Next Game
@
ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
TORONTO — Argos head coach Jim Barker has received the majority of the credit for slowly reshaping an Argos team that has won as many games this year as they did in the two previous years combined.
However, with the credit also comes criticism and Barker, whether justified or not, is putting Friday’s loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats solely on his own shoulders.
“I take full responsibility for how we played,” Barker said. “It was a very poor effort, offensively especially and special teams also, but a team not being prepared to play is the head coach’s responsibility.”
Barker and his club seemed to be picking up where they left off in Saskatchewan very early in the game. The Ticats’ first possession ended abruptly with LB Jordan Younger intercepting a Kevin Glenn pass and a quick strike by QB Cleo Lemon to WR Reggie McNeal a few plays later led to a Noel Prefontaine field goal.
The Argos’ offensive output hit the brakes from there as turnovers and a constant battle for field position contributed to a lackluster effort. Despite only being down by one possession for the majority of the game, Hamilton eventually broke out in the fourth quarter and did not let up.
The lack of production even led Barker to briefly, and uncharacteristically, pull Cleo Lemon from the game. He put in backup QB Dalton Bell which was a decision meant to give Lemon a different perspective on the game, but one that Barker says he would likely not repeat if given another chance.
“I wanted [Lemon] to see things from the sidelines and hopefully give him a little igniting. In hindsight, I wish I would not have done that because I put Dalton in a poor spot as well,” said Barker.
Lemon’s struggles seemed to be the most evident but the offence as a whole lacked rhythm. Early injuries to RB Cory Boyd and WR Chad Owens, limited cohesion in the first half and the Boatmen never seemed to get on track from there.
Veteran SB Jeremaine Copeland said that although Lemon is often looked at to take the majority of the blame, everyone has a job to do on offence.
“I still have confidence in the guy that is going to be leading us [down the stretch],” Copeland said. “You can’t just point the finger at him. We didn’t do our job offensively and you can go through the whole offence and ask who did their job and who didn’t and I don’t think that anybody came and executed the way they were supposed to.”