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Game Previews September 1, 2011

Foley Facing Former Mates

THE CANADIAN PRESS

MISSISSAUGA — Ricky Foley believes he made the right decision last year to leave the B.C. Lions and sign with the home-town Toronto Argonauts.

But the native of Courtice, Ont., does regret the path he took to be closer to home.

Foley will face his former team for the first time Friday night when Toronto hosts B.C. at Rogers Centre. Foley and the Argos return Vancouver on Sept. 10 to complete the home-and-home series.

“Hands down it was the right decision because I have 100 kids from the community coming to the game, probably got 20 family and friends also coming and you can’t go wrong with family, right?” Foley said. “I have young nephews now and I hated not seeing them for six months and missing them growing up and I can get away to the family farm and in the summer there’s no better place to be.

“But I didn’t handle it as professionally as I should have. There are a few things I would do differently and it won’t happen again, put it that way.”

The colourful defensive end had agreed to return to B.C. after being released by the NFL’s New York Jets, with the Lions going so far as to issue a press release announcing Foley’s return.

But Foley, 29, never did. Instead, the six-foot-two, 258-pound lineman visited with the Argos and signed with them Sept. 14 to cap what was, even by CFL standards, a truly bizarre situation. But Foley won’t be out to prove anything Friday.

“I’m not any more hyped up for this game than any other,” Foley said. “It’s a different feeling, I’ll admit, and at game-time I’m sure it will be different, I’m sure there’ll be a little bit more juice.

“But I’m a pretty emotional guy anyways and it’s hard for me to go to another level pre-game because I’m already kind of there.”

Argos head coach/GM Jim Barker won’t try to curb Foley’s enthusiasm.

“Ricky is who Ricky is,” Barker said. “I’m not going to change anything about him.

“He’s smart, he understands what it is he has to do for us to win, he understands he has to keep his emotions in check. That’s part of being part of our  organization and you either buy into that or you don’t and Ricky has been a true warrior in that sense.”

Lions head coach/GM Wally Buono says Foley’s decision is water under the bridge.

“When it unfolded I think it was a little confusing for everybody but Ricky made the best decision for him,” Buono said. “Obviously being here in southern Ontario was important to him.”

Foley’s goal Friday will be to hit, harass and chase down Lions quarterback Travis Lulay. While that’s indeed a daunting prospect, Lulay is surprisingly looking forward to facing Foley.

“It will kind of be fun, honestly,” Lulay said. “Anytime you get to play against a guy who was a key part of what you did it’s fun and you want to play well against your former teammates and friends.

“And there’s no question we’re going to get Ricky Foley’s best effort. But he’s a high-motor guy and you expect that every week from him however it will be fun to line up against him.”

Video: Landry Sets Up Week 10

Argonauts.ca columnist Don Landry talks about building on the bye week, the Argos defence, Cleo Lemon and more as he breaks down Week 10 against the B.C. Lions. Click here to watch video.

Foley will undoubtedly face a cool reception next week when Toronto travels to Vancouver, however the colder, the better.

“Please boo me because it will give me more juice,” he said. “That would be the best thing in the world for me.”

But there’s much more at stake than redemption. Both Toronto and B.C. have struggled this season with identical 2-6 records. The Lions are third in the West Division standings and while the Argos are last in the East, they remain in playoff contention.

In the CFL, if the fourth-place team in one division has more points than the third-place squad in the other, the fourth-place club crosses over to take the third and final playoff spot in the opposing conference.

“It we lose this game, we’re kind of screwing ourselves for the playoffs,” Foley said. “Even if we split with them, it’s a battle for the rest of the year.

“These next three games (two versus B.C., then at Saskatchewan on Sept. 17) we have to sweep pretty much to make sure we’re in good position to make the playoffs. We have to take care of that first, take care of these next three games, take care of the crossover and get our foot in the door and get the invite to the dance and then we’ll start worrying about climbing the ladder in the East.”

Barker feels there’s a lot of similarity between the two quarterbacks who will play Friday. Lulay and Toronto’s Cleo Lemon are both in their second season as a CFL starter and trying prove they can be consistent performers.

Lulay will make just his 18th career start at Rogers Centre and this season has completed just 55 per cent of his passes. Lemon has completed 66 per cent of his throws in 2011 and a career 63 per cent passer in the CFL but has more interceptions (23) than touchdowns (22) and struggled at times adjusting to the Canadian game.

“When you look at the two teams I think they’ve mirrored their quarterbacks’ development,” Barker said. “They’ve both gone through some pretty good things and some tough things.

“Cleo’s situation is a little different in that he just stepped in and became the starting quarterback with nothing but training camp under his belt and that is a very difficult task. There have been times (Lulay) has showed flashes when he’s going to be the next great one and times when you say, ”Wow, you have to complete that if you want to be a big-time quarterback in this league.’ That’s just a fact of the way it is and you either have patience, and Wally has patience and understands the way it works, or you don’t and then you pull him out and put someone else in and go back on the roller-coaster again.“

Buono, however, doesn’t necessarily agree.

“When you look at it, they’re really totally different quarterbacks and the offences they run aren’t really the same,” he said. “Maybe they’re two young quarterbacks that have been given an opportunity play and start and grow but I think other than that I don’t see any similarities.”

Buono does feel, though, Lemon has improved a lot this season.

“I think he’s more comfortable with the CFL game, he’s more comfortable with what they do offensively,” he said. “They are expanding his role as a quarterback.

“In this league I think you can’t be one-dimensional…you have to be the complete package and the more complete your quarterback is the better everybody is.”