It’s been a weird stretch for the Toronto Argonauts.
When they host the Ottawa Redblacks Thursday night at BMO Field (7:00 TSN, TSN 1050) it will be the first time they’ll play a team from the East in 308 days.
Seriously.
The last time the Argos played an eastern opponent was on September 30th in Hamilton, a game they won 43-35 in overtime. Every game in October and November was against opponents from the West. Even the East Final was against Saskatchewan.
The first third of this year’s schedule is complete, again without having a divisional opponent on it.
Toronto now prepares to play four of its next five games against teams from the East, making this an incredibly important section of the schedule.
The Head Coach isn’t looking that far ahead.
“One game at a time,” said the coach, trying not to be cliché, “We know the importance of playing a divisional game at home when we’re a 1-5 team, so our focus is completely on that.”
In various sports some team will establish benchmarks. The goal is to have a certain record by a certain point in the season, a concept that probably works much better in sports that have a longer schedule.
Trestman says the Argos don’t look past the next game.
“We don’t divide it by quarters, we don’t do any of that,” admitted the coach. “We don’t look at back-to-backs as being the same team. We just try to be the best we can be during that week and try to get ready to play. The divisional opponent at home thing is important to us, certainly.”
The magnitude of these games isn’t lost on Cassius Vaughn. The strong-side linebacker is well aware of how big this stretch is, starting Thursday night against Ottawa.
“They’re very important because they’re eastern opponents, they count double,” Vaughn told Argonauts.ca. “We’ve got to be prepared for Ottawa. Ottawa is a great, great team.”
Despite their record, a win Thursday night moves the Argos into a tie for second place in the east, which means the Boatmen are still in contention for a playoff spot.
The season isn’t already lost, but that doesn’t help Vaughn’s motivation.
“To be honest with you it actually doesn’t,” said the Ole Miss product. “You can’t look that far ahead. This game is the most important game, I know it’s a cliché, but we definitely can’t be looking forward to the playoffs, we have to be looking forward to the next game, and the next game, and the next game to improve to get to the playoffs.”
Is the defence getting closer to where Vaughn wants it to be?
“A championship defence is what we want to be and we’re nowhere close to that right now,” admitted Vaughn. “We’re working for that though. We’re putting in every day. We’ve been climbing, it’s time for us to take a new step and bring something new.”
After the game against Ottawa the Argos have some down time. Their next game is a home game during the CNE when the B.C. Lions come to town. For the players it’s time to take a break, to rejuvenate both physically and mentally.
For the coaching and scouting staffs, the work continues.
“At the bye week we’ll revisit our season,” Trestman told Argonauts.ca. “We’ll establish where we are, where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.”
Argo fans are hoping the voyage ends up at the same destination it did a year ago.