This past offseason, much was made of the arrival of Todd Reesing as one of the 'Riders' quarterback options. And there were two obvious reasons why Reesing captured so much attention before washing out due to a lack of arm strength: his strong college numbers, and his superficial similarities to Doug Flutie - who more than a decade after his departure from the league is still considered the prototypical CFL quarterback.
Of course, it's not surprising that a team and its fans might project such hopes onto a young prospect without much regard for his chances of meeting expectations. But for those looking for the next Flutie in style and in results, I'm not sure there's a need to look any further than the top spot on the 'Riders' depth chart.
After all, Darian Durant has put together a skill set not far short of the Flutie model that gave defences fits for so long - featuring a combination of speed and elusiveness that makes the defence work overtime to try to bring him down, to go with an effective soft-touch passing game.
All that's been missing has been some accuracy and consistency in Durant's passing attack. And the first half of yesterday's win over Toronto may offer a hint that Durant is about to put the full package together.
Granted, that had much to do with the Argos' strategy. From the first snap of the game, it was obvious that the way to attack the Argos was with short, quick passes to take advantage of a defence that didn't want to give up big plays. But it still requires a rare combination of awareness and accuracy to respond to that scheme - since a single pass going astray can torpedo a drive.
So how did Durant respond to a game plan which could cause serious trouble for a quarterback who played with less than perfect precision? The most obvious hint comes in his stunning 19-for-21 completion ratio in the first half. But the team's results relying almost exclusively on Durant are even more telling.
The 'Riders had four possessions in the first half - and didn't once end up with less than three first downs before giving the ball back to Toronto. In fact, the first time the 'Riders failed to hold the ball for at least 7-8 plays and 3 minutes of time off the clock was the first possession of the second half - where Andy Fantuz was able to find the end zone on the team's first play.
And all this despite both a nonexistent ground game, and a Toronto defence which did a fairly effective job limiting the 'Riders' yardage after catching the ball.
Now, Durant predictably cooled off somewhat in the second half, keeping the game closer than it might otherwise have been. But until the 'Riders had a two-score lead, he consistently met the challenge of keeping the ball moving with little but precise short throws and the occasional quarterback sneak.
And that has to be rather scary for teams scheming to stop Durant. For the most part, the danger in allowing the 'Riders to throw the ball short has been the risk of receivers running wild after catching the ball - while the prospect of streaky throws from Durant has offered reason for opponents to hope the 'Riders might stop themselves.
But if Durant can present a credible threat to complete 80-90% of his passes when opponents play a bend-but-don't-break style, then it's not hard to anticipate that defences may soon be as helpless against him as they were against Flutie during his stay in the CFL. And it'll be far more enjoyable for 'Rider fans to watch that kind of artistry in action than to simply hope that one of our prospects might get there someday.
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