Mired in a three-game losing streak, the Toronto Argonauts got some good news on Tuesday when quarterback Ricky Ray fully participated in practice.
Ray has been out since injuring his shoulder in Toronto's 41-24 loss to the Calgary Stampeders on Aug. 3, and while the Argos only had one game in the interim, it was enough to show just how much they miss the 37-year-old.
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Toronto's most recent contest, a 21-9 loss in Montreal, featured first-year Argonaut Jeff Mathews as the starter. Mathews had a debut to forget, only lasting the first two quarters before being replaced by Cody Fajardo.
It didn't go much better with Fajardo at the reins, and the backup duo combined for just 142 passing yards as the Argos' losing streak stretched to three games.
Needless to say, the Argos would welcome their stalwart quarterback with open arms. If he's ready, of course.
"It's feeling a lot better," Ray said of his shoulder. "Really not doing anything other than some rehab on it made it feel a lot better this week."
Ray took four days off from throwing before resuming on Sunday, and now that he's throwing again he said it's just a matter of seeing how the injured shoulder reacts.
"Hopefully [Wednesday] I come in and it feels good again," he said, noting that there's still "a little soreness" in his shoulder. "That's why it's hard to say what's gonna happen, you've just got to take it day-by-day because there's still some things that could come up."
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Argos head coach Marc Trestman said that there's no timeline for getting Ray back onto the field, but that the quarterback's response to increased practice time is encouraging.
"Ricky practiced the entire day," Trestman said. "We had a very efficient practice. We'll see how he feels [Wednesday], but he didn't miss a rep."
So will Ray be ready for Saturday's rematch at BMO Field against the Alouettes?
"That's what I'm hoping for," Ray said. "I'm obviously taking it one day at a time and seeing how it responds by throwing a lot over these next few days, but I'm hoping I'll be ready to go."