Unless Darian Durant of the Saskatchewan Roughriders returns for the playoffs, this year’s post-season, with one exception, are about the future decade of CFL quarterbacking.
Gone are Durant, Ricky Ray, Henry Burris, Anthony Cavillo, and the injured Travis Lulay. Only Kevin Glenn and an unretired Kerry Joseph remain from the CFL’s recent history.
All the other quarterbacks (and Glenn) are guys who have not won the big one.
The quarterback who can lead his team to victory will have got over an immense psychological barrier that exists in every sport. Once you know how to win the big one, it becomes easier the next time, assuming the quarterback has a similar quality of team around him.
It is especially true in football, where the quarterback is the key man on the field. If a new quarterback wins this year’s Grey Cup, he will have established to his coaches, his management, his teammates, and to himself that he can win the big one, that he can be expected to perform well and get results when everything is on the line.
It is not an easy task to accomplish, even in the nine-team CFL. There is no better example than Durant himself who suffered two heartbreaking Grey Cup losses before at last winning the big one. When he finally won, a huge burden was lifted from his shoulders.
So there is plenty more at stake than just this year’s Grey Cup for the winning quarterback. Like Durant, he will now be viewed as the guy who could win several Grey Cups in the coming decade.
Besides Kevin Glenn in BC, here are the hopeful candidates:
- the young Bo Levi Mitchell/Drew Tate tandem in Calgary
- veteran Kerry Joseph, backed up by rookie Tino Sunseri in Saskatchewan (unless Durant returns).
- Mike Reilly in Edmonton, although the injury he’s dealing with might end his season prematurely
- Zach Collaros in Hamilton, who proved his worth with a stellar backup last year and a great season this year
- Jonathan Crompton in Montreal, whose 8-2 record this season was an unexpected improvement on the Troy Smith experiment
Even Drew Willy of the ousted but improved Winnipeg Blue Bombers could be lumped in this group, if the second half of their season had not been so abysmal.
Gentlemen, the football – and the future – is in your hands.
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