Five storylines heading in to Bombers season finale

By Paul Wiecek

Posted: 9:13 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015

TORONTO — Five storylines to ponder prior to Friday's CFL game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Toronto Argonauts:

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TORONTO — Five storylines to ponder prior to Friday's CFL game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Toronto Argonauts:

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TORONTO — Five storylines to ponder prior to Friday’s CFL game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Toronto Argonauts:

1. A tale of two quarterbacks

BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS files
Dominique Davis (6) throws the ball at a practice in September, alongside Matt Nichols (15), and Brian Brohm. Davis will get his first CFL start against the Argos this Friday. — BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS files Dominique Davis (6) throws the ball at a practice in September, alongside Matt Nichols (15), and Brian Brohm. Davis will get his first CFL start against the Argos this Friday.

Talk about polar opposites — Toronto Argonauts quarterback Ricky Ray will be going for his 100th career CFL victory in the same game Winnipeg Blue Bombers QB Dominique Davis will be making his first professional start.

But while their back stories are very different, both men have the same mission Friday night — they’re hoping to prove the future is still in front of them.

Davis, who has been on the Bombers roster for most of the season but has yet to take a single snap in a game, will get a long look in a meaningless game as the Bombers try to determine if he has enough promise to bring him back next season.

Ray, on the other hand, is attempting to prove in just his second start of 2015 that it should be him — and not Trevor Harris, who led the Argos offence most of this year and is Toronto’s Most Outstanding Player nominee — who should lead Toronto into the East semifinal.

Harris was sensational to start this season, posting a 106.0 passer rating in his first 13 starts. But he’s struggled down the stretch and has just an 83.2 rating, with five interceptions and three touchdowns, in his last three games.

2. Is Sergio Castillo the kicker of the future in Winnipeg?

Castillo, who took over from Lirim Hajrullahu as Winnipeg’s place-kicker a few weeks ago, will get a chance to show Winnipeg’s coaching staff if he can also be an effective punter in game conditions.

Hajrullahu did not make the trip to Toronto and the Bombers are going to give Castillo a long, hard look to see if he has the kind of versatility to be able to handle both punting and place-kicking in 2016.

All of which is rock bottom for Hajrullahu, who was the West Division nominee for Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2014 but struggled mightily in field goals and convert attempts this season.

“It’s tough,” Hajrullahu said earlier this week. “You want to be the best for your teammates and I worked really hard in the off-season to be the best for my teammates. And unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out that way.”

And Castillo? Well, he says he’s learning to love the CFL game after a standout U.S. college career.

“When I first came up to Canada, I was kind of mad — like I should be back in the States,” said Castillo. “But then I started to see the opportunity was in front of me… and I just started enjoying it and getting better and taking advantage of that opportunity.”

3. It’s only meaningless if your job doesn’t depend on it

The Bombers have made a whopping 14 roster moves for today’s game and head coach Mike O’Shea made it clear while this game might not count for anything but the standings, it will definitely count when the coaching staff decides who will be back in Blue and Gold in 2016.

And even if it’s not for a job, Bombers running back Cam Marshall said every player has something to play for.

“You’ve always got something to play for — whether you’re playing for your teammates or yourself or for another paycheque or you’re just playing for pride, you’ve always got something on the line and something to put down on film,” he said.

4. How low can Argos’ attendance go?

The Argos have averaged only 16,830 fans through four regular-season games at Rogers Centre this season and the general consensus here is they will be lucky if even half that many show up tonight for a game that means nothing to the Argos or Bombers as far as the playoffs go.

The Argos, under new ownership, move to BMO Field next season. The move cannot come soon enough.

5. O-fer against the big boys?

The Bombers are a mind-numbing 0-10 this season against teams with a record above .500 and the Argos, at 9-8, are just such a team.

Winnipeg’s five wins came against 2-15 Saskatchewan (twice); 7-10 B.C. (twice); and 6-11 Montreal.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek

Bombers Notebook

RICKY’S SWAN SONG?

TORONTO — Ricky Ray says he’s not ready to close the book on a Hall of Fame career.

The Toronto Argonauts quarterback, who will be making just his second start of 2015 after spending the year recovering from shoulder surgery, becomes a free agent this winter at the age of 36. He said Thursday while his future is uncertain, he’s sure of one thing.

“I still have the drive to play and I still feel like I want to play and that’s my mindset — to just keep going,” he said. “I’m sure when I don’t have that feeling, I’ll kind of make that decision then. But I still have that drive.”

ROAD WARRIORS

The Argos have spent much of their final season at Rogers Centre not actually playing in the facility because of a horrendous lease that forced them out in favour of the Blue Jays for four of their nine regular-season games.

Friday’s game against the Bombers will be just Toronto’s fifth game at Rogers Centre in 2015. The other Argos home games saw them play twice at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, once at Ottawa’s TD Place and once in Fort McMurray, Alta.

The good news, said Ray, is all that experience as road warriors will serve the Argos well in the playoffs. As the third-place team in the East, the Argos would have to win three in a row on the road if they’re going to win their second Grey Cup in three years.

“We’re on the road for the entire playoffs and that’s something we’re used to, especially this year,” said Ray.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

Winnipeg’s last seven games have been decided by a touchdown or less — the longest such streak for the Bombers since a six- game stretch in 1979.

Unfortunately for the Bombers, close doesn’t count for much in the CFL — Winnipeg is 2-5 during that time..

In a related number dug up by the CFL this week, the four games the Bombers played prior to a 27-20 loss to Ottawa were all decided by three points or less. Only one other team in CFL history has had four games in a row decided by three points or fewer — the 1987 Saskatchewan Roughriders.

MAKING HISTORY

Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols made a bit of CFL history this season.

Nichols, who started seven games for the Edmonton Eskimos this year before he was traded to Winnipeg in September and became the Bombers starter, is the first CFL QB to record 1,400 yards in passing for two teams in the same season.

Only one other QB has ever even reached 1,200 yards passing for two teams in one season and that one also had a Winnipeg connection. In 1983, Dieter Brock threw for 1,892 yards for the Bombers before he was traded mid-season to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for Tom Clements. Brock went on to throw for 1,241 yards for the Ticats.

— Wiecek