By Perry Lefko, Sportsnet.ca
Argo general manager Adam Rita is on the hotseat for apparently making disparaging remarks about venerable quarterback Damon Allen.
But Rita may have grounds for being misrepresented in what he actually said in an interview on The Fan 590 on Tuesday.
Rita is alleged to have said Allen “has some things to contribute, but it might not be on the field. The jury is still out. We have to move on. We as an organization have been stunted because of him being our No. 1 quarterback (for so long).”
Those remarks caused a controversy on Wednesday that had the media scrumming Allen, who seemed offended by the remarks but planned to talk to Rita.
And Rita seemed perturbed the interview gained so much traction and wondered if the people asking him had heard what he actually said.
In the interview by the Fan’s Mike Hogan, who handles the Argos’ radio play-by-play, and Sportsnet’s Barry Davis, Rita was asked about Allen’s playing status. Rita noted Allen is on the nine-game injured list and won’t be available until the third-last game of the regular season at the earliest.
“You never know what the situation will present,” Rita said, alluding to the Argos’ revolving door of quarterbacks this year because of injuries and poor performances. “The jury is still out. He’s here, he’s on our team.”
Rita added the team has to see if Allen can be “one of the tools we use to win a game along the way down the road.”
Davis asked Rita if Allen will be happy in the role of a teacher for the other quarterbacks.
Rita said “it’s very hard (for him). I’m sure he thinks he can play, but he doesn’t have control over that anymore. We have to move on. Even if we get another year from him, as an (organization) we’ve still got to move on. He’s not going to play till eternity.
“We as an organization have been stunted because of him being our No. 1 quarterback. It’s hard to get a guy to come in knowing Damon Allen is the starting quarterback.
“It’s hard on (Michael) Bishop. Bishop thought he could play the last couple years. We had to make a decision: Do we work with Bishop, the younger guy, and let Damon be a mentor?
“And that’s the direction we kind of went to. It didn’t start out that way, but that’s the way we meant to start.”
Allen started off the season as the starter, was demoted to third-string, elevated to second-string, promoted to starter again and then moved to the injury list with a wonky toe.
Bishop has started the last three games since returning from a broken wrist. He won the first two, both against Hamilton, then had a poor performance — along with the rest of the team — in a blowout loss to B.C.
