Owens Has Record In Sight

ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
With files from The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Argos WR/KR Chad Owens is getting closer to doing what no player has ever done before.  The electric Argos returner needs just 119 total yards to become the first player in pro-football history to register 3,000 combined yards in consecutive seasons.  The second-year Argo will have a shot at the mark Friday night when Toronto hosts the Edmonton Eskimos at Rogers Centre.

Owens said that while he hasn’t spent a lot of time thinking about his date with destiny, the thought hasn’t totally escaped his mind.

“As of late, no, it hasn’t been on my mind but knowing it could possibly happen this week it’s something that creeps in now and then,” Owens said. “But what’s mostly on my mind is, are we working to get better each and every day leading up to game day and ultimately going out there to play our best football?”

The 29 year old native of Hawaii leads the CFL with 2,881 combined yards and is more than 1,000 yards ahead of his nearest competitor, Tim Brown of the B.C. Lions. Affectionately dubbed The Flyin’ Hawaiian, the five-foot-seven, 180-pound Owens leads the CFL in punt returns (578 yards) and kickoff yards (1,594) and also has 104 yards on 4 missed field goal returns.

Owens has scored two touchdowns on special teams, returning both a punt and kickoff the other way. He has also contributed offensively as the Argos’ leading receiver with 58 catches for 598 yards as an inside slotback.

Owens said his increased role in the offence hasn’t taken anything away from his special-teams performance. In fact, he says, the added workload has helped him get into the flow of a game much quicker.

“In the slot you’re involved more, mentally you’re that much more in it,” he said. “When it comes time for a return, you’re already in it.  In college…I was a go-to guy on offence from the slot receiver and I was in the game. You just feel you’re in the game.”

Barring injury, Owens achieving his milestone is just a matter of time, considering Toronto has three regular-season games remaining.

Argos head coach/GM Jim Barker said Owens is deserving of the milestone. “It would be so exciting because I know how hard that young man works and I know how important this football team and organization are to him,” he said.

“He loves being a Toronto Argonaut and to see him in his first two years accomplish something no one in pro football history has done would be very, very special,” Barker continued.

Owens isn’t the only Argo chasing a career milestone as veteran slotback Jeremaine Copeland is closing in on 10,000 career receiving yards. But with the playoffs no longer a possibility, Owens said the entire Toronto team can live vicariously through himself and Copeland.

“Ultimately, we want to win games. That’s the bottom line,” he confirmed. “Unfortunately we’re out of the post-season this year and we’re playing for pride and making a statement going into the off-season.  We’ve got a couple of milestones to achieve in my thing and Cope (Copeland) going for 10,000 career yards, and those are things I think we need to grasp as a team and enjoy.”

If the offence hopes to make the aforementioned statement to the rest of league, and indeed go up and grap some of the elusive individual records, it will have to do so with an offensive line that will feature only one starter in the same position in which he began the year. Centre Dominic Picard is that man. A season-ending injury to stalwart offensive lineman Chris Van Zeyl has left a huge whole on the right side of the offensive line.  As a result, Cedric Gagne-Marcoux who has played his entire career as a guard will make his first ever start at right tackle. Though, he played most of one game at left tackle earlier this year when he was an emergency fill-in for Rob Murphy.  Veteran Jeff Keeping will move into Gagne-Marcoux’s spot at left guard.

The Argos’ receiving corps may also have a slightly different look from last week.  RB/SB Andre Durie could be back in the lineup but newly acquired WR Maurice Mann will not dress after injuring his thumb in practice.

Defensively, the Argos’ lineup should remain static and will be looking to build off a late-July performance against the Eskimos where they racked up 18 defensive tackles and two sacks along the defensive line alone.

Kickoff is early at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night as the Argonauts host Pink Night in an effort to raise funds and awareness of women’s cancers.  For tickets, call 416-341-ARGO or click here to purchase online.