How much better could Ray be?

[Archer]

Re: How much better could Ray be?

Seems some of you have lost the original point of this thread i.e. how much better could Ray be. Well, I've pointed out that although he is a top quarterback in this league at this time, there are some relative short-comings in his game. No, I don't expect him to be another Warren Moon or Doug Flutie. Given the number of pro football teams, those guys just don't wind up in the CFL any more. But there are a number of areas he could work on, and I've listed what I've noticed. It's irrelevant to my points that Ray is a better overall quarterback than Burris, or whether Burris has thrown an interception, or whether another quarterback slid too early and left yards on the table. Hanging onto the ball too long and taking a hit, instead of throwing it away, whether because of lack of arm strength or whatever, and absorbing unnecessary punishment because you've slid head first, will eventually catch up with you.

Short-term trends should not be allowed to obscure the big picture. The Eskimos, and Ray, did a lot of things better the last game than they'd done for a number of games before that. Whether that was a short-term boost due to Tucker's inspiration, or whether it can be sustained, remains to be seen. My comments relate to my observations over a number of years, and where I've seen improvement over a span of at least several games I've acknowledged it. In my view there's still work to be done in all of the areas I've listed.

Complacency in a number of areas has turned the Eskimos from the flagship of the CFL to an outfit that has seen it's regular season results drift steadily downward. Hopefully that's now turned around but its too soon to say. Part of that complacency has been in regard to some of the shortcomings in Ray's game.

There is no need to fear that if Ray improves on the things I mentioned he will be so good he'll be in the NFL. His mechanics, lack of arm strength, failed past bid at the show, and the stigma of being a long-time CFL quarterback make that pretty unlikely.

Finally, "rep" has nothing to do with whether my comments are valid. I don't intend to mis-spend my time to the degree that I'll post a lot and build a "rep", but in any event that's the sort of attitude that substitutes "rep" for critical thinking, making this forum an echo chamber all too often. Whether you agree or disagree with my comments should have nothing to do with how often I post or whether you've agreed with me in the past. If you disagree on the merits of what I've written then by all means do so as vigorously as you like, but "rep" has bleep-all to do with whether my comments are valid.

[Numberz]

Re: How much better could Ray be?

Hanging onto the ball too long and taking a hit, instead of throwing it away, whether because of lack of arm strength or whatever, and absorbing unnecessary punishment because you've slid head first, will eventually catch up with you.

What you're saying here is that if the QB is under pressure, then he should get it out of his hands at quickly as possible, and that being a man and just taking a hit and not forcing a turnover would be bad.

I could go into any game and throw the ball away on every down, but that's not what a good QB does. Burris gets way too excited when he's under pressure, and he throws passes that should not be thrown and has had INT problems throughout his career because of that. I would much rather have the QB hold onto the ball and take the sack. Live to fight another day....you're not going to die just because you get sacked.

Your argument is therefore useless. You consider forcing a pass to be a good thing.....every OC in pro football would argue differently.

[Sgt. Nuke]

Re: How much better could Ray be?

Seems some of you have lost the original point of this thread i.e. how much better could Ray be. Well, I've pointed out that although he is a top quarterback in this league at this time, there are some relative short-comings in his game. No, I don't expect him to be another Warren Moon or Doug Flutie. Given the number of pro football teams, those guys just don't wind up in the CFL any more. But there are a number of areas he could work on, and I've listed what I've noticed. It's irrelevant to my points that Ray is a better overall quarterback than Burris, or whether Burris has thrown an interception, or whether another quarterback slid too early and left yards on the table. Hanging onto the ball too long and taking a hit, instead of throwing it away, whether because of lack of arm strength or whatever, and absorbing unnecessary punishment because you've slid head first, will eventually catch up with you.

Short-term trends should not be allowed to obscure the big picture. The Eskimos, and Ray, did a lot of things better the last game than they'd done for a number of games before that. Whether that was a short-term boost due to Tucker's inspiration, or whether it can be sustained, remains to be seen. My comments relate to my observations over a number of years, and where I've seen improvement over a span of at least several games I've acknowledged it. In my view there's still work to be done in all of the areas I've listed.

Complacency in a number of areas has turned the Eskimos from the flagship of the CFL to an outfit that has seen it's regular season results drift steadily downward. Hopefully that's now turned around but its too soon to say. Part of that complacency has been in regard to some of the shortcomings in Ray's game.

There is no need to fear that if Ray improves on the things I mentioned he will be so good he'll be in the NFL. His mechanics, lack of arm strength, failed past bid at the show, and the stigma of being a long-time CFL quarterback make that pretty unlikely.

Finally, "rep" has nothing to do with whether my comments are valid. I don't intend to mis-spend my time to the degree that I'll post a lot and build a "rep", but in any event that's the sort of attitude that substitutes "rep" for critical thinking, making this forum an echo chamber all too often. Whether you agree or disagree with my comments should have nothing to do with how often I post or whether you've agreed with me in the past. If you disagree on the merits of what I've written then by all means do so as vigorously as you like, but "rep" has bleep-all to do with whether my comments are valid.

Really? How many player of the week awards has RR won in the first 7 weeks?

[stamphater]

Re: How much better could Ray be?

Only part of which being what Diesel's (#33) touched on

The downside of that is that he doesn't have the drive and emotion that some other QBs have.

I completely disagree. Maybe not the emotion but it's completely unfair to say he doesn't have drive. You don't have to jump up and down or yell and scream to have drive or desire to win. Think how many times Ricky has led us on a game-winning possession late in a game over the years. That shows me how much drive he has.