Bethel-Thompson looks past CFL yardage milestone
His arm puts him ahead of Doug Flutie but behind Ricky Ray and Damon Allen
TORONTO — He has thrown for more yards than Hall of Famer Doug Flutie, but McLeod Bethel-Thompson doesn’t see that as a reason to celebrate.
Of more importance to the Toronto Argonauts’ veteran starter is establishing himself as a winning quarterback.
“I see myself as a .500 quarterback, so there’s progress to be made,” Bethel-Thompson said following Toronto’s 37-20 home win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night.
“Quarterbacks are measured by wins and right now, we’re a .500 team. There’s more consistent plays to be made and I’m going to do everything in my abilities, everything I possibly can to get there, to be that guy for this team.”
Bethel-Thompson completed 19-of-32 passes for 258 yards with three touchdowns and an interception versus Hamilton. Two of his TD passes came in the third quarter as Toronto (5-5) outscored Hamilton (3-8) 27-4 in the second half to erase a 16-10 halftime deficit.
Bethel-Thompson, in his fifth CFL season — all with Toronto — has amassed 11,294 career passing yards.
That moved him past Flutie (11,225) into fourth in club history. Flutie only spent two seasons with the Argos (1996-97), earning CFL outstanding player awards both seasons en route to leading the franchise to consecutive Grey Cups before joining the NFL’s Buffalo Bills in 1998.
Bethel-Thompson has some work to do to catch career passing leader Ricky Ray (20,205), who’ll be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame next month. Also ahead of BethelThompson are Condredge Holloway (16,619) and Damon Allen (13,974), also both Hall of Famers.
“That is probably something I’ll look back on after my career is done,” said Bethel-Thompson. “Those names are unbelievable, they’re just legends, so I’m not really worried about it right now.”
Bethel-Thompson earned a Grey Cup ring with Toronto in 2017 as Ray’s backup. The 34-yearold Californian has completed 232-of-342 passes (67.8 per cent) this season for 2,764 yards with 13 TDs and eight interceptions.
Toronto remains atop the East Division, two points ahead of the second-place Montreal Alouettes (4-6), who host the Ottawa Redblacks (2-8) on Friday night. The Argos complete their four-game season series with Hamilton on Labour Day at Tim Hortons Field.
After that, Toronto will play consecutive road games in Ottawa on Sept. 10 and Sept. 24, respectively. In fact, the Argos will play their next four games away from BMO Field before hosting the B.C. Lions on Oct. 8.