THE CANADIAN PRESS
OAKVILLE, Ont. – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers suddenly feel pretty good about themselves after a 31-2 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week, and the Toronto Argonauts are intent on keeping them from getting too carried away.
The East Division rivals meet Sunday at Rogers Centre (TSN 1 p.m. ET) in a game that will go a long way toward shaping the dynamic for the remainder of the season for both teams.
Prior to their current three-game losing skid, the Argos (5-5) seemed to be comfortably in the playoffs, with challenging the Montreal Alouettes for first place on their agenda. Now, they must start looking over their shoulders at the last-place Blue Bombers (3-7), who can forcefully pull back into the race with their first road victory of the year.
“This is the run for the playoffs, so we understand the importance of this game,” said Argos head coach Jim Barker. “A win here for us gives us the season series, so they now have to finish ahead of us, so it’s a huge, huge game.”
The Argos won the first meeting between the clubs 36-34 at Winnipeg on July 9, but they haven’t been the same team of late, and will have a few different looks Sunday.
The biggest changes come in the form of defensive end Ricky Foley, who abruptly spurned the B.C. Lions after they issued a press release announcing his return, defensive tackle Walter Curry and kicker Justin Medlock, who each joined the Boatmen this week after failing to land NFL jobs.
Foley was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian last season, Medlock was Toronto’s nominee for outstanding special teams player while Curry gives the defensive line more depth. Collectively they provide a significant boost.
“The signing of those guys obviously lifted spirits,” said Barker. “Guys say, ‘Wow, we’re not just going to continue, we’re going to do what we have to do to win games.'”
Slotback Jeremaine Copeland may provide another shot in the arm if he can return after missing three games with a dislocated elbow, and that would help ease the loss of Cory Boyd, the CFL’s leading rusher who is out with a concussion.
Jeff Johnson, Bryan Crawford and Andre Durie are expected to serve as running back by committee Sunday, and will need to make some gains to keep the Blue Bombers from locking in on quarterback Cleo Lemon.
“We have a lot of weapons on this team,” said Johnson. “We have a very good offensive system, it’s not really one-dimensional either way. When Cory’s running, it opens up the pass and we start to pass the ball. We’re going to come firing on all cylinders and open up their defence.”
The Bombers, of course, have other plans and seem focused on forcing the Argos to beat them in the air.
Defensive ends Phillip Hunt, who leads the CFL with nine sacks, and Odell Willis, who has five of his own, wreaked havoc on the Roughriders in last week’s stunningly one-sided win, and will be a major pain for the Argos to contend with.
“They’re going to still try to run, pull the ball out and try to throw it to Durie and all the crossing routes and that stuff,” Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice said in Winnipeg. “That’s built into their run-game package so we’ve got to be good at stopping the run and handling their play actions.”
The Blue Bombers had hoped to get a boost of their own but were told Thursday that Canadian running back Jesse Lumsden had other plans. That would have added more momentum to their emphatic win over Saskatchewan, which stopped a five-game losing streak.
Winnipeg has already lost the tiebreaker to Hamilton, and can’t afford to give it up to Toronto as well.
“This game is technically a four-point swing,” said LaPolice. “We can’t control what other teams in the East do this week, but we can control what the Toronto Argonauts get for points.
“And that’s basically the message — just to go play and let’s continue to get better as a team.”
One way LaPolice feels that can happen is if his defence doesn’t just lean on Hunt and Willis to do the heavy lifting, and gets some strong play from its secondary to force the Argos offence off the field.
Tight coverage combined with Boyd’s absence could leave Lemon very vulnerable to Winnipeg’s dynamic duo. The Argos have allowed 13 sacks over the past three games.
“They’re all-star players for sure, we’ll have to contain those guys,” centre Dominic Picard said of Hunt and Willis. “I don’t want to tell you what we’ve got for them, but we’ll have a couple of tools we’re going to use during the game.”