ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
TORONTO – Argonauts General Manager & Head Coach Jim Barker kept reverting back to the same point when he addressed the media after his club’s most recent loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Regardless of what direction the questions were going in, Toronto’s sideline boss continued to reference penalties as one of his team’s most glaring downfalls, especially on offence. Perhaps more frustrating was the fact that the fouls seemed to occur directly after the offence would put together a positive play.
“It wasn’t a very good offensive performance and we took too many penalties,” Barker said. “You get a big play and then you take a penalty. You can’t do that and beat a team that has been on a roll. I thought our defence played pretty well and special teams gave good field position. You get a good play on offence and then boom, you take a 10 or 15-yard penalty.”
Barker’s bunch committed nine penalties for 74 yards, surprisingly 21 yards less than the opposition Ticats. However, the timing of the penalties cost the Boatmen more in the long run.
It is a far cry from a team that was the CFL’s most disciplined a year ago. Avoiding penalties wasn’t the only area of the Argonauts’ game that needs focus. Securing the ball, turnovers and dropped footballs are all areas of concern for the Double Blue
“We had dropped passes all over..tough plays but plays we need to make. We have to find guys to make those plays – when the ball is in the air, guys that will go up and get it.”
It is something that Barker believes not only hurts his team’s ability to win games but also stalls the progress of a quarterback that, albeit a veteran, is very new to this system and the guys playing around him.
“I thought Steven Jyles played well but we didn’t make plays for him. When you are a struggling offence you just can’t do that,” Barker continued.
“My biggest concern right now is getting Steven Jyles reps and getting him acclimated to where he is comfortable with everything. I thought we let him down a bit. That pass we threw to Chad [Owens] and I thought he could have dashed in for a score but we have to make those plays for the guy. I thought he threw a couple routes that were great throws and were 50/50 balls that we just didn’t make the plays on.”
Throwing the ball is something that Barker stresses the team simply has to get better at, especially if teams such as Hamilton are going to key in on star RB Cory Boyd.
Boyd has received only 23 touches in the last two games and many have been quick to criticize the Argos for the lack of handoffs, even more so after the tailback only put up 60 yards on the Ticats but as Barker explained following the game, Boyd’s falloff in carries is by no means by design but rather a product of circumstance.
“Their defence forced us to run the ball and the plays where we ran, we were forced to run it. It wasn’t that we weren’t trying to get the ball to Cory Boyd, obviously it was one of those things that the way they played it defensively, they took it away from us.”
Boyd and the Argos will have a few days off to regroup before returning to the practice field on Wednesday as they begin preparing for a Thanksgiving Day date in Montreal.