Argos Insider: Ray In Familiar Territory

DANIELE FRANCESCHI – Argos Admrials Insider

TORONTO – Familiarity.  If there is any one single member of the Toronto Argonauts that is familiar with performing in high-pressure situations, it is without question quarterback Ricky Ray.  The veteran pivot has played in four Grey Cup championship games (winning three) over the course of his illustrious 11-year CFL career and owns a very respectable 8-4 record in the post-season.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that a modest Ray attempts to defer much of the spotlight to fellow teammates rather than basking in the glory of being one of the Canadian Football League’s top signal callers.  Week-in and week-out, the California native simply goes about his business, follows his typical day-by-day routines, and does everything in his power in order to put his team in the best possible position to succeed come game day. 

It is that calm demeanor and even-keel attitude that has his teammates and coaches praising his unique leadership capabilities.

“He doesn’t get too calm or too excited,” stated Argonauts slotback Jason Barnes, who has played five seasons with Ray dating back to 2009 when the duo suited up as members of the Edmonton Eskimos.  “It doesn’t matter if he throws a touchdown or an interception, he’s always calm, cool, and collected.”

For Argonauts receivers coach Jason Maas, the former Edmonton Eskimos quarterback witnessed the rapid development of a young Ray when the two first became teammates in 2002.  Then a rookie, Ray assumed the Eskimos’ starting quarterback job as Maas was forced to miss several games due to a serious shoulder injury suffered in week four of the regular season.  With Maas on the sidelines, Ray began to make his mark on the CFL, leading the Eskimos to the 90^th Grey Cup championship game.  Thus, a star was born.  In the span of six months, Ray went from being a third-string quarterback to being the team’s surprising savior.

“To come in as a rookie and take over a team that was prepared to contend for a Grey Cup, it’s certainly incredible that he was able to keep that going for us,” commented Maas following Friday’s practice.  “We were certainly a dynamic offence with him at the helm.  He was a little bit different than he is today and we had a bit of a different offence back then but it appears as if we had the same amount of weapons.  For a young guy to come in, it shows you what kind of knowledge he possesses being able to identify things so quickly.”

Ray went on to lead the Eskimos to another Grey Cup championship game the following season, this time getting the better of the powerhouse Montreal Alouettes, capturing his first career Grey Cup title.  However, the success did not stop there as following a short stint with the New York Jets in 2004, Ray returned to Edmonton in 2005 to once again hoist the Grey Cup trophy.

Although Ray ultimately claimed the Eskimos’ starting quarterback position at the expense of Maas, the Argos’ 37-year-old receivers coach admits that from day one Ray was the most intelligent and hard-working individual that he had ever played with. 

“He’s intelligent and he works extremely hard,” proclaimed Maas. “He’s durable and he’s tough.  He’s the most accurate quarterback that I have ever played with.  Those things haven’t changed but he has developed an incredible knowledge of the game over an 11-year career.  You can see how he relies on his experience to put him in a position to be successful.”

Ray’s mental toughness, however, was put to the test on several occasions over the course of a seven-year stretch in which he failed to lead his team back to a Grey Cup championship game.  It wasn’t until last year that Ray finally broke out of his dismal slump, guiding the Double Blue to the pinnacle of Canadian football, hosting and hoisting the historic 100^th Grey Cup championship trophy, capping off a year that saw the 34-year-old veteran traded from Edmonton to Toronto prior to the beginning of the 2012 season. 

While initially the transition may have been difficult, looking back on it now, Ray is positive that the move to Toronto prior to last season rejuvenated his personality and provided the future hall of fame pivot with a new challenge and a new opportunity to prove his critics wrong. 

“You’re always trying to prove your worth.  That’s what you do as an athlete,” stated Ray following Friday’s practice.  “You want to go out there and play well in order to help your team win.  Whether it’s proving it to your teammates, proving it to your coaches, proving it to your ex-teams or ex-teammates, it’s not something that I think about proving a specific team or person wrong.  I think, as a whole, you’re just trying to prove to everybody that you’re a good player.”

Despite missing eight games this season due to a pair of knee and shoulder ailments, Ray concluded the 2013 regular season ranked fourth in the CFL in passing with 2,878 yards while boasting a league-best 126.4 passer efficiency rating.  His 77.2 per cent completion mark shattered the previous CFL single-season record en route to being named the Eastern Division’s Most Outstanding Player, which subsequently makes Ray a nominee for the league-wide Most Outstanding Player award. 

“In the 10 games he was on the field, he was pretty dominant.  I mean he was as dominant as you could possibly be as a passer,” commented Jason Maas.  “When he’s healthy and he’s feeling good and guys are running their routes properly, he is definitely difficult to defend.  Like I said, with the knowledge and the experience he has, you can see the growth and maturity in his game.  It was a special year statistically and just to witness it was all the more remarkable.”

As the Argonauts prepare to host their provincial rivals, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, in the CFL’s Eastern Final, a historic rivalry that originated in Alberta will be renewed as   Ricky Ray and Henry Burris will go head-to-head for the first time in the post-season since 2009 when the Burris-led Calgary Stampeders defeated Ray and the Eskimos in the Western Semi-Final. 

While both men continue to downplay Sunday’s matchup, Ray admits that there are certainly deep ties between the veteran signal callers and acknowledges the fact that the outcome of Sunday’s game could very well come down to which quarterback has the football in their hands late in the fourth quarter.

“I mean, you’d think playing out west against each other for so long that there would be a lot more, but we’ve had a lot of battles during the regular season,” said Ray of the history between he and Burris in the CFL.  “We just don’t have that as far as the playoffs are concerned.”

“Anytime you play Henry Burris, offensively, you have to go into the game thinking that you have to score a lot of points.  He’s definitely one of the most talented guys that has played in the CFL,” added Ray.  “He has a strong arm, he can move around, and he makes good decisions.  We know that we’re going to try to do our best to put up as many points as possible and then just adjust as the game goes along.”

For Ray, Sunday’s game is no different than any other.  The six-foot-three, 204-pound, three-time Grey Cup Champion understands what is at stake but says he is not phased by the added pressure, and truthfully, it would be rather unusual to expect otherwise from the Argonauts’ revered consummate professional.                                                                                                               

“I try to treat every game the same, whether it’s the first game of the year or the Grey Cup.  You just prepare hard.  It’s no different in terms of the game,” said Ray.  “Obviously the atmosphere is different but you just have to do what you have done to get here.  I think if you try to do too much, play too big in the game, that’s where you can make mistakes and not play well.  Therefore, I just try to go out there and do what I’ve always done.”

Insider Extra – Sideline Superstition

All professional athletes have their own unique pre-game routines and superstitions.  For Ray, the three-time 5,000-yard passer refuses to step on the white sideline boundaries during the national anthem.  When asked how he developed such a bizarre superstition, Ray responded, “I don’t even remember how it began.  I just remember myself doing it earlier in my career and I kept doing it.”

“I think we all do little things,” he added.  “If you win one game, you kind of remember something specific that you did and you might try it again until it doesn’t work out for you.”

In Ray’s case, it appears as if his strange superstition has worked out rather well for him up until this point in his tremendous decade-long CFL career.