Battle brewing
Intriguing QB competition between Ross and Streveler continues Friday
Living through a 1-for-8 passing performance is bad enough for a quarterback looking for a job.
Watching the film for the next couple of days is another thing.
And on Day 3, just when you figure you’ve put the whole mess behind you, it’s time to face questions from reporters.
Welcome to Alex Ross’ Monday, where for nearly seven minutes he regurgitated his play in Friday’s Blue Bomber exhibition tilt against Edmonton, a game that, on its own, could cost this 25-yearold a job.
Luckily, one pre-season game does not a career make, or break.
You get two.
Which means Friday against his old team in Vancouver is Ross’ red-letter day if he wants to be the first off the bench behind Bombers starter Matt Nichols this season.
“I’m going to stay focused, I’m going to see things and I’m going to read it out — and I’m going to fire it away,” Ross said following practice. “I need a good game.
“I know what I’m capable of. I know what kind of arm I have. Now it’s just about showing it in a game setting.”
Ross’ accuracy on Friday fell far short of his confidence.
“That’s why he’s a quarterback,” head coach Mike O’Shea said.
Ross’ patience on Monday was pretty solid, too.
Question after question about his pre-season debut came, and he didn’t flinch.
“I was a little bit off,” he said after maybe the 10th one, holding his thumb and index finger millimetres apart.
While Ross was a little off, his competition for the backup job was on fire.
By now you’ve heard about the perfect 10 performance from 23-year-old University of South Dakota product Chris Streveler: 10-for-10, 140 yards and an 80-yard touchdown — in his first shot not only at Canadian football, but the pro game.
Ross had a front-row seat for it. And suddenly he’s not the favourite for the No. 2 job anymore.
Of course, that’s big-picture stuff a quarterback can’t worry about. Even if they do.
“I can’t harp, I can’t think about that too much,” Ross said. “I need to think about what I need to do as a quarterback. Competition is what makes everybody better in this world, is it not? Being able to compete at a high level is what you want to do.”
As for Streveler, he’s not taking anything for granted. Nor does he see Friday’s game as a chance to nail down his first pro gig.
“I’m not really looking ahead to Friday,” he said. “I need to go into film this afternoon and learn from some mistakes I had today, and learn from different defensive looks. And tomorrow I need to come out and have a good practice. It’s just a day-by-day process. Friday will come when it comes.”
Besides, Streveler says, his debut wasn’t as good as the numbers suggest.
“It was far from perfect,” he said. “You can always have better ball placement. You can always be quicker in your decision-making. You can always be cleaner in the way you manage the huddle.
“There are some different nuances that take some getting used to.”
One thing that’s struck Streveler, if not surprised him, is the level of talent on this
side of the 49th.
“You talk to so many guys who were all-Americans in college or were in the NFL for a few years,” he said. “A lot of people back in the States maybe don’t know how competitive and how great the talent is up here. It’s exciting to be part of and get to compete with and against those guys.”
Streveler rewrote the record book at South Dakota, while Ross set school records at Coastal Carolina University.
One of them will in all likelihood be one play away from grabbing the reins of the Bombers offence.
While both can move around, what Ross says he does best is throw accurately from the pocket while under pressure.
I’d say Friday in the B.C. Place dome qualifies as pressure.
“An opportunity is there,” is how Ross sees it. “So it’s about just doing what I do,
and doing it well. So this next pre-season game is going to be about dialing everything in, being focused and doing it well.
“I know that place pretty well. Being comfortable in there isn’t going to be something that’s hard to do.”
A few more completions will make it a lot easier.