Harris takes step forward with Argos
QUARTERBACK: Still many kinks to work out in Ray’s absence
Decisive in the pocket, for the most part accurate on his throws and looking the part of a starting quarterback in both his mannerism and command, Trevor Harris took a key step Tuesday night.
No one will know how good and how efficient Harris will play when football’s real bullets begin to fly, when the bright lights will descend on Toronto’s fourth-year quarterback.
In his starting debut in last year’s season finale, Harris led the Argos to a win, but it came against a wretched Ottawa team.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto’s opponent at Varsity, are far from an expansion team, coming to town with every intention of leaving everything out on the venue’s slippery surface.
The Bombers left with a 34-27 win, but no one should put too much stock into the outcome other than the need for Toronto to iron out a lot of its kinks on both sides of the ball and on special teams.
But they have playmakers on offence, which is not a bad thing because the CFL has done a lot to promote offence following last season’s defence dominated play.
Harris began as Toronto’s starter and will start later this month when the Argos play a home game on the road against Edmonton.
Once the Argos begin to whittle down their roster and practise with the offence’s first-team player, a better handle on Harris will be determined.
For now, the Argos appear to be in good hands as Ricky Ray’s return from off-season shoulder surgery is up in the air.
Harris doesn’t have Ray’s accuracy, but has a good arm and knows the system.
The Argos aren’t a running team, their offence a pass-happy attack that requires intelligence and an attention to detail.
Assuming the Argos establish some running game to take pressure off Harris and pass protection allows for Harris to go through his progression, the Argos might find a way to somehow emerge from a five-game season-opening road trip relatively clean.
The Argos were far from clean against Winnipeg, which led 13-6 at the break.
Toronto came with pressure on Drew Willy, who stepped up in the pocket on one sequence that featured a rare halfback blitz by the Argos.
The game, surprisingly, was hard-hitting with the expected flags and misplays, given the sheer number of players with playing time.
The game’s first score was a major, a drive engineered by Harris, who threw a great pass to newcomer Kevin Elliott. Curtis Steele completed the drive with a touchdown.
On the ensuing point after, which this year features a 32-yard attempt, Andrew Muzljakovich missed left.
The Bombers attempted a two-point convert on their first-half touchdown, but were stopped.
Harris would end his night by completing five of eight passes for 61 yards.
Logan Kilgore replaced Harris, but Kilgore was picked off twice.
Kilgore has a very strong arm, but he’s not that familiar with the CFL game, having joined the Argos late last season.
He knows the offence, but practising and playing, even if it is a pre-season game, isn’t the same.