Cody Fajardo (17), Jeff Mathews (7) and Ricky Ray (15) before the game against the Ottawa RedBlacks at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa, On., Saturday, July 8, 2017. (Photo: Johany Jutras)
The Great QB Caper
The Great Quarterback Caper of this week was well orchestrated by Marc Trestman and his staff. The head coach played the media like a violin – present company included. After having Friday and Saturday off, the team assembled at the new facility at Don Bosco for a walk through on Sunday. Ricky Ray stood behind centre for a series of plays, none of which involved throwing a football. The media reported what it saw, Ray was working with the first team with Cody Fajardo standing behind him.
After the walk through had completed, Ray and Trestman took questions from a half dozen or so reporters and were unusually guarded in their comments. Nobody tipped their hand on whether the veteran would be ready to start against Montreal. The term “day to day” was the phrase of the afternoon. The Als had to be aware that either Ray or Fajardo could start.
Monday there was no indication of who would play as all the QBs took reps. Trestman would close his practice on Tuesday, leaving the Alouettes in the dark for another day. On Wednesday the Argos again worked out, with Jeff Mathews getting the majority of snaps with the first team. Ray was ruled out of Friday’s game after that practice. It was roughly 54 hours before kickoff, and all Montreal knew was that Mathews, or Fajardo, or Mathews and Fajardo would play on Friday.
Or would it be Dakota Prukop? Nobody outside of the Argos immediate family knew for sure.
There aren’t many opportunities during the season for a coaching staff to pull off this kind of diversionary tactic. Trestman and company deserve full marks for doing it to perfection.
Gaydosh a low-risk, high-reward signing
A roster move that went under-reported this week was the signing of defensive lineman Linden Gaydosh. The first-overall pick in the 2013 draft – the year the Argos selected Matt Sewell, Jermaine Gabriel and Natey Adjei – has been cursed by injuries throughout his career.
When the Ticats selected the tackle in the one slot the consensus was that Gaydosh would go to the NFL for at least a year or two before heading back north if he didn’t stick in the NFL. He tried his luck in Carolina for a year before heading back to the Hammer after hurting his back. After missing all of 2015 with a torn Achilles tendon, he’d play a little in Hamilton but again battled the bad back. He’d be traded to Saskatchewan and was eventually released last week.
This is a zero-risk, high-reward move for Toronto. If he can’t shake the injury bug then the club can release him with no real downside. If the University of Calgary grad can squash the injury bug once and for all, the Argos have added another potential stud Canadian defensive tackle. With Cleyon Laing, Jeff Finley and Daryl Waud already here, and with Cam Walker on the roster and Evan Foster on the practice roster at end, there’s impressive Canuck depth on the d-line.
Montreal knows how to honour their own
Sports teams in Montreal usually get ceremonies right. There may not be an organization in all of sports that does it any better than the Montreal Canadiens. When a player retires, or a legend is honoured, les bleu, blanc, rouge always celebrate that person in a respectful way that never fails to bring out the emotion at the Bell Centre, or from those watching on television.
Friday night, several members of the Argos are returning to Montreal, wearing enemy colours for the first time. Four members of the Toronto organization who made major contributions to the Alouettes over the years are among that group. I don’t know how they’ll welcome the former Als back to town, but fans of the Double Blue know how much of an impact Jim Popp, Marc Trestman, S.J. Green and Bear Woods had on that organization.
I have no doubt the Alouettes will handle things in typical Montreal fashion.
A rivalry with serious implications
Trips to Montreal bring back many memories, some of them fantastic, some of them painful.
While the Toronto-Hamilton is celebrated by most fans as the Argos best rivalry, those in the locker room would say otherwise.
Argo players hated the Alouettes.
Mostly it was because the Als won, and won often. If the Argos spent a week disguising their pre-snap look on defence, Anthony Calvillo would read it anyway, figure out where the weak spot was, call an audible, release the ball in seemingly 0.2 seconds and march the Als up and down the field.
Ben Cahoon, Jamel Richardson, Mike Pringle, Brandon Whitaker, the list is long and filled with future Hall of Fame players that drove the Argos – and the rest of the CFL – nuts.
The defence was equally frustrating to play against. One would think that Jim Popp had a factory somewhere that did nothing but manufacture linebackers and defensive ends.
Montreal’s exceptional play made winning there a very sweet sensation, especially if it came in the playoffs. Whether it was beating an Als team led by Ted White after A.C. was knocked out of the 2004 East Final, or watching Chad Kackert explode for a 49-yard TD in the 2012 division championship game, there was just something different about beating Montreal, especially at the Olympic Stadium.
It’s not a playoff game on Friday, or a week from Saturday at BMO Field, but the two games have enormous implications in the standings. The odds are good that something memorable will happen in each game, the fun part will be waiting to see which player leaves his mark on this rivalry.
‘Soupy’ will be missed
The news hit like a ton of bricks. A long-time friend texted on Wednesday with the sad news that Jerry Campbell had died.
Nobody called him by his given name. To CFL fans who remembered him on the field he was known by the nickname “Soupy.”
Soupy Campbell came to Canada after starring at the University of Idaho where he was teammates with future CFL coaches Don Matthews and Steve Buratto. Soupy headed north to Calgary where he’d begin his CFL career before being traded to Ottawa where he’d become a star.
The hard-hitting linebacker was the heart of the Riders ‘Capital Punishment’ defence of the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was to that side of the ball what Russ Jackson was to the offence – a leader who was able to elevate his game when it mattered the most.
After he retired, Soupy decided he’d stay in Canada, calling Toronto home. He taught for a while. He’d later get into the bar business, at one point co-owning the legendary ‘Black Bull’ with former Argo Bobby Taylor, then later ‘Captain Jack’s’ in the Beach.
You’d often find Soupy at Argo games in Toronto or Hamilton. The Canadian Football Hall of Famer was a larger than life character who made life a little, no, a lot more fun simply by being around him.
He will indeed be missed.