Ray doesn’t snap at healthy advice
QB returns to Boatmen after sea of friendly ideas on how to staying upright
In the month that he’s been sidelined with a sprained left knee, Ricky Ray has been inundated with advice.
“I had a lot of people (asking) “Why do you just stand there when you throw the football?’ ” Ray said Thursday, a day after the Toronto Argonauts announced that he will return to action next Wednesday against the B.C. Lions at BMO Field.
Ray’s injury came in the fourth quarter of a win over the Montreal Alouettes on July 25. He’d thrown the ball down field and while watching the play unfold a few yards away from him, Montreal defensive tackle Vaughn Martin fell into Ray’s knee, awkwardly shifting him sideways and eventually to the sidelines. He was projected to be out three to six weeks. The Argos went 1-2 in his absence.
“Well, that’s what I’ve always done,” Ray said of the play that got him injured. “Everyone’s telling me to back-pedal out of there, or fall down. I’m getting a lot of advice from a lot of different people (on what to do) after I throw the football.”
The tips coming in are more than a stockpile of Twitter mentions from armchair quarterbacks. They’re coming from places that he can’t easily turn away from.
“It starts at home with the wife,” he said. “Then it trickles to my dad and then other players. It’s kind of funny. Everyone has their opinion on how to prevent injuries out there. Maybe I need to start listening.”
Argos head coach Scott Milanovich is hoping that Ray stays upright and helps turn his team’s season around. Backup QB Logan Kilgore’s nine interceptions in his three-game stint as a starter scream the loudest when you turn an ear to what’s ailing the Argos, but there are nagging issues beyond that.
“It’s a function of our defence built to stop the big play and we’re giving up the big play. Our offence isn’t making enough big plays,” Milanovich said. “You really want to wrap it up. We’ve turned the ball over 11 times (in the last three games).
“I hate putting it on one guy, but that quarterback position, when you get that No. 1 guy back and your No. 1 guy has the status of Ricky Ray, it’s going to mean something to everyone in that locker room. It shouldn’t be any different, but human nature is that when a guy that has three (Grey Cup) rings on his finger and has done what he’s doing and the way he was playing prior to getting injured, I think it’ll give us a little shot in the arm.”
The Argos’ two-game slide hasn’t hurt them that much in the standings. They’re 4-4, good for third in the East Division and just a point behind first-place Ottawa. But these last two losses both saw good starts — they were up 10-3 on Winnipeg on Aug. 12, and 8-0 on Edmonton on Aug. 20 — quickly go south, resulting in 34-17 and 46-26 losses.
“That’s always the hard thing, staying together as a group,” Ray said. “Scott does a great job of keeping us together. Guys get frustrated and you don’t want that frustration to turn negative.
“Once you start playing for yourself and not the guys around you, that’s when things snowball. We’ve never really had an issue with that here. We’ve got a great group of guys and we’ll work through it.”
Meanwhile, the Argos made a surprise move Thursday, releasing linebacker and defensive captain Keon Raymond. The 33-year-old had an interception return for a touchdown to open Saturday’s game against the Eskimos.