A DOUBLE BLUE LOSS
Grey Cup champ Argos starting QB Ricky Ray taken out on a stretcher in 41-7 home opener loss to Stampeders,
The Argonauts had more than a loss to the Calgary Stampeders on their minds after Saturday night’s Grey Cup rematch at BMO Field.
Argos star quarterback Ricky Ray was taken to hospital after he was carted off the field with a suspected neck injury in the third quarter. Ray faked a handoff when Stampeders defensive linemen Ja’Gared Davis and Cordarro Law sandwiched him.
The Argos trailed 34-1 when Ray was injured, leading to a 20-minute delay, and went on to lose 41-7 in their home opener. The QB could be seen moving his fingers when he was placed on a stretcher.
Ray completed 12 of 17 passes for 74 yards, while counterpart Bo Levi Mitchell threw three touchdown passes in the first meeting between the teams since the Argonauts’ 27-24 Grey Cup win in November.
Mitchell improved his career regularseason record against the Double Blue to 9-0 — and to 27-3-2 against East Divi- sion teams — while guiding the Stampeders to their ninth consecutive regular-season victory over the defending champions.
Ray was replaced by James Franklin, who scored Toronto’s lone TD on a 10yard run at 9:11 of the fourth.
Calgary rookie running back Don Jackson ran for 123 yards on nine carries.
Eric Rogers caught five passes for 131 yards and two TDs. Mitchell completed 20 of 22 passes for 324 yards before giving way to Nick Arbuckle.
Calgary also registered its sixth straight road win over Toronto. The Argos last beat the Stampeders on Sept. 21, 2013 and their last home victory against them came July 7, 2012.
Toronto opened a season with two straight losses for the first time since 2002. Ray lost his seventh straight start against the Stamps and dropped to 1423 in his career against them before a crowd of 16,450, roughly 1,550 short of a sellout with the upper-east balcony closed.
After gaining just 69 first-half yards offensively, Toronto opened the second half by turning the ball over on downs. Franklin was stopped on a third-and-one gamble at the Calgary 49-yard line. Calgary responded with Mitchell’s 10yard TD strike to Rogers at 5:33 to go ahead 27-1.
Arbuckle, DaVaris Daniels and Terry Williams, on a 102yard punt return, had Calgary’s other TDs. Rene Paredes’ 18yard field goal at 14:32 of the second staked Calgary to a commanding 20-1 halftime advantage. Toronto’s defence had few answers for Mitchell and Co. while the Argos’ offence struggled to move the ball, and when it had scoring chances failed miserably to convert.
With Calgary leading 10-0 in the second and at the Toronto 15-yard line, Mitchell seemed poised to add to that advantage but Ronnie Yell returned his fumble 75 yards to the Stampeders’ 20-yard line. But the snap on Ronnie Pfeffer’s 21yard field goal was high and holder Jimmy Ralph fumbled while scrambling.