DON LANDRY – Argonauts.ca Columnist
TORONTO – Is it safe to say that the average fan of the Toronto Argonauts would have figured competing decently against the B.C. Lions on Tuesday night would have been considered a very positive and acceptable thing?
Even had they lost, an improved game from the defence as well as some nice signs of progress from the rookies and sophomores on offence would have been rewarding. A 38-12 win over the powerful visitors from the West? Come on. You didn’t predict that.
It happened, though, and so now it’s time to take stock of what that game showed us.
First things first.
There is absolutely only one reason to start Zach Collaros ahead of Ricky Ray in Montreal next week and that is if Ricky Ray is not physically able to play. If his knee needs a little more time, fine. Collaros’ performance against the Lions was superb. Exhilarating. Gets an Argos’ fan giddy even.
But for heaven’s sake, it’s Ricky Ray, people.
That Collaros has shown he will be a star in the CFL is not surprising.
That he is this close to it already might be. A good performance, with shades of brilliance would have been plenty to be happy about. That Collaros impressed they way he did reminds me of the quarterbacks in past who have “gotten it” quickly – Ray, Buck Pierce, Dave Dickenson, Jeff Garcia, Matt Dunigan, Travis Lulay. Just a handful of quarterbacks who wowed us from the get go.
Now, Collaros does it.
The Argos head into the bye week secure in the knowledge that they have more than a capable back up to Ray and his hall of fame credentials. What it looks like they have is a quarterback who can keep the offence humming at a very high level if Ray is forced to miss any amount of time going forward. As well – and this must have head coach Scott Milanovich and offensive coordinator Marcus Brady high-fiving in the halls – is a weapon they can trot out any time during a game to knock the opposing defence off kilter. From the calm, cool, veteran hand in the pocket to the spinning and sprinting young gun.
Running back Curtis Steele announced his presence with a little authority, too. Capped with a soaring launch over the tangled bodies of the behemoths on the line of scrimmage for his first touchdown, Steele showed more of the flash and dash and explosive ability he’d displayed during pre-season.
Whether he can pass block as effectively for Ray as the injured Chad Kackert can remains to be seen. Again, though, Steele’s presence is another illustration of the depth of talent that general manager Jim Barker has assembled for the Argos’ offence.
Rookie receiver John Chiles is testament to that, too. Think about it. The Argos’ offence produced against one of the league’s toughest defences with its back-up quarterback, back-up tailback and back-up deep threat in the line up.
Things were already very good on offence. Now they’re even better in terms of depth of talent and variety of skill sets.
Perhaps defensive coordinator Chris Jones now has the pieces that he really likes in place, with the addition of rookie Josh Gatlin at corner and another rookie, Jamie Robinson, moving up to take over the linebacking position vacated when the team released Brandon Isaac. Gatlin was really beaten only once on a deep ball, when Travis Lulay fired a smart-bomb strike to Nick Moore. Couldn’t have covered it much better. If Gatlin’s fingers were a couple inches longer he’d have tipped it away.
Robinson was looking more and more comfortable at corner and moving him to linebacker seemed a trifle risky because of that. However, he looked quite comfortable with the switch, chipping in with four tackles. If he continues to play that way, and Gatlin is the cover man the Argos think they have, the release of Isaac will have been the right choice. However, it’s a little early to make that judgement.
After a slow start, defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell is finding the range and more often being in on the big plays we’d been used to seeing him make while a member of the B.C. Lions. An early sacking of Lulay was evidence.
If you wondered if linebacker Robert McCune could keep up his blistering early season pace, he answered with maybe his best game of the season, with 7 tackles. Linebacker Marcus Ball did the same, with 5 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble.
Another positive development from the win over the Lions: Free Safety Matt Black looked decisive and active, suggesting the tumblers have clicked and he has found a level of comfort that might lead to greater things. A deep pass break-up in the end zone, run support tackling (not to mention his usual solid special teams work) – he did a lot of everything in the win.
All in all, the Argos head to the bye week happy. Based on Tuesday night’s results, perhaps even surprisingly so.
Toronto fans are sometimes criticized for being a little too placid. Subdued. Not so involved.
My view has always been that a Toronto sports crowd is usually quite happy to be leather-lunged and boisterous, but that it usually happens when they’re given a reason to whoop it up. A brilliant touchdown reception, a timely goal, a home run, a monster dunk – all lead to loudness from Toronto sports fans.
Tuesday night’s game saw Argos fans step it up.
Time and again they yelled and stomped and generally made life a little bit miserable for the B.C. Lions’ offence. At one point, the Lions took three consecutive penalties – offside, procedure and then a time count violation. It’s true, the gesticulations of the Argos’ defence might have had something to do with that. It’s also true that crowd noise at that point made it tough for the Lions to hear Lulay bark signals.
A pat on the back and an assist to Argos’ fans. Be assured that the players notice that. As well, didn’t it make the place a helluva lot more fun?