CFL.ca
This article is not going to be fair but I don’t really care, sports aren’t fair, just ask the B.C. Lions who are still wondering how the heck they lost that game. The idea of legacy is a huge part of sports. As fans we debate all the time what the legacy is for Player X.
On the flipside while Player X may not talk about the ebbs and flows of their own legacy during their playing days they will usually discuss it, off in great length, once they have retired.
Of course when it comes to discussing legacy no position faces as much scrutiny as quarterback. Unless your name is “Lebron James” it just isn’t close.
Sorry signal callers I know this might not the most objective point of view but “we” (fans and the media) will knock you down a couple pegs if you don’t have championships.
| Sub-rivalry renewed |
|---|
|
As the Argos and Ticats get set for their first Eastern Final meeting since 1986, two premier pivots ready to square off again looking for a spot in the Grey Cup. |
So with the Eastern and Western Finals upon us let’s take a look at the four quarterbacks that will be starting on Sunday and how a Grey Cup win will affect their legacies.
Why not start with the man who has yet to win a Grey Cup? Kevin has been in the league since 2001, has almost 40,000 yards, has thrown for well over 200 touchdown passes but has yet to hold the Grey Cup trophy over his head. He came close in 2007 with Winnipeg only to break his arm in the Eastern Finals against Toronto. In 2012 he got one step closer in not only reaching but starting in the Grey Cup only to lose to the Argonauts. This year represents his best chance of finally winning. Calgary finished the season with the best record and the highest number of all stars.
So what’s at stake for Glenn?
Everything. He wins this game and that albatross of “never has won the big game” will be off his back and replaced with “Grey Cup Champion” on his resume. Of course this comes with the nasty caveat of “style points”.
I told you this article wasn’t fair.
For Glenn’s legacy to be raised he needs to be THE REASON Calgary is the final team standing. He can’t just be a don’t make any mistakes caretaker on the field and simply let Jon Cornish do most of the work.
Nope, Glenn has to be the MVP for the next two weeks. By the way, he is more than capable of filling this roll. If he can do this Glenn will prove that he is not just a solid back-up capable of carrying a team for a couple weeks while the more talented younger quarterback gets healthy. He proves to the league that he can be relied on to carry a team at the highest level.
If he does accomplish all this he will make life very interesting for Calgary in the off season as a management would have to figure out just what are the future plans for Drew Tate and Bo Levi Mitchell.
Considering how uncertain Glenn’s status has been these last couple seasons in regards to his role with the team I’m betting he would love to make life as difficult as possible for John Hufnagel. Of course knowing how much of a competitor Hufnagel is I’m sure he wouldn’t mind having to deal with that “problem”.
Seriously who isn’t rooting for Glenn to win it all?
Let me answer that last question, all fans of the Argonauts, Tiger-Cats and Roughriders. That’s who is hoping Kevin Glenn doesn’t win it all.
As for Ricky Ray you can bet that Montreal Alouettes fan base are rooting hard for Ray to fall flat on his face for these playoffs.
As it stands right now Ray has three championships under his belt. Two of them came against Montreal and if Ray wins another Grey Cup that would move him to four for his career, or another way of looking at it, one more than Anthony Calvillo. Yes fans do think like this. I know that I do.
For some reason Ray never gets mentioned along side the greatest quarterbacks of all time but a win two weeks from now would put him just one behind the all-time leader, Warren Moon. 
If Ray manages to snag a 5th championship where would we rank him all time?
He would have to be a part of the discussion, wouldn’t he? Just think of what a championship this year would do for his legacy. He is the most dynamic quarterback to play in Toronto since Doug Flutie (apologies to Damon Allen) and set the CFL single-season record for completion percentage at a ridiculous 77.2%.
His completion percentage is better than most of my grades in high school and I never had to face Chip Cox or John Bowman.
The bizarre thing about Ray is I don’t think we have seen him at his best in Toronto due to lingering injuries and a revolving door at wide out. Unlike Glenn I think it safe to say that NO ONE outside of Toronto is rooting for Ray. For such a nice and soft spoken guy it’s funny to think about how many people are rooting against him.
Now let’s move on to the Hollywood ending scenario (insert ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’).
Grizzled veteran, somehow continues to crack out 5,000-yard seasons but doesn’t get the respect that he richly deserves.
His team is exiled from their home park all year, they lose one of the leagues most explosive weapons all the while dealing with massive roster turnover and a new head coach. No one expects anything from them. They escaped an OT crazy nail biter where the wind and rain played havoc all day and now they must face the defending champs!
You’re telling me you wouldn’t watch this movie???
Two more wins and Henry Burris’ status would experience a Joan Rivers like face-lift.
Many quarterbacks have one Grey Cup to their name but the list of starters with two gets much smaller and the roster of quarterbacks with two Grey Cup MVP’s to their name gets even smaller. Technically Burris already has two Grey Cups but the first one he was just along for the ride for the 1998 Calgary Stampeders as he was third on the depth chart behind Jeff Garcia and Dave Dickenson.
Burris has always been seen as a very good quarterback who has been productive wherever he ended up, but we don’t really think of him in that upper pantheon. But if you add that second Grey Cup title to his 51,000+ yards and suddenly he jumps up a tier.
If Burris wins he could turn this into his John Elway moment and retire on the highest note that a professional athlete can reach.
Now this one is a game changer. No player evokes as much emotion as Darian Durant. From season-to-season he runs the gambit from “dude will win multiple MVP awards” to “bring in Drew Willy!”
Before I continue, please allow me to gush for a moment. Holy lord did Durant play a heck of a game on Sunday!
I know some may think the Lions gave this game away, well the reason they did was a direct result of what Durant did, especially in the fourth quarter.
Think about how difficult this game was for Durant. Beyond one long catch and run B.C. effectively shut down Kory Sheets about as well as any team can. Their leading receiver, Chris Getzlaf was out of the lineup, the weather was icicle on the top of your nose cold and yet Durant still managed to put up 270 yards, 2 touchdowns all the while completing four passes of 40 yards or more. Oh yeah, Durant also ran for 97 yards on the day with 75 of them coming in that decisive fourth quarter. Durant carried the Roughriders to victory on Sunday.
All right I’m done gushing.
So what does a Grey Cup win do for Durant?
First it puts him firmly in the discussion of best player in the game today. It will fulfill the promise of all that we saw in 2009 & 2010 when he led the team to back to back Grey Cups while throwing for nearly 10,000 yards, rushing for over 1100 yards and accounting for 59 total touchdowns. It will erase the doubt of the past two seasons that were marked with injuries, inconsistency and unfulfilled expectations.
A win gets all the critics off his back (for a little while at least), ends all “13th man” jokes and sets up the reality that we may be witnessing the start of Durant seen as the top signal caller in the CFL. All of that is in play.
