The Canadian Press
As S.J. Green reeled in highlight catches in practice earlier this week, he was looking more and more like his old self.
The 33-year-old receiver had a slow start to the 2018 season, pulling in a combined 10 passes for 105 yards through the Toronto Argonauts’ first three games. That the Argos went through a quarterback change after Ricky Ray’s Week 2 injury didn’t help things. Green had fast chemistry with Ray and a career-year ensued in 2017, with him pulling in 104 passes for 1,464 yards and 10 touchdowns.
“It definitely takes time and obviously we didn’t know (Ray’s injury) was going to happen,” said James Franklin, who has manned the QB spot since Ray went down.
“That time in training camp, getting to know guys, it’s so much of a relationship. The closer and the better of a relationship is…not just on the field but off, getting to know them, what they like, how they like it and throwing to them from experience.”
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S.J. Green hauled in over 100 yards last week against the Eskimos (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)
The pair had a breakthrough last week in Edmonton, with Franklin finding Green 10 times for 131 yards. The Argos couldn’t find the end zone overall, though, and lost 16-15 to fall to 1-3.
“I think we’re starting to develop chemistry,” Green said. “We’re starting to make plays and throws in practice and catches in practice that we haven’t been able to do in the last two weeks. It’s coming together.
“This entire thing is an 18-week process and we’ve only played four. There’s lots of time to continue to improve and I’m excited about the progress that we’ve already made.”
Franklin said that Green has eased the process for them by taking a lot of pressure off of him since he’s become a starter.
“The thing I really like about S.J. is a lot of guys will say they don’t care if they get the ball or not as long as we win. But not all of them mean it. S.J. is one of those guys that means it,” Franklin said.
“My first game in against Edmonton here at home, I felt bad because I threw to him a couple times but he didn’t have the game like he did last game.
“I said, ‘S.J. man, I’m sorry. I have to get used to this.’ He said, ‘Frank, I’m not stressing. I’m not trying to put any pressure. I want us to win and we won, so I’m happy. You throw to me or don’t throw to me I’ll be happy.’ And he meant it. You can tell he’s one of those guys that he’s really genuine about it.”
Feeling less pressure to throw to Green last week in Edmonton, Franklin settled in and found him over and over again.
“I knew if I threw it to him 20 times or no times he was going to be happy,” Franklin said.
While Green’s disposition was a surprise to Franklin, it wasn’t to their coach.
“Honestly, if you got to really know him, the only thing he cares about at 33-years old is winning the game,” Marc Trestman said of Green.
“You just watch him through a game, whether he’s got 10 catches or no catches he’s always the same. He would never lead this team by showing frustration. That’s just not in his wiring at this stage of his career. He just wants to win and he doesn’t care how we get it done.”
As the new leader of the ship in Toronto, James Franklin is starting to build chemistry with veteran receiver S.J. Green (Peter Power/CFL.ca)
“It is frustrating,” Green admitted about his low numbers the first three games.
“But as a professional you understand that it happens. You have ups and downs and ebbs and flows to the game. You just have to weather the storm and embrace the adversity, take the good with the bad and the bad with the good. That’s just what this process entails. Hopefully we can continue to stay on the right side of things.”
After seven years of playing for Trestman, first in Montreal and now in their second season together in Toronto, you can see how much he and Green are on the same page and how important that is for the team structure.
“That’s a very hard position, not to be emotional,” Trestman said of Green.
“That’s just the history of football. Receivers just want the ball, they think they can make the difference in the game and you wouldn’t want it any other way.
“When you have buy-in S.J., he’s bought in to that over seven years, that eventually the ball’s coming to him. Second-and-nine we go to him. We get a one-on-one there’s a good chance he’s going to get the ball. That’s just how it works.
“He’s special. He’s a special person, he’s a special athlete. He’s got a temperament that I’m not saying it’s unique, but it’s certainly appreciated by everyone. He never makes it about himself.”
