Quarterbacks Ricky Ray and Buck Pierce both return for Argos-Bombers clash Friday night

The Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers haven't been tearing up the league lately, but some of their struggles have arose from the absence of their top quarterbacks. That's going to change in Friday night's clash between the teams (7 p.m. Eastern, TSN/ESPN3), as Ricky Ray is set to start for Toronto, while Buck Pierce is back under centre for Winnipeg. The key question is how much of a difference their returns will make for their teams.

With Ray, the drop-off has been obvious. He suffered a knee injury in the middle of a Sept. 23 game against Montreal, which became a blowout victory for the Alouettes after he left. Backup Jarious Jackson was reasonably effective in his first full game the next week, leading Toronto to a 29-10 win over Winnipeg (oddly enough, that was the game where Pierce got hurt), but even there, he only threw for 155 yards, a far cry from the glamourous aerial totals the team was accustomed to posting under Ray. The next two weeks were far worse, with the Argonauts getting destroyed 36-10 by Saskatchewan and falling 24-12 to Montreal, and while that wasn't all on Jackson, his poor performance was a large part of their struggles. Against the Riders, he completed just 16 of 31 passes (51.6 per cent, well below the 60.7 per cent mark he notched against Winnipeg) for 162 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Against the Alouettes, he completed 20 of 40 passes (50 per cent) for 239 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The Argonauts have other problems as well, certainly, but Jackson wasn't anywhere near efficient or effective in their last two games, and that was a major factor in their losses.

Will Ray be better? On the season, he's been remarkably good, posting a 68.4 per cent completion mark that's the highest amongst current starters and throwing for 3,371 yards. If you subtract the 30 yards he posted before getting hurt early on against Montreal, that leaves him with 3,341 yards through 11 full games, an average of 303.7 passing yards per game that looks incredible next to the low totals Jackson managed. Ray's proven able to put up yardage totals while maintaining a high completion percentage, and that's anything but easy. However, Ray and the Argonauts have had notable difficulties turning field position into touchdowns this year, and his 12:10 touchdown to interception ratio's the one part of his stats that's less than stellar. Coming back off a knee injury isn't easy, either, and we'll see if Ray's able to move in the pocket and put his full body into throws. If he's anywhere close to his season-long form, though, he'll be a substantial upgrade at quarterback for the Argos.

With Pierce, the situation isn't as cut and dried. He's been battling back from a concussion sustained in that last game against Toronto when Argos' linebacker Brandon Isaac hit him in the head, and the most concerning thing there is that he was cleared, returned to play and was only pulled later when he developed a headache. Pierce has been trying to return to action ever since, but failed concussion tests held him back, and many (including TSN's Matt Dunigan, who still suffers from the after-effects of concussions he sustained as a player) have questioned if he should be coming back at all, this season or ever. Pierce has shrugged off that advice, and his love of the game isn't in dispute; he's also been cleared under the CFL's concussion protocol. Still, you wonder if it's worth risking his future health for the sake of a season that's already largely lost. The Bombers aren't technically eliminated from the playoffs yet, and they could even host a playoff game if absolutely everything goes their way, but the odds of them merely making the postseason are extremely slim at this point.

Will Pierce's return give the Bombers an on-field edge? Well, it's less clear than it is with Ray. Pierce has only thrown 84 passes this year thanks to a litany of injuries, but he's completed 63.1 per cent of them, better than primary backup Joey Elliott's 62.2 per cent mark. Where Pierce really stands out from Elliott is that he hasn't turned over the ball as much; Elliott's thrown 11 interceptions and just five touchdowns, while Pierce has three of each. Still, Pierce hasn't been mind-bogglingly good, and despite Elliott's disappointing overall stats, he's had some outstanding performances. Pierce is probably the safer bet, but his ceiling doesn't seem as high. There's also the question of if he'll be able to stay on the field, as it seems he's suffered every injury imaginable over the course of his career. He's Winnipeg's first-choice quarterback, though, and now they have him back. The question is if it will do them any good.