Cauz: Tre Ford among compelling storylines for Elks/Bombers

Matthew Cauz

CFL.ca

@mcauz56

When it comes to Thursday night’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Elks game, I can easily make the case that both a heroic, Cinderella story win for the Elks or a Blue Bombers blowout would make for a compelling storyline.

I know that may sound counterintuitive but both scenarios, as polar opposite as they are, would make for good football. Let me (try) and explain my weird logic.

If we are all being honest with ourselves, the majority of Canadians will be rooting for Edmonton and this has nothing to do with our personal feelings about head coach Mike O’Shea’s squad, unless of course if you’re a Saskatchewan Roughriders fan.

You know what, you can sit this one out if you like, I have no idea where your heads/hearts are at.

You don’t have to be in sports betting to know that Edmonton is a massive underdog, nor do you need me to remind you about how long it’s been since the home crowd got to leave Commonwealth Stadium basking in the glow of a home town win. An Edmonton win satiates our love for seeing “David” beat “Goliath” which this matchup surely is. It is part of who we are as sports fans. How often have you got sucked into a game between two teams you have no history with for the sole reason that you just want to see if the underdog can actually pull this off?

There is a reason why I have written far too much about the 104^th Grey Cup. I loved watching an 8-9-1 Ottawa REDBLACKS team beat the behemoth Calgary Stampeders. Stunning upsets just stick in the brain like oatmeal on shag carpeting. Winnipeg’s 50-14 blowout of the BC Lions was a brutal reminder who the top dog of Canadian football really is.

For Edmonton to snap their current 12-game losing streak and home losing skid to a Blue Bombers team firing on all cylinders would certainly rank as the biggest upset of the year, and frankly it wouldn’t even be close.

Of course, the biggest reason why many of us would be thrilled for coach Chris Jones to finally exercise those mouth muscles and produce a smile has nothing to do with any altruistic feelings about Edmonton fans and everything to do with the new quarterback starting for the Elks.

It has not been an ideal start to the 2023 season for Tre Ford, who has yet to see the field and has been publicly challenged by his head coach for not having a great training camp. Ford went from being a backup in 2022 to buried on the quarterback depth chart so far this year.

So, against the best team in the league, Ford will have a chance to win over the coaching staff and stake a claim as a future starter in the league. No pressure there. That last sentence alone is enough to suck in any football fan but then you throw in the obvious storyline of what it says on Tre Ford’s passport and suddenly we’re all in.

We got an impressive taste of what it feels like to see a Canadian dominate Canadian football at the most important position with Nathan Rourke and now we’re all craving more. Just like the now annual growth of Canada’s impact on the NBA where Canadians making All-Star teams has become the norm, we all would love to see a similar impact whenever we scan who the passing yardage leaders are at the end of each season and seeing names who come from the same province as us.

Unless you reside somewhere within the 214-area code, you know a triumphant Ford would put just a wee bit more pep in your football step on Friday morning.

His professional football journey is about the easiest to root for; who wouldn’t jump on the Tre Ford bandwagon?

As a member of the Waterloo Warriors, Tre became the first black quarterback to capture the Hec Crighton Trophy. Last season he became the first Canadian to start at quarterback for Edmonton since 1968 and his 29-25 victory over Hamilton in Week 4 marked the first time since 1985 that a Canadian university quarterback both started and won a regular season game.

Yeah, I’m here for plenty more “firsts” for the Niagara Falls native.

Of course, the big question is how far has Ford advanced as a quarterback? A collarbone injury derailed the majority of his 2022 season and Ford was not putting up anywhere near the sort of numbers we saw from Rourke. To compare the two passers would be wildly unfair since they are on such different career paths.

What most fans want to see is where Ford is in his ability to beat opponents with his arm and can he outrun Willie Jefferson for a first down? I understand his 40-time was clocked at 4.45 seconds, but I’m also fairly confident the Bombers’ star would find a way to track down his man.

There is a flip side to this happy-go-lucky, patriotic, “Hooray for Ford” Fest, and that is with Winnipeg absolutely obliterating our feel good moment on the sheer might of their talent and veteran experience. Last week’s dismissal of the Lions felt like order was restored at the top of the CFL hierarchy with Winnipeg again sitting atop of Canada. Blowouts can make for bad television but for the hardcore fan, they represent football at it’s purest form.

I get it, the second half of Lions/Bombers lacked drama, but you have to respect the level of excellence from Mike O’Shea to Zach Collaros to a defence that held the Lions to under 200 yards. Also, a runaway win by Winnipeg would most likely include the most aesthetically thrilling play in football; the completed deep pass courtesy of the “mad bomber” of the CFL, Zach Collaros.

There isn’t a passing game in the league that hits on the long bomb like the Bombers. That first quarter against the Lions was as impressive of a passing display as you will see.

Collaros set the tone right from the get-go, hitting Kenny Lawler for a 34-yard gain on a first and 15 then a 71-yard, over-the-shoulder touchdown reception to Dalton Schoen.

Collaros put the Lions away on his next throw, a 57-yard touchdown strike to Lawler who had beat Marcus Sayles, and the ball got there a moment before Quincy Mauger could get a hand on the pass. Credit to Buck Pierce and the coaching staff for adding an extra blocker to allow these deeper pass patterns to develop; Collaros had a clean pocket for all those throws.

With Schoen, Nic Demski, and Kenny Lawler all averaging over 15 yards per reception, this is a fun team to watch.

One small request for this contest, can we get a camera somewhere in Green Bay to wherever Tre’s twin brother Tyrell Ford is watching the game? I’m curious to see who Winnipeg’s 2022 second round draft pick is rooting for.

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