Lions @ Argos, Oct 30, 2015 -- Game Day Thread
Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 6:04 pm
http://www.cfl.ca/article/ray-to-start- ... s-vs-lions
Ray to start under centre for Argos vs. Lions
Posted: October 25, 2015 12:00 PM
CFL.ca Staff
TORONTO -- The Toronto Argonauts will no longer enter a week of practice with question marks around who will run their offence.
Head Coach Scott Milanovich told reporters Sunday that Ricky Ray will start for the Double Blue under centre when his team takes on the BC Lions at Rogers Centre Friday night.
Ray, who has been working his way back from off-season shoulder surgery, entered last week’s loss to Montreal in the second half and completed 12 of 15 passes for 107 yards.
“We’ve made the decision to make a change at quarterback," Milanovich said. "Ricky is going to start this game and we’re going to go from there.
"I made the decision shortly after the game," he continued. "I called Ricky, asked him how he felt about it. He replied that he felt like he could do it.”
Ray’s return comes in the wake of two consecutive weeks where Trevor Harris was unable to keep the Argos offence moving despite having an MOP-calubre season until that point. Harris was 11 of 14 for 102 yards last week but couldn’t put any points on the board.
Harris entered the year as the starter and has completed 71.2 per cent of his passes for 4,144 yards. He also leads the league in touchdown passes with 32.
Milanovich said he told Harris to be ready because he could be pressed into action at any time, adding that another decision is to be made when the playoffs arrive.
“When I spoke with Trevor yesterday, I told him he needs to be ready," said Milanovich. "We need to find out what Ricky’s capable of doing before we get into the playoffs, then I need to make the decision as to who gives us the best chance to advance when we get there.
"Part of this is a function of that.”
Ray arrived in Toronto in 2012 in a trade with the Edmonton Eskimos, a move that immediately paid dividends for an Argo team that heated up in November to win the 100th Grey Cup on home turf. In 2013 he set the CFL record with a 77.2 completion percentage, finishing the season as the Most Outstanding Player runner-up.
Last weekend's game against Montreal was his first action since the end of that season after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery. Milanovich said the entire playbook will be available to Ray.
“I wouldn’t be putting him in there if I didn’t think so," said Milanovich. "It sounds like what you’re asking is, are we going to throw deep – and the answer is yes. We couldn’t put him in the game and not ask him to throw a deep ball."
"I was pleased with the way he reacted being behind the line, I mean that’s one thing that takes reps sometimes and you don’t feel good back there," the fourth-year head coach continued. "I thought he moved well in the pocket, I thought he felt the rush, got the ball out of his hands.
"It was better than I anticipated from that standpoint. To some degree we tried to keep the calls within what he’d be comfortable with and he did his job.”
The Argos have clinched a playoff spot but remain in a heated three-horse race for position in the East. They can no longer finish in first in the division, but second place and a home playoff game remains possible.
After playing BC on Friday the Boatmen finish off the regular season with a home date against the Bombers on Friday, Nov. 6.
