ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
TORONTO – It may be on the same day and in the same venue, but Jim Barker insists that the similarities end there as his team, once again, prepares to open the season in Calgary on Canada Day.
Barker’s club enters Friday night with renewed optimism, coming off a 9-9 season that was six wins better than when they entered McMahon to start 2010.
“We are excited and we can’t wait to get on the field,” Barker said. “It’s totally different for us because we know each other now. We have gone through winning, we have gone through losing, gone through good things and bad things, so we know how we are going to respond to each other. It’s a totally different scenario this year.”
The Boatmen are coming off a successful training camp and two impressive pre-season games, their first un-beaten pre-season since 2004.
Despite their success, going up against a Stampeders squad that owned the CFL’s best regular season record last year is a pretty stiff test – one that Barker and his team of ‘underdogs’ relish.
“[Calgary] is a team that, for the last four or five years, has been one of the dominant teams in the West so that gives us a chance to gauge ourselves against the best in the league,” reasoned Barker.
“They are the team that won 13 games and they’re playing at home, and we are the team that nobody expects to win so we are just going to go out and play our game.”
Playing that game includes giving the ball to sophomore RB Cory Boyd who rushed for just over 30 yards in his debut in Calgary last year. He began to make himself noticed against that same team two weeks later with a 109-yard performance. Boyd helped catapult the Argos over the Stamps, handing them their first and only loss of the season’s first 10 games.
Boyd and the Argos’ offence will be going up against a Calgary defence that finished in the top two in 16 of 25 major defensive categories, including fewest first downs allowed and net offence allowed. Considering that the defensive accolades often get overlooked by the league’s most productive offence, the Stamps will provide a tough measuring stick for Cleo Lemon and the Argos.
The Boatmen will open with a lineup that almost duplicates that of their starting lineup from last year, with the exceptions being Sean Smalls getting his third career start at boundary corner and newcomer Claude Wroten taking over the nose tackle spot left vacant by Adriano Belli and Eric Taylor. In addition, the Argos will begin with three players on the injured list – QB Steven Jyles (9 game), WR Mike Bradwell (1 game) and S Wes Lysack (1 game).
Kickoff is at 9:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on TSN, heard on TSN Radio 1050 or followed via CFL Game Tracker on argonauts.ca. Fans are invited to watch the game together at the Official Season Kick-Off Party at Jack Astor’s on John St. It’s a free event and no tickets are required.