseph's going to be under centre to begin with.

In Edmonton, the backup getting the call is Matt Nichols, who started just one game this season (the Eskimos' regular-season finale, a 24-17 loss to Saskatchewan). The team went with Mike Reilly for most of the year, and Reilly was named a divisional all-star for his outstanding play, but he hurt his foot two weeks ago against B.C., and rumours have been circulating that it's broken. The Eskimos haven't confirmed that, but they did announce Wednesday that Nichols would get the start. However, the team has been saying Reilly will be able to participate in the game, and he told the media he'll be "suited up and ready to play." Reilly hasn't moved much in practices this week, though, so we'll see just how available he is. This could all be a long con by the team to force Saskatchewan to prepare for two different quarterbacks, but Nichols does seem like the most likely starter at this point.

No official starter appears to have been named yet for the Lions, but TSN's Farhan Lalji reported Friday that Kevin Glenn will once again be under centre. That's not something many expected at the start of the season, but it wound up being the Lions' reality for most of the year thanks to Travis Lulay taking longer than expected to recover from shoulder surgery and then hurting himself again in his first start. Lulay hasn't played since that September game against the Ottawa Redblacks where he reaggravated his shoulder injury, but he's been working his way back, and there were hopes he might be able to start this week. As with Durant and Reilly, though, it sounds like Lulay will be dressed as the backup. Thus, we could wind up seeing all three of these first-choice quarterbacks in action, or we could see none of them. All the backups appear to be getting the start, though.

The only really settled quarterback situation ahead of Sunday's playoff games appears to be with the Lions' opponents, the Montreal Alouettes. They'll also be starting someone who wasn't in the picture at the start of the year, Jonathon Crompton. However, Crompton's in his second year in the CFL (after a stint with the Eskimos last year, who released him after the season), and he's done very well in Montreal since signing with the Alouettes on July 15, eventually displacing Troy Smith (who was later released) as the team's starter. Crompton's established himself in that role nicely, and while he still has some growing to do, at least he makes Montreal's call on who to start Sunday easy. That's more than can be said for any other team playing this week.