PLOT THICKENS AROUND QB CHOICE
While one injured Ottawa Redblacks quarterback was launching rockets at Tuesday’s practice, the other was making “major steps forward” and talking about his desire to go to the moon.
And then there was pokerfaced head coach Rick Campbell, who insisted he’ll have no idea which of Trevor Harris, Drew Tate or Ryan Lindley will start this week’s large home game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders until Wednesday.
“Sometimes I’ve been deceitful and have tried to hide things,” admitted Campbell. “This is one of those things I’m not hiding.
“Tomorrow is going to be the telling thing. Whoever’s practising (with the first team) tomorrow is probably going to be the guy.”
One thing for sure — if Harris isn’t the starter on Friday, it will have nothing to do with his inability to throw the football.
Near the end of a practice he did not participate in, the shoulder Harris separated on Sept. 9 looked just fine as he heaved 50-yard spirals to a team equipment manager.
Also making significant progress Tuesday was No. 2 QB Drew Tate, who damaged his shoulder and ribs in a game against Montreal on Sept. 17. Tate watched Ryan Lindley take first-team reps, but did enough for Campbell to observe “you could tell he can throw again.
“He just keeps getting better each day,” added Campbell. “But he definitely showed signs to me that he could be a possibility.”
When Tate was asked if he thinks he’ll play Friday, he rather confusingly deferred to Campbell.
“If coach lets me, that would be great,” he said. “I think I will play so, yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
So, Drew, that means if it’s up to you, you’re in?
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” said Tate. “If it was up to me, yeah, I’d be an astronaut, too.”
Status quo would see Lindley make his second CFL start while the Redblacks try to keep breathing distance between themselves and the now charging Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who are five points behind them with two games in hand.
If his debut was a true indication of his abilities, that would be big trouble for Ottawa.
Lindley missed more than he completed while going 16-for36 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. But to be fair, it was his first game, the rain was continuous and the Blue Bombers have a good defence.
“That was a tough thing last week,” Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins said in his evaluation of Lindley, the former NFLer. “We only had one real practice, coming off a short week. He did some things well. The deep ball he threw early to Kevin Elliott was a nice ball. We managed the offence relatively well. We just couldn’t complete the short passes.
“He just needs to be more accurate, and just play within himself. Don’t try to do too much.”
While it looked like he lost confidence during the game, Lindley has since been trying to find it.
“It wasn’t great, but like everything, you see the film and it’s a little better than you thought it was,” he said Tuesday. “It’s never as bad or as good as you think. I’m excited to get back out there, hopefully on Friday, and let ’er rip.”
Even with getting some practice time with the starters this week, Lindley said there’s still a “feeling out” process.
“There’s still stuff as far as body language goes, with guys on their routes, I’m not too sure about,” he said. “But we’ll get it together and have another day tomorrow and be ready to go Friday.
“Football is a fluid game,” he added. “I don’t think you can ever put something on paper and say ‘run it exactly like this, and throw it exactly like this’ … that it always times up like that. There’s 12 other guys on the field that are trying to keep you from doing what you need to do. Just getting reps with these guys (helps), and our defence is really good. They make it tough on us. So there’s having to feel out how to play against that, and just kind of roll with it.”
Helping to move things along is running back William Powell, who appears to be rediscovering his form after dealing with an earlier injury. Powell rushed for 107 yards with a 7.6 per carry average in Winnipeg, a performance that came on the heels of a 144-yard on a 25-run outing against Montreal.
To Powell, it doesn’t matter to him which quarterback plays Friday.
“Pretty much you just have to focus on what you can do,” he said. “I’m confident in all our quarterbacks, so as long as everyone focuses on their job, and executes their job, our quarterbacks are going to be fine, no matter who’s playing.”