Ray's big hits making foes see the light
Bombers' new safety on mission to seek and destroy ball carriers

Mon Jul 19 2004
ED TAIT
Winnipeg Free Press

To any and all Canadian Football League receivers, running backs or quarterbacks who apparently have long had the green light to venture into the middle of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' air defence without fear, it seems things have changed a tad.

We'd like you to meet the linebacker-turned-safety now patrolling that area. He's athletic enough to cover ground like a defensive back, regularly rearranges spines with his bone-rattling hits and has a computer chip for a brain.

Meet Terry Ray -- I, Ray-bot.

And the early reviews, based on Ray's dominating work in last Friday's 29-1 win over the Ottawa Renegades, are all good.

Not only did he break up a sure touchdown by knocking the ball away from Demetris Bendross in the third quarter and the Bombers ahead 8-zip, he set the tone for the whole evening by absolutely levelling Pat Woodcock late in the first. So vicious was the hit, in case you missed the graphic details on the TSN broadcast, Woodcock spit up his entire pre-game lunch.

And maybe some breakfast, too.

"Something like that changes the whole complexion of a game," Bomber slotback Kamau Peterson said yesterday. "I was probably the most hyped of anybody after I saw that hit. I was out there going crazy. I really had to calm myself down after that. That was exciting.

"I'm just glad it wasn't me. When I heard he was going to play safety, I told him to just give up the first deep ball and knock anybody -- I don't care, the first thing that crosses your path. Sure enough, that's what he did.

"Just having him back there looming... that makes you think as a receiver."

And it's also an important development for the Bomber defence. The safety not only makes a lot of the defensive reads, but also has to be the secondary's backbone. Ray, who last played safety for the New England Patriots in a game against the Buffalo Bills in September 1996, is the third Bomber to line up there in four games this season after Joe Morgan and Geoff Drover. As well, the position was just as unsettled last year with Tom Europe, Maurice Kelly, Antonio Banks and Morgan all making starts.

Moving Ray from linebacker not only gives the Bombers an intimidating presence, but allows them to keep Ray on the field at all times while cutting down on the rotation of linebackers Ryland Wickman, Lamar McGriggs and Kelly.

"Anytime you've got somebody back there who can eliminate the middle of the field... receivers don't like that," Kelly said with a devilish grin. "And when you're Ottawa and you see one of your teammates down like that yacking up their lungs, you're not going to get too many volunteers to go across the middle after that.

"I heard the collision and I saw him lying there... that's all I needed to see. I don't want to put in the paper what I said to T-Ray, but that got us pumped up. I was just glad I wasn't him."

Ray, for his part, wasn't thumping his own chest about his performance against the Renegades. Still, for a guy who had his heart busted following his release from the Edmonton Eskimos last year and then suffered through a series of injuries upon his arrival here, the position change and its results must be like a shot of adrenaline for a 34-year-old vet seeking some regular work in the defensive dozen.

"I had some reservations about (the change) at first, but I told Coach Ritchie that if he felt that was the best for the team, then I'm all for it," said Ray. "I've come from a safety background, so it didn't stop me from thinking I could go back there and be effective. It turned out to be a good start.

"To me, it's all about two things: getting a championship and along the way keeping Coach Ritchie happy from all the pressures and stresses that seem to befall him all the time. Right now, if he says this is where I need to be to make this team better, then I'll do it."

He's loyal and efficient, cyborg-smart and deadly in the middle. Meet Terry Ray -- I-Ray-bot.