It was exactly what everyone expected it to be.
The Toronto Argonauts headed to Ottawa to face the Redblacks in the first of two pre-season games on their schedule, the next one to be played next Friday night in Guelph against Hamilton.
As is the case with most Broadway shows, the first dress rehearsal can look pretty bleak, but as the cast gets its lines down and the script becomes second nature, the performance’s execution is much better on opening night.
Friday night there were many understudies in the cast, and it showed.
Head Coach Ryan Dinwiddie will see some good things and some not-so-good things when he watches the game film, fully aware this is an important part of the process of preparing for the regular season.
“It was a good learning experience for our guys,” the coach said to reporters on a post-game Zoom conference call. “We’ve just got to find ways to continue to get better, obviously. Two percent each day – we’ve got to get two percent better each day so we’re not just going out there and through the motions in practice.”
The coach didn’t mince words when talking about the lack of execution in some cases.
“Guys, I think they’re going to feel the heat and I’m going get after those guys demanding more, we’ve got to be better and so our younger guys, if they can’t get it done, I’m not going to waste reps on them. I think two guys today showed me that. They weren’t sharp enough.”
While he didn’t elaborate on who those two players were, he did have words of praise for one rookie in particular – punter John Haggerty.
The Australian, selected with the fourth-overall pick in the CFL Global Draft, held earlier this month, turned heads with a stellar performance. He launched nine punts, with four of them travelling 60 or more yards. He’d finish with an average of an eye-popping 53.2 yards.
“He’s a great addition to us,” said Dinwiddie. “Last year Boris (placekicker/punter Boris Bede) has his moments punting, but we feel like this kid is a heck of a player. He makes a difference for us in terms of changing field position.”
There’s a chance the Argos open the season with Haggerty punting and Bede doing the placekicking and kickoffs.
McLeod Bethel-Thompson travelled to Ottawa but did not play. The Argos starting quarterback watched three others battle it out to see who his primary backup would be. Antonio Pipkin, Chad Kelly and Austin Simmons all had flashes of good play, but also left some plays on the field.
“Normally you have ten days before you get to a pre-season game, we’ve had six practices,” said Dinwiddie. “We knew it wasn’t going to be ideal; we’re playing a bunch of young guys. I thought we had our moments, I thought we did some decent things; we just weren’t consistent enough at the quarterback position, but I think everybody showed some flashes.”
Kelly finished 7/12 for 78 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, Pipkin was 7/9 for 60 yards with a pick, while Simmons was 2/6 for 19 yards with a pick.
The player with the most eyes on him was likely Kelly. There’s a natural curiosity with any incoming quarterback because the position is high profile and vitally important. With Kelly’s success at the collegiate level many were curious to see if that would translate onto a CFL field.
He felt good about his night, though he said there’s a lot of room for improvement.
“There’s a lot of things to know,” he told reporters. “Obviously it’s the little things that matter, especially when you get to the game; you might get away with it in practice but in the game you’ve got to be on it, there’s no re-do.”
Kelly came within an inch or two of making an enormous impact on his first throw of the game. He had Cam Phillips behind coverage on a deep post pattern and the ball just went off the receiver’s fingertips some 50 yards downfield.
“I thought I left it a little short honestly,” said Kelly. “I’ve got to complete the throw, right? I’ve got to make it.”
Dinwiddie concurred, then branched off and started talking about the Argos inability to consistently connect on the long ball last year.
“He just overthrew him a hair. Those deep balls, that’s been kind of our Achilles heel last year. We’ve just got to getting guys a chance to make a play. We don’t have to be so darn accurate; you don’t have to lead him perfectly and hit him in stride, just make the darn throw. That’s going to be a focus moving forward.”
Dinwiddie didn’t break stride on his answer but shifted his frustrations to the bigger picture.
“We had one single-receiver route; it was supposed to be a three-receiver route, but they ran into each other five yards into the backfield at the snap and these are plays we’ve been running for five days. We’ve had them installed for five days for these young guys trying to give them a chance. Some guys are making the decisions easy for me.”
Defensively several players had big plays, none more so than Jamal Peters. The second-year cornerback had the biggest play of the game for either team when he stepped in front of a Tyrie Adams pass and returned it 59 yards for a touchdown.
“I baited the quarterback a little bit,” he explained before immediately crediting the defensive line for the rush. He then continued with his breakdown of the play. “I was watching the quarterback, three-step read. Once I saw a three-step my eyes drive to the ball and make a play on the ball.”
That play has become second nature to Peters and the rest of his fellow defensive backs. In practice, defensive coordinator Corey Mace – as well as every player in that group – encourages the DBs to go after the football. The Argos had 16 interceptions in 14 games last year, one less than the CFL co-leaders, and the group would love to lead the league in that category last year.
Peters and Tarvarus McFadden both had picks Friday night and the group almost had a couple more. Peters also led the team with four tackles and recorded a sack.
The first of the two pre-season games is now in the books. The first round of cuts is imminent and the team will be back on the field Sunday in its attempt to work out the kinks, get more reps for the starters, and make sure the team is looking better for its final pre-season game in Guelph this Friday against Hamilton, and more importantly the season opener against Montreal June 16 at BMO Field.