O’Leary: Argos set to turn the page as Franklin era begins

The last time we saw the Toronto Argonauts, things were not going well.

Even before Ricky Ray’s scary injury, the Argos were in the process of getting mollywhopped by Calgary in a three-phase beatdown that had them destined for 0-2 in the third quarter.

The offence was sputtering, the defence was getting shown up and other than Martese Jackson on returns, special teams were more a detriment than anything else, with chip shot field goals sailing wide and opposing return men finding the end zone.

On top of all of that, Ray, the face of the team at quarterback since he arrived in Toronto for the 2012 season, was lost in the Calgary game due to a neck injury. Though the team hasn’t yet confirmed it, Ray has been rumoured to be out for the entire season with that injury.

I was on a local radio show the day after that Argos loss and was asked about the state of the Argos on the field. Was it as doom-and-gloom as they thought it was?

Feelings of doom and gloom were valid, but I reminded them that all it takes for a slumping team to turn things around is a spark. And through the darkness of Ray’s injury and the uncertainty that now hangs over his career, the spark might emerge from that, in the Argos starting James Franklin at quarterback this week.

No one will ever be able to replace Ray, one of the greatest to ever throw a ball in this league. Franklin, as he’s said many times in the past, just wants a chance to get on the field and show what type of player he thinks he can be.

Franklin, 26, brings something of a new look behind centre for the Argos. He’s got a big arm, he’s mobile and from what limited action we’ve seen from him in the CFL, he has that on-field presence and command of the huddle that a quarterback needs to have in order to be successful.

One thing that may not change for the Argos is the demeanour of their quarterback.

“We have similar personalities from the standpoint of he doesn’t make a big deal out of everything,” Franklin told me after the Argos had lost to Calgary.

With the injury to Ricky Ray, Argos’ newcomer James Franklin will get the chance to start for the Boatmen against Edmonton, his former team. (Adam Gagnon, CFL.ca)

“Even when the game was at halftime, he came in (to the locker room), he was still himself and he was still upbeat. I think that’s good because…being down (emotionally), there’s nothing wrong with it but it’s not going to change anything.

“He kind of takes the same approach that I do. I like spending time with him. He jokes a lot and he’s pretty upbeat guy and I really like that.”

As you’ll probably start to see this week as the Argos prepare for their date on Saturday with Franklin’s former team, the Edmonton Eskimos, Franklin is as positive, polite and upbeat a person that you might ever encounter in the CFL. The Argos’ 0-2 start won’t matter to him and in a world where coaches want their players to delete the negative around them the second it happens, having that presence and a different look at the most important position in the game could make a big difference for them.

He won’t be playing defence and likely won’t do much more than hold on field goals and converts for special teams, so the Argos still have a lot of work to do to turn things around, but a bounce-back isn’t unfeasible for this team. It has many of the pieces that it did when it won the Grey Cup last year and as everyone across the league will remind you, we’re only going into Week 4 of a long, long season. There’s plenty of time for things to change.

As we go forward, Argos fans will get to watch a player that’s long been touted as the best young quarterback in the league get to do his thing. By the time Saturday’s game gets here, James Franklin will have waited 1,167 days to be a starter in this league. That wait is over. He’s got the best shot of his career, behind a coaching staff that should be able to prepare him better than any other in the league for this golden opportunity.

And the fact that this opportunity comes against his former team in the first game of a home-and-home series? That’s just a blessing from the CFL scheduling gods.