Head 2 Head: Lemon/durant

While Argos QB Cleo Lemon continues to grow more comfortable with his receivers week in and week out, the Riders’ Darian Durant is still coming to grips with the loss of his 2010 favourite target, Andy Fantuz, to the NFL. 

Durant has struggled in two particular categories: consistency and turnovers.  Durant is sixth among starting quarterbacks in total yardage (1,660) but is second last among all QBs in efficiency rating (83.1) and completion percentage (62.8%).  Those statistics are not ideal, but they are good enough to win football games.  The real achilles heel for Durant has been his penchant for throwing interceptions.  After throwing two picks in Saskatchewan’s 45-35 loss to the Calgary Stampeders in week 6, Durant now leads the CFL with eight on the season.  Durant led the CFL in interceptions last season with 22, but the turnovers are much easier to swallow when either the team is winning or Durant is throwing for the most yardage in the league, like he did last season (5,542 passing yards).

Clearly, Durant hasn’t performed at the level that Rider fans are used to seeing. It really isn’t all bad for the 28-year old.  His season to date has been bookended by two 300+ yard passing performances, with the most recent coming last week against the Stamps. His completion percentage has been around 70% the past two weeks, nearly seven percentage points higher than his season average.  More importantly, he seems to be at least finding some consistency with his new go-to receiver.

Weston Dressler has registered over 60 yards receiving in all but one game this season. He has two 100+ yard games and has averaged more than 15 yards per catch over his last four games.  His most recent improvement has been finding a way to get into the endzone.  He was held without a touchdown reception over the first three games but has since sauntered into the endzone three times in the last four games.  With every passing week the chemistry between Durant and Dressler seems to be returning to 2010 levels.  Unfortunately, while Dressler is doing his best to make up for the absence of Fantuz, another one of Durant’s favourites from 2010 has engineered his own disappearing act.  Last season Chris Getzlaf had nearly 1,000 yards receiving.  Through seven games in 2011 he has 275 yards receiving.  For the Riders’ offence to improve, Durant and Dressler will not only have to produce, Getzlaf will need to find a way to get it going.

In week 7, Durant, Dressler, Getzlaf and the rest of the Riders will be going against an Argonauts defence playing their second game under new defensive coordinator Orlondo Steinauer.  In Steinauer’s first game at the helm, the Argos defence was burned for 37 points in a loss to the Ticats. Steinauer has promised that the defence will be more aggressive and, with another week of practice, the Argos ‘D’ should have plenty of new tricks up its sleeve.  With the Riders’ offence growing more comfortable with each week, and a revamped Argos defence looking to make a statement, fans should be in store for an intriguing battle on Thursday night.

Cleo Lemon has received his fair share of criticism during his short tenure as quarterback of the Toronto Argonauts.  Despite leading the Boatmen to the East Final in 2010, his first season in the CFL, pundits have hounded Lemon for his apparent inability to adapt to the wide-open style of football that exists north of the border.  Perhaps some of the criticism was justified, considering he ranked near the bottom in most statistical quarterbacking categories last season.  However, after back-to-back stellar performances since returning from a serious tooth injury, Lemon has proven that he has the capacity to lead a successful offence in this league.
 
Lemon’s emergence began in week 4 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  He started the game 5 for 5 for 58 yards before a collision with Winnipeg’s Joe Lobendahn caused severe nerve damage to one of Lemon’s teeth, ending his night and keeping him out of the lineup for one week.  Luckily for Argos fans, Lemon picked up right where he left off in week 6 against the Montreal Alouettes.  He returned to throw for 314 yards and two touchdowns on 25 of 41 passing attempts. It was only the second time Lemon had managed to throw for more than 300 yards in a CFL game. Lemon’s resurgence continued this past week in Hamilton, where he threw for a career-high 368 yards on 26 of 36 passing and three touchdowns.  It was only the second time Lemon had thrown for three touchdowns in a CFL game. 
 
As a result of Lemon’s impressive play over the last two weeks, the Argos have climbed out of the league basement in all offensive passing-related categories.  Going into this past weekend, the Argos ranked last in Most Yards Net Passing (1399) and Average Yards Passing per Game (233.2).  They have since passed the surprising 6-1 Winnipeg Blue Bombers in both categories. Personally, Lemon still ranks last among all CFL starting quarterbacks in total yardage (1410), but one more big game should vault him right into the middle of the pack.  Also, after the game against Hamilton, Lemon saw his efficiency rating climb from 83.7 to 93.8, which is 11 points above his career average.  Clearly, Lemon has made significant adjustments that are allowing him to perform at the level that was expected from him when he was brought into Toronto two years ago.
 
Lemon is trusting himself, and trusting his receivers more than he has so far in his CFL career.  A fine example of this was his career-long 69-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Rideau at the beginning of the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.  Lemon let the ball fly downfield and the result was the longest touchdown of his career.  He must continue to allow his playmaking receivers make plays, and the most obvious way to do so would be to open up the field.  Of course, it is a fine line for a quarterback to walk between being aggressive and being greedy, but Lemon did not throw an interception against the Ticats and seems to be finding the right time to stretch the field.  Rideau, Lemon’s favourite target of late, thrives on go-routes.  Maintaining chemistry between Lemon and his big, 6’4” receiver should be a priority for the Argos over the rest of the season.
 
This week, Lemon will go up against a Roughriders defence that has given up the most points in the CFL (184, just behind Toronto 178).  Yet, like the Argos, the Roughriders are in a curious funk, unable to translate their success from last year over to this year.  The 1-6 Roughriders are a lot stronger on paper than they have been performing on the field. Taking them, and their defence, lightly will obviously prove to be a dubious decision for Lemon and the Argos.  However, at 1-6 themselves, don’t expect the Argos to take anything for granted.