Dave Campbell
CFL.ca
In 2002, a young man by the name of Ricky Ray from some place called Happy Camp, California arrived in training camp for the Edmonton Eskimos. Listed third on the depth chart, Ray wasn’t expected to make much of an impact.
Then injuries, specifically to starter Jason Maas, thrust Ray into the starter’s role and he didn’t disappoint. He threw for 2,991 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions and led the CFL with a 101.3 quarterback rating. He led the Eskimos to a Grey Cup appearance in each of the next two seasons, winning in 2003. That year, Ray passed for 4,640 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions and recorded a 67.6 completion percentage. The only time Ray was really pulled in games was when the game was out of reach for the other time and quite often he’d have the entire fourth quarter off.
Fast forward to 2010 and Ricky Ray is being pulled for an entirely different reason, his lack of production and consistency. Last week vs. Saskatchewan, Ray was benched at the end of the first half after the offence could muster only 22 yards in the first quarter. Jared Zabransky entered and helped engineer the Eskimos only offensive touchdown.
When you’re 2-6 on the season, teams need to find ways to get the job done no matter what and no matter whose feelings you may hurt. Ray though doesn’t feel too slighted by the happenings of a week ago.
“We need to find a way no matter who’s in there”, said Ray. “Whether it’s two guys, one guy, three guys to help us to be better on offence. We still moved the ball and at times we had turnovers and things that cost us. Whatever design we go with, we got to get some better play”.
At one time it seemed no matter what was happening in the game; Ricky Ray was the man to carry the mail. Now it seems that mindset has changed with Richie Hall guiding the ship.
“It’s one of the things that Strass (offensive coordinator Kevin Straser) and I had talked about prior to the game,” Hall explained. “If Ricky struggled, we’d look at making that change. Ricky was coming off an injury (bruised sternum), heck, give Zee (Jared Zabransky), a shot, let him go in there and see what he could do. He did some good things for us.”
Zabransky is the better athlete, he has great mobility, he can sell the shovel pass better and option plays because of his ability to run with the football, he also threw a touchdown pass in the win last week.
Zabranksy also showed how green he is to the Canadian Football League as he threw two costly interceptions, both down in the score zone and once in the end zone. In the fourth quarter, with the game on line, Ricky Ray returned to the football game.
“He stabilized things and he provided some leadership from an experience perspective coming down the stretch,” Hall said. “He came in off the bench and he looked like a different player than he was at the beginning, he looked like the Ricky of old. He was real sharp, real decisive with his reads and finishing off his throws.”
Ray seems to take the brunt of the criticism from fans when things don’t go well. He isn’t as sharp as he was before he left for the NFL in 2004.
He’s also not as bad as people think; he has accumulated over 5,000 yards passing three times since 2005 and has won another Grey Cup. He also hasn’t had an effective running attack until now and the offensive line haven’t been doing their part at times keeping Ray of the mat.
When you look at his numbers this season, it’s staggering to think Ray only has six touchdown passes while Henry Burris has thrown 18. For whatever reason, success has been hard to come by for Ray and he knows he’s not as consistent as he needs to be. The consequence of that is he’s finding the bench a little more these days.
“It’s not fun, it’s not like I enjoy going out there and throwing interceptions and then sitting and watching the game for three quarters,” said Ray. “I just want them to play whoever they’re most confident in. I don’t want them to play me if they don’t feel confident that I can’t get the job done.”
Head coach Richie Hall hasn’t completely lost confidence it appears, saying one tough outing doesn’t mean you lose your standing with the football team. In fact, he stood by his pivot this week saying Ray is “the guy”.
“When we lineup against Calgary on Monday, Ricky Ray will be our quarterback.”
Right, because number 15 still gives you the best chance to win, period.
Notes: Eskimo receiver Kelly Campbell injured his ankle on a punt return last week in the team’s 17-14 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He didn’t practice with the team all week and ran individually on Saturday. Campbell has made the trip to Calgary and will be a game time decision. He says filling in on kick-off and punt returns has been challenging. “You’re like a guy who’s a target, the hits are harder and the guys are more amped to get after you”. Slotback Jason Barnes rolled his ankle during workouts on Wednesday. He missed the first two official days of practice and returned on Saturday, he’s expected to play.