September 28th 2018, Calgary AB - The Toronto Argonaughts fall to the the Calgary Stampeders 38-10 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary Friday night.
With back-to-back games in Western Canada, the Toronto Argonauts are staying in Alberta in preparation of this Saturday’s game in Vancouver (7:00 ET, TSN). Meanwhile, your humble scribbler remains in Toronto, getting the chance to look at things from afar.
One thing that jumped out in the Calgary game was the penalty factor. This was going to be a tough one, even if the Argos played a pristine game. The Stamps are everyone’s choice to sit atop a power ranking, they’re undefeated at home, and have recently dominated the series between the two teams, aside from the 2012 and 2017 Grey Cup games of course. The Argos were on a four-game losing streak and had yet to win a game on the road.
Other than that, this one was a gimme.
With all that in mind, the Argos needed to control what they could. They failed in that aspect. Normally disciplined – they led the CFL in fewest penalties and fewest penalty yards heading into the game – the team took out a revolver, pointed it directly at their foot, and pulled the trigger.
They couldn’t overcome the self-inflicted wounds.
A dozen penalties for 129 yards is uncharacteristic for this group, and made a tough situation next to impossible, especially when the Stampeders were penalized just three times for 16 yards, the first flag flying late in the third quarter.
It wasn’t just the number of penalties, it was the type of violations that in all likelihood drove Head Coach Marc Trestman loopy. Time counts, procedure, dead ball fouls, all avoidable penalties.
That area (for the most part) hasn’t been a major problem with the Argos this year, though it’s certainly reared its ugly head from time to time. Friday night was one of those times.
EQUAL TIME
The Stampeders are going through a tough time with injuries to their wide receivers. It brings back memories of the 2014 Argos season when receivers couldn’t stay heathy. Ricky Ray threw passes to 22 different players (including one to himself) with TD passes to 15 different targets.
What hasn’t been talked about enough this season is the unusual number of injuries to the Boatmen, not just in numbers, but in the caliber of player getting hurt and the length of the injuries to those players.
Ray is the obvious one, the East’s best player a year ago was done for the season with a neck injury in the second game of the year.
Others on the six game list this year? Anthony Coombs and Dexter McCluster on offence and kicker Ronnie Pfeffer on special teams.
Defensively, name a team that could overcome the loss of these players, all long term. Bear Woods, Marcus Ball, Cassius Vaughn, Dylan Wynn, Jermaine Gabriel, Qudarius Ford, Matt Black, Frank Beltre, Terrance Plummer, Johnny Sears Jr., Taylor Reed, Nelkas Kwemo, Abdul Kenneh, and Eric Striker have all been on the six-game list this year.
That’s not an excuse, injuries happen, but when you see the list of players who have missed at least one-third of the season, it puts into perspective what an uphill climb this team has had this year.
S.J.’s PLACE
He did it again on Friday night. S.J. Green was, well, S.J. Green. His spectacular catch was the highlight of the game, something he’s done often in the past.
As the game continued, your humble scribbler started thinking about where Green fits into the Pantheon of Argonaut receivers.
Through these eyes Terry Greer remains the best Argo receiver in the past 50 years (post Dick Shatto era). He was fast, he was smart, and he had spectacular hands. It resulted in his remarkable 1983 season where he caught 113 passes for 2,003 yards.
The fastest Argo receiver was Rocket Ismail. The most elusive was Mike Clemons out of the slot. Chad Owens or D.K. Smith may have been the most electric, Mookie Mitchell the most dependable, Paul Masotti the most underrated.
Which leaves us with Green. Does he have the best hands of any Argo receiver ever? If he doesn’t, you can’t have the discussion without including his name. He continues to make catches that, in the second or two before the ball arrives, don’t appear to be possible.
He’s far more than just a possession receiver. Think back to the Saskatchewan game where he got open on a corner route, caught a pass 30 yards downfield, eluded a potential tackler, raced down the sideline, stiff-armed another Rider at the 15-yard line, outmuscling him until he was forced out of bounds at the one-yard line.
That play showed everything about Green, aside from the spectacular hands. He recognized the defence, ran to the right spot, secured the ball, eluded the receiver, showed speed, strength and an awareness of the field, as he dove to the goal line, being ruled out of bounds just before he broke the plain.
More time in Toronto will help define his career in Double Blue, but one thing is for certain, he’s a rare talent that should not be taken for granted. He’s pretty special.
THEY’RE NOT DEAD YET
The math isn’t great, but here it is. For the Argos to make the playoffs they must, without including the possibility of a rare tie…
- Go 5-0. That would give them 16 points. They’d need either Winnipeg or Edmonton to go no better than 1-3 the rest of the way, or Hamilton to go 0-4. The Bombers and Winnipeg play in the final game of the season, so there’s one guaranteed loss there, again not including the possibility of a tie.
- Go 4-1 and hope either Winnipeg or Edmonton goes 0-4.
The two one-point losses loom rather large at this stage. There have been some pretty strange things that have happened in CFL history, so it’s not impossible. What the Argos have to do is look after the things they can, and that goes back to the top of this story and getting back to their more disciplined selves.
