DAVID ALTER
Special To Argonauts.ca
David Alter is a reporter and sportscaster for Toronto’s Sports Radio THE FAN 590. David covers the Argos and has covered football at every level dating back to 2003.
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While the Argos are close to securing a playoff berth, they aren’t there yet. For a playoff spot to be secured then one of the following scenarios must be met this weekend:
Toronto WIN OR BC LOSS OR Edmonton LOSS
With a win, Toronto will command its own destiny by not only earning a playoff spot but also keeping hope alive for a home playoff match.
It’s likely that a win this weekend will come down to offence. Everything else, when it comes to the Argos, has been executed well this season. From the special teams trickery, led by Mike O’Shea who calls them offensive plays, to the steady defence, which has been a mainstay for several years. Offence has been a problem, but when the team was finding other ways to win a game and was winning out of the gate, the urgency wasn’t there and it was all about development.
The Boatmen are 2-6 since their 5-2 start to the season. A total of three points against the Ti-cats left Argos players sour, including QB Cleo Lemon.
“I just think me attacking all areas has been something I haven’t taken advantage of,” says Lemon. “I need to take advantage of the whole field.”
An example of this was evident in the 30-3 loss to Hamilton where WR/KR Chad Owens didn’t see the ball offensively at all. The Fly’n Hawaiian refuses to blame anyone for the recent loss.
“Collectively we win and lose together, coaches and players all together,” said Owens. “Coach Barker or anyone else doesn’t need to take that blame and we just need to go back to the drawing board.”
Earlier in the week, Barker announced that he was going to take more of an active role when it comes to the offence. Barker was quick to diffuse any notion that current offensive coordinator Jamie Elizondo wasn’t capable of doing the job, rather to make sure he was more active in lending help to the position.
When you look at Barker’s resume, it makes sense that he should have an imprint on how the team would look offensively.
In 1997, Barker helped the Argos win a Grey Cup in his first season as a CFL O.C. In 2002, Barker again won a Grey Cup as offensive coordinator with the Montreal Alouettes. For you history buffs out there, Barker’s legacy will include being the only offensive coordinator to win the XFL’s million-dollar game when he helped the L.A. Xtreme go all the way (I just couldn’t resist).
Elizondo, on the other hand, is a brand new offensive coordinator, having never been an O.C. at any level prior. Hi previous CFL experience was one year as receivers coach for the Montreal Alouettes in 2008. Thus, the learning curve had the potential to be a difficult one. Elizondo will still do the play-calling, while getting more advice from Barker.
Within the offence, the running game had actually been pretty solid with Cory Boyd tearing up the league. Despite an ankle injury, Boyd will do all he can to make sure he is on the field in Winnipeg. In any offence you need to keep the defence guessing, and when Hamilton shut down a banged-up Boyd, the passing game struggled.
Don’t expect any change at pivot though, as Barker declared after last week’s game that, “Cleo’s our guy and we’re only going to go as far as Cleo takes us.” Lemon understands there have been points in the season where he felt he might have regressed in some areas.
“When I look back on it, I second guess myself a couple of times and you can’t do that,” says Lemon. Offensive captain Jeremaine Copeland feels that Lemon is still showing improvement, and gave a full vote of confidence to his starting quarterback.
In the end, it all comes down to what we were reminded of prior to the start of the season. This was a team that was going to take some time to develop. A 5-2 start to the season got fans excited, and rightfully so. They certainly weren’t perfect en route to that glorious start, and while there is an urgency to do something special heading into the post-season berth, they can’t force it to work right, they just have to keep improving.
The playoffs are in sight, but the Argos aren’t there just yet. If the offence can continue to develop and show some visible improvement, they’ll be on their way.