An avid Argos supporter and season ticket holder, Don Landry has covered almost every type of news from sports to music to talk radio in his 25 years of broadcasting and has conducted over 10,000 interviews with the likes of Prime Ministers, Premiers, sports legends, showbiz stars, power brokers and many more. Follow Don on Twitter @argoslandry or visit his website at donlandry.com.
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DON LANDRY
Argonauts.ca Columnist
TORONTO — There was an uneasy feeling of relief, if that’s possible, amongst the Argo fans I spoke with immediately after the team’s 24-18 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week.
Happy for the victory, most fans were subdued by the way the game almost ended, with the Riders bid for a winning touchdown in a furious fourth quarter rally falling just short. The Argos played well in spots, but very nearly suffered a seventh loss against a team that had spent the majority of the game wounding itself with mistakes and costly penalties.
So, the question hangs over the Argos as they come off their bye week and hit the near-midpoint of the season: Have they plugged the leaks or merely bailed out a few teacups of water?
It’s a metaphor that can be applied to the entire team, but most aptly to the defence, whose holes have been exploited with great regularity over the first eight games of the season.
The unit has given up a league worst 412 yards of offence per game, ranking last against both the pass and rush. In fact, the Argo defence ranks last or second-last in most categories that matter, including the most important: Points against. Just over 29 per game. (Saskatchewan is the only team below the Argos in that regard, giving up an average of 31.6)
It’s easy to see that any surge in the second half of the season will need to be keyed by the defence, with pressure squarely on the shoulders of newly appointed defensive Coordinator Orlondo Steinauer. If you, again, look at the Saskatchewan game, there are clues as to how Steinauer can get the defence on track. For the first three quarters, the schemes looked varied and aggressive and the unit seemed invigorated. When they reverted to largely a three-man rush later in the game, Darian Durant and company picked it apart, running through it or dump-passing over it.
Will Steinauer increase the aggressiveness of the defence? It looks like he has little choice but to do so and gamble that they won’t continually get burned by the big play.
It should be noted that the club’s difficulties on defence aren’t based solely on scheming and execution. They won’t say it (no one in pro sports will) but injuries DO play a part in a team’s struggles. The starters are starters for a reason. They’re just better than the guys standing on the sideline. Simple as that. When you’re rotating guys in and out in what seems like constant fashion, sustained success is difficult to breed.
If Jason Pottinger can return and reclaim his place at the heart of the linebacking corps in the next few weeks, it’ll be a big boost. If not, Jordan Younger, Ejiro Kuale and rookie Anthony Cannon will need to continue their impressive play – in fact, improve on it – with support from Tristan Black and Jeremy Unertl, when called upon. The Argonaut linebacking roster is deep. Now it needs consistency.
On offence, one of the more intriguing questions will pertain to ‘The Jyles Factor’.
Quarterback Steven Jyles is about to come off the 9-game injured list. He has been very good in practice the last couple of weeks, zipping sideline passes on a rope and air-mailing accurate bombs with what appears to be a certain ease.
When the Argos made an off-season trade with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to get him, there was the sense that one of two good things would happen: Either his presence would push Cleo Lemon and Dalton Bell to another level or that Jyles, himself, would surpass both and become the team’s bona fide starter.
Is Jyles’ readiness pressing Lemon in a positive way? Or will Jyles eventually take over as the team’s offensive leader? At the very least, Jyles should provide the Argonauts with a change of pace quarterback. While Lemon is counted on to be methodical and to make solid decisions to make the offence go, Jyles can provide big play ability, both with his legs and his arm. We haven’t seen what a healthy Jyles can do for the Argo offence yet. We may be about to.
That’s not to knock Lemon, unduly. While the offence has suffered from a case of a little sugar in the gas tank from time to time, it has generally performed well enough to win, had it been coupled with a stout defence (the team ranks sixth in per game scoring, averaging 23 points).
Lemon’s statistics show him in a favourable light, in many ways. Only one starter has thrown fewer interceptions than his four. That’s Montreal’s Anthony Calvillo with three. His quarterback efficiency rating of 92.4 puts him in close proximity to Calgary’s Henry Burris, Winnipeg’s Buck Pierce and Hamilton’s Kevin Glenn (based on statistics heading into Week 9).
A closer look at the passing stats may reveal a little something: Although seventh in passing yards per game, the Argos are actually third in completions. Does that mean they’ve dined out a little too much on swing passes and underneath patterns? Are opponents keying on those? If so, we might see more stretching of the field in the second half of the season.
Running back Chad Kackert has been a wonderful find, but make no mistake: Cory Boyd‘s battering ram running ability provides the Argo offence with the essential ingredient it needs. Getting him up to full speed will be important for the Argo attack.
At 2- 6, the Argos aren’t where they imagined they’d be. After snapping a six-game losing streak we’re left to wonder if they’ve indeed plugged their holes, or just called all hands on deck to man the tea cups. In the midst of a crucial four game stretch, we’ll get our answers soon.