TORONTO — Stop me if you’ve heard this before: there’s no position in sports harder to play than quarterback.
Teams’ fortunes are often times tied to their pivots as they earn more of the blame (and the glory) then any other position in football. That means that when there are a lot of them playing well, fans can expect compelling games ahead.
That’s what we saw in Week 1 with quarterbacks of all shapes and sizes performing well, from veterans like McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Trevor Harris and Bo Levi Mitchell to young players on the rise like Cameron Dukes and Jake Maier.
“The two guys that I’m talking about are two guys that I don’t think a lot was expected out of them,” said Henoc Muamba in a conversation with Donnovan Bennett about Dukes and Maier in this week’s edition of The Waggle Podcast.
“I’m talking about Cam Dukes for one. Because I feel like a lot of people kind of forgot about him and forgot about the whole Toronto Argonauts, including myself. I have to be honest. One of the things that I knew about about Cam is that he had the skills, he had the talent. I just thought he needed more time to get some reps in and he performed so well.”
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Dukes, starting in place of a suspended Chad Kelly, led the Argonauts to a Week 1 win over the BC Lions by completing 21 of 27 passes for 254 yards and three passing majors, adding 37 yards and another score on the ground. The 25-year-old pivot completed 63 of 96 passes for 760 yards, two majors and three interceptions as the backup for the Double Blue last year, his first season in the league.
Maier meanwhile has been the full-time starter for the Stampeders since Week 11 of the 2022 season. The 27-year old took over for an injured Mitchell and established himself as the guy for the Red and White. Despite earning the starting position, Maier’s inconsistency caused some to question whether the Stampeders offence was in good hands. His talent, however, was never in question.
“With Mayer, the question was never ability,” said Bennett about Calgary’s quarterback. “The question certainly was not accuracy. The question historically has been consistency.
“We’ve seen him play at that level. As soon as he got in a CFL game, he immediately played at that level. He set records with his accuracy to start his career. I love the fact that he was able to play that well in a big spot against the guy that he’s replacing. Maybe that’s the thing that totally turns the page for the player, for the locker room, for the fan base that could become his team, he could feel comfortable in that role and continue to excel to provide maybe more consistency at the sports most important position.”
Maier completed 21 of 26 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns in the 32-24 win over Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 1. The fourth-year veteran has thrown for 8,096 yards and 40 touchdowns as a Stampeder, guiding his team to back-to-back post-season appearances in 2022 and 2023, including a late surge last season that kept Calgary’s 18-season playoff streak alive.
Muamba has a lot of experience in making opposing quarterbacks uncomfortable, which gives him a unique perspective when analyzing the play of pivots under duress.
“Jake, in my opinion, did an amazing job and a great showing,” said the former linebacker. “His ability to be accurate, his ability to come out of the pocket and still be accurate and feel the presence inside as far as the pocket presence and feel the d-line and the pressure and whatnot.
“He handled that game very well.”
Maier and the Stampeders take on Vernon Adams Jr. and the BC Lions on Saturday, June 15, at BC Place, while Dukes and the Argonauts go on a bye before hosting the Edmonton Elks on Saturday, June 22.
