Ricky Ray to Toronto

[Sir Purrcival]

Yep, seems pretty perplexing for the Esks to bring in a QB to replace a HOF QB. A player that they had previously and had dealt. The Riders didn't want him, the Bombers dealt him even with a risky Buck Pierce and now Toronto has dealt him after basically 1/2 season with him at the helm. I know that sometimes players fly under the radar and become spectacular when you never expect it but that generally isn't the Rule. Are there really 3 other teams that have missed the boat on this guy? I mean if he is that darn good, don't people think we would have seen more signs of it? It isn't just the player personnel people who you have to wonder at when most of CFL fandom is looking at this trade and going Hunh???? Tillman is really going to sink or swim with this deal and gawd help the CFL and it's credibility if this has been done in order to make the centennial game an Argonaut spectacle. All the CFL needs is the Eskimo's involved in another questionable deal like the Davis/Maas fiasco with some kind of backroom politics holding out later rewards for the Eskimo's. I sure hope that it is just a case of Tillman taking too much medication again and now just grabbing the belt loops of the Eskimo organization.

[DanoT]

Is Jason Maas planning a comeback? Maybe he should.

[The_Pauser]

Maybe the Eskies will bring in Casey Printers?

[Luke]

Maybe the Eskies will bring in Casey Printers?

That would be awesome!!

[pennw]

Maybe the Eskies will bring in Casey Printers?

That would be awesome!!

That certainly would be good ... for BC and the rest of the league . Probably would sink Tillman though .
Casey in KC :

[Coast Mountain Lion]

The Esks now have Kerry Joseph, Stephen Jyles and some other guys as QB. Neither one of them is the quarterback of the future in any league, and Casey Printers and Henry Burris aren't exactly on the upward swing either (nor are Jackson or Glenn, before anyone starts speculating about them going to the 'Chuk). Adrian McPherson is the heir apparent in Montreal and I can't see them giving him up, and, the whining on ourbombers notwithstanding, Buck Pierce isn't going anywhere.

Tillman must have something up his sleeve because I don't think he's that dumb, but I can't really guess what his plan is unless it involves rebuilding Durant's career.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/f ... le2270043/

An MVP calibre quarterback, with true Hall of Fame accomplishments and skills, is rare, rare, rare. When you have one, it seems to me, you build your team around that player. That is what the Argonauts are about to do. IMO the Eskimos just set their franchise back into the dark ages. They will need incredible good fortune to make this trade work out. How sure is Tillman that he can replace all those yards in the air? The leadership. The calmness. The positive effect on the receivers. Dunno ... IMO it is no wonder that Kavis Reed lost sleep for a couple of nights before the deal was finalized.

Here are some more quotes about Ricky Ray ...

“He plays like Drew Brees in the NFL – not throwing hard, but with purrfect timing,” said Maurice Mann, who played in Edmonton from 2007 to 2009. “If he was two steps faster, he’d be all over the NFL, because his accuracy is crazy. You see the ball, all you have to do is go snatch it.”

Mann had his best CFL season in 2009, catching passes from Ray, nabbing 73 balls for 917 yards and six touchdowns. At first, Mann mistook Ray’s quiet leadership for a lack of fire, but he soon learned the even-keeled nature was part of his success.

“He has a very patient but strategic way of approaching the game – a very consistent guy with ridiculous timing,” Mann said. “If he’s got a cold, he’s going to throw the ball in your chest. If he’s tired or he’s got a sore shoulder, he’s still going to throw it in your chest. It’s always right there.”

How are you going to replace that?

Newly-hired Argonauts offensive co-ordinator Jonathan Himebauch is in Atlanta this week, coaching at the HBCU All-Star Bowl, a premier game for recruiting U.S. college talent.

He says he’s keeping an eye out for new receivers for Ray, who will be on hand Wednesday, during a press conference in Toronto.

“From watching him, you see he’s always on time with his throws, and it’s very apparent that he knows the defences and what a co-ordinator will throw at him,” Himebauch said by phone from Georgia. “His experience is invaluable because he’s not taking so much time to go through that in his mind when he’s looking to throw, because he’s got so much of it figured out pre-snap.”

Yup. Building the Argos around the new field general.

Veteran Argonauts kicker Noel Prefontaine says he had not watched a quarterback complete so many passes with such precision in practice before his two-plus seasons with the Esks (2008-10). A former quarterback himself, Prefontaine marvelled at Ray’s knack for throwing with purrfect velocity, not with the sort of overzealous mustard he had seen some blister the football.

“He doesn’t throw the ball hard because he doesn’t need to – he anticipates breaks and [defensive] coverages and that anticipation allows him to throw the deep ball so well,” Prefontaine said. “He really gives the receiver every possible chance to catch the ball. And I assure you the receivers in Toronto are going to love him, because they’re going to have more success because of it.”

Ray has perhaps the softest touch on passes that I recall seeing. When he is on his game, as he has been so many times against the Lions, it is just a shooting gallery.

Ray, 32, joined the Eskimos in 2002, and has been with the team his entire CFL career, winning two Grey Cups along the way. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder from Happy Camp, Calif., leaves as the Esks all-time leader in many categories, including career passing yardage. In his nine years in the CFL, he’s become one of the most accurate passers in league history (66.8 per cent completions, 96.1 quarterback rating).

He had a bounce-back 2011, passing for 4,594 yards and 24 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions with a 99.3 quarterback efficiency rating that topped the CFL. He took the Esks from a 7-11 team in 2010, to an 11-7 squad with a playoff victory.

I would rate Travis Lulay ahead of Ricky Ray. But IMO Ricky Ray is way ahead of the rest of the QBs in the league, especially now that Anthony Calvillo is showing some effects of his age.

“It’s hard to explain to people how exciting it is to play with someone who makes you better by making things so easy on you,” Mann said. “Grey Cup, here we come. This is a blessing for all of us, for me, for Toronto, for everyone here.”

Good move for the league. A relevant team in Toronto will boost the league hugely. And Maurice Mann just says what players know.

[ziggy]

Funny how Tillman looks at shipping off Joseph as one of his more astute moves, yet he brings him back???

[joe kapp22]

Argos still have Mo Mann don't they?

[Buonosjanet69]

my dream is to see the Lions go unbeaten all season and face the Argos in the Grey Cup in a tight game. Imagine the tv ratngs for that?

Now that I've snapped out of that thinking the trade is a shot in the arm for the East. And for those who say Cavillo is showing his age, trust me he can still get it done. The CFL needs to be strong in the East (esp Toronto) before it can comptemplate expansion, this is a step in the right direction.

[sj-roc]

I don't know what the league is planning for its opening week/Canada Day schedule but they should definitely consider this doubleheader:

Tor @ Edm
Wpg @ BC

I think it would kick things off with a bang to have Ricky Ray return to Edm right out of the gate and then to follow it up with a Grey Cup rematch. The media would have plenty to talk about, and the league would get some run out of it when they're trying to compete with all the NHL free agency news that will be unfolding around that time.

[Luke]

I don't know what the league is planning for its opening week/Canada Day schedule but they should definitely consider this doubleheader:

Tor @ Edm
Wpg @ BC

I think it would kick things off with a bang to have Ricky Ray return to Edm right out of the gate and then to follow it up with a Grey Cup rematch. The media would have plenty to talk about, and the league would get some run out of it when they're trying to compete with all the NHL free agency news that will be unfolding around that time.

I agree!! I was going to say the game should be in Toronto, but after thinking about it, it really doesn't matter. If its in Edmonton you can start the game early (5 or 6pm local time), and the game still airs in primetime in Toronto.

[TheLionKing]

http://tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=382729

[Blitz]

Funny how Tillman looks at shipping off Joseph as one of his more astute moves, yet he brings him back???

He didn't bring him back as a starter not will he be a starter in the future.

Ricky Ray is a very good quarterback. His stats this season were first in quarterback efficiency and third in passing percentage. However, the Eskimos don't want to be very good but want to win a Grey Cup. They obviously believed that going in a different direction at quarterback was the way to do that. Only time will tell if they made the right decicision but they also got a kicker, a quarterback who has potential that may or nor be realized, and they will get a high first round draft choice, along with a lot of SMS room to either sign free agnets or their own players. I would imagine it was a tough choice for Edmonton, as was said after the trade...but was obviously done because the big picture opportunity made it tempting enough to do.

Edmonton is good enough to give this a shot whereas Toronto really needed an experienced quarterback in thier differing situation. I think its a good trade for both teams.

[ziggy]

Funny how Tillman looks at shipping off Joseph as one of his more astute moves, yet he brings him back???

He didn't bring him back as a starter not will he be a starter in the future.

Ricky Ray is a very good quarterback. His stats this season were first in quarterback efficiency and third in passing percentage. However, the Eskimos don't want to be very good but want to win a Grey Cup. They obviously believed that going in a different direction at quarterback was the way to do that. Only time will tell if they made the right decicision but they also got a kicker, a quarterback who has potential that may or nor be realized, and they will get a high first round draft choice, along with a lot of SMS room to either sign free agnets or their own players. I would imagine it was a tough choice for Edmonton, as was said after the trade...but was obviously done because the big picture opportunity made it tempting enough to do.

Edmonton is good enough to give this a shot whereas Toronto really needed an experienced quarterback in thier differing situation. I think its a good trade for both teams.

He didn't bring him back if he truly believed he wasn't capable of being a starter either! Or are you suggesting that teams carry quarterbacks on the payroll that they will never play? Seems like a waste of money to me. Given, as we well know, you may have to go to your backup at any point in the season, if he doesn't think the guy is good enough to start a game why would he sign him? Too late for development.