Cauz: 9 of Tre Ford's most exciting moments from 2023

Matthew Cauz

CFL.ca

@mcauz56

The excitement/fascination with Edmonton Elks quarterback Tre Ford is well documented by so many football writers, including myself.

No need to go into a long explanation about why so much ink has been spilled on him so to summarize; a Canadian-born quarterback, schooled in Ontario who has shown the ability to lift up his entire offence is an extremely rare story and Ford is super fun to watch.

Again, this is not rocket science. I understand there will be fans who will roll their eyes, tired of all the coverage. It’s a normal reaction that we see in sports and pop culture, the classic backlash to the sudden focus of attention on a potential star in the making. For myself I’m always attracted to what makes for the best story and the combination of high-end talent mixed with “I haven’t seen this before” certainly qualifies.

It has been announced that Tre Ford will be starting for the Elks when the team heads to Regina to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Also, it needs to be pointed out when you examine how this team has failed to register a win the quarterback position is not the first place I would point to as the reason for the 0-7 record. McLeod Bethel-Thompson and his seven interceptions in seven games bears some of the responsibility. But I have also seen him make so many big throws that I think we must all fight the urge to blame the quarterback first.

The offence is fourth in points scored, but on the flip side no team has allowed more offensive points against than the Elks defence. Edmonton finds themselves dead last in yards allowed and only Calgary’s defence has given up more yards per play than Edmonton. You can point to so many moments when mistakes were made, big and small, from all three phases of the football team.

Both things can be true here: we can be excited about the possibility of Ford getting a chance to start without throwing slings and arrows at the incumbent quarterback.

If we are all being honest with ourselves, you really can’t take too much away from Ford’s late-game production against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. I’m happy for all the fans who stuck around and were entertained by the three-touchdown performance by Tre in the final frame, but the game had already been decided by that time and the Tiger-Cats were more than content playing that fan unfriendly classic prevent defence.

Now that we have done the fair and balanced introduction with hopefully enough proper perspective off the top, are we allowed to get excited about the fact that we have Tre Ford back in our football lives? I say yes, yes we are!

I have no idea what Ford will mean for Edmonton in terms of wins and losses, but I do know it will be thrilling to see what he brings to the Elks offence. You know I know this because we all saw what he could do last season. As a reminder, here is a taste of some of his biggest moments from 2023.

WEEK 10 | 38-29 | LOSS TO BLUE BOMBERS

Kevin Brown 65-yard touchdown run
Watch at: 0:27

Did you see the way Tre handed the ball off to Kevin Brown on Edmonton’s first drive? No way does Brown score that 65-yard touchdown without Ford’s elite ability to place the ball in the stomach of a running back!! Just kidding. Let’s get to the real stuff.

53-yard bomb to Dillion Mitchell
Watch at: 4:40

It is easy to stuff this article with all Tre Ford’s crazy runs but for him to be a top-level quarterback we need to have absolute proof of his ability to beat a secondary deep. This throw to Mitchell is a great example of it especially considering it was second-and-long so the defence knew he would be looking beyond the linebackers!

WEEK 11 | 24-10 | WIN OVER TIGER-CATS

29-yard touchdown pass to Steven Dunbar Jr.
Watch at: 1:20

This score is courtesy of Ford accepting the cold hard reality he is going to get hit hard in the midsection but if he stands his ground there is a good chance for a big play. The sophomore quarterback stood his ground, took the punishment and delivered a perfect strike.

WEEK 13 | 35-31 | LOSS TO STAMPEDERS

Impressive 40-yard run by Tre
Watch at: 2:15

When you can break the ankles of a defender in open space that is something to talk about. When that linebacker is Micah Awe who was named a CFL All-Star in 2023, the play deserves a second look!

33-yard Ford scramble
Watch at: 6:52

Rarely does anything good happen when you have to retreat because you have three hungry linemen all chasing you. I’m still not sure how he managed to elude all of them and find a glimpse of daylight in the middle of all the field. Officially, this Ford run would go down as 33 yards, however, unofficially I would say he ran for about 83 yards for this laborious first down gained.

WEEK 14 | 25-23 | WIN OVER STAMPEDERS

25-yard pass to Eugene Lewis
Watch at: 8:57

The context of this throw should be mentioned as Edmonton had battled back from a double-digit deficit to threatening to taking a lead with under seven minutes to go. Yet again, the 100 per cent fool proof defence of sending three unblocked defenders at one quarterback has been thwarted by Ford, who kept his wits about him to spot Eugene Lewis 25 yards downfield.

WEEK 15 | 36-27 | WIN OVER ROUGHRIDERS

30-yard touchdown pass to Eugene Lewis
Watch at: 6:25

This is not an official statistic but I’m fairly sure Ford leads the league in positive play moments after the broadcaster says, “Ford’s in trouble.”

You can watch this touchdown and blame the Roughriders secondary for leaving Lewis so wide open, but the reality is there is no way you can defend all those receivers when the quarterback has that much time to throw. Yes, Eugene must have been feeling lonely at that moment but that is more about Ford’s scrambling creating those large cushions. Finally, good on Ford always being aggressive looking downfield instead of electing for the safe throw.

WEEK 16 | 37-29 | LOSS TO LIONS

Six-yard touchdown pass to Dillion Mitchell
Watch at: 9:15

There is nothing specular about this play on first glance. What stood out was the quick read and react moment between Ford and Mitchell.

In the end zone, everything gets shrunk down and decision making needs to be so much faster. On this pass, Mitchell was standing still for a brief moment, saw a hole to his right and cut to it as Ford hit him right before Ben Hladik could disrupt the pass.

WEEK 18 | 35-12 | LOSS TO ARGONAUTS

16-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Cobb
Watch at: 5:24

This was Ford going against the best defence of the 2023 season!

Somehow, once again, he found himself in the middle of the always difficult “no where to go” moment and produced a touchdown out of no where. This time he was flushed to his left then spun out to his right, two Argo defenders had a bead on him, the sideline was inches away and yet this play ended in an Elks touchdown!

I have no idea what the future holds for Tre Ford but I, like so many other football fans, hope his present looks a lot like his recent past!

Follow CFL