Hogan: Toronto-Ottawa rivalry ramping up in CFL

In hockey, the mere mention of a game between Toronto and Ottawa gets the emotional juices flowing. Senators fans despise the blue and white, while Leafs fans enjoy beating the team from the capital as much as any in the NHL.

The level of animosity between the Argos and RedBlacks isn’t to the level of their frozen-pond brethren yet, but the potential of a strong inter-provincial rivalry must be enticing, and the teams are well on their way to ramping up the dislike for one another.

Each team has won a Grey Cup in the last half decade, and Round One this year left Ottawa fans stinging after the Double Blue went into TD Place in Week Three and upset the RedBlacks 26-25.

The rematch goes Monday at BMO Field, the first time the visitors have played at the venue since their championship win.

J’Micheal Deane started on the RedBlacks offensive line for the past three seasons. A fixture at left guard, he joined the Argos as a free agent in March. After battling a leg injury through training camp, Deane is once again dressing for the Boatmen, for the time being in a backup capacity.

He knows the Ottawa offence as well as anyone and says there’s more to its success than just throwing the football to star receivers Brad Sinopoli and Greg Ellingson. It’s the result of the unit’s execution.

“We just all came together on every play,” Deane said of last year’s championship team. “Before every game, our breakdown was ‘family’ or ‘together’ or something like that, and that’s how I felt like we played, we were always together.”

The graduate of Newtonbrook Secondary, who also starred with the OVFL’s Toronto Wildcats growing up, seemed comfortable talking about the intangible aspect of the champs.

“You could rely on the guys next to you,” Deane told Argonauts.ca, “You knew the guys out there were going to get the job done, as long as you did your job too.”

For Deane and his fellow offensive linemen, the main job was to protect Henry Burris. Hank has now retired – handing the keys to the offence to former Argo Trevor Harris – but will be back in the spotlight when he’s elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

While he’s no longer blocking for Burris, he is blocking for another Hall-bound quarterback. That’s not lost on the 29-year old.

“Man, they’re just two great quarterbacks,” said Deane. “It was an honour to block for Hank and it’s an honour to be here and protect Ricky Ray too.”

The Argos number 15 isn’t the only thing Deane is happy about.

“This offence has a chance to be a threat to any team,” said the lineman. “If everyone gets their job done up front, if everyone gets their job done as receivers and we keep Ricky Ray, as we like to say, keep his jersey clean, I honestly believe that we can be unstoppable.”

There will be a couple of changes in the starting lineup this week. James Wilder Jr. is in for Brandon Whitaker at running back, while Malcolm Williams finally gets off the roster and will start as the ‘Z’, or wide-side wide receiver.

The Maple Ridge, B.C. native spent last season on the Argos practice roster but has impressed head coach Marc Trestman enough to give him the start Monday night.

“He’s worked hard,” Trestman said after Sunday’s walkthrough. “He’s worked hard from a special teams standpoint, and he’s got an opportunity with Khalil (Paden) down to have some opportunities on the offensive side as well, so he’s deserving of that.”

“I think we saw the last pre-season game, he was effective there,“ continued the coach. “He made some plays and he’s continued to progress so he’ll have that opportunity (Monday) night.”

Defensively, the Argos are way ahead of where they should be. With injuries to Josh Mitchell and Ken Bishop, the defence is starting nine players who weren’t here in 2016. It should take some time for a unit to gel with that many changes, but for the most part, it’s been getting the job done so far.

Middle linebacker Bear Woods is one of the newbies and continues to learn more about the group, including taking something from last week’s game in Winnipeg.

What did Woods take from the loss?

“I learned that we’re capable of making some plays when they come our way,” Woods told Argonauts.ca. “We just have to be sure to execute those plays. With our defence and the playmakers we have, we’re expecting to see more play-making plays and what I learned is that we’re almost there.”

The RedBlacks will be playing their third game in just eleven days. Many feel the visitors will be exhausted, but Woods isn’t one of them.

“How you combat being tired is being hungry, and Ottawa is a hungry team,” said Woods. “They’re going to be playing with an edge, they always do, but coming off of a win and knowing that we’ve already won one game on them, this is very important and the tired factor is not going to be an issue.”

That said, it will be interesting to see how sharp the RedBlacks will be in the fourth quarter. With a big back like Wilder in the lineup, he may see the ball a lot should the Argos have the lead.