DON LANDRY – ARGONAUTS.CA COLUMNIST
TORONTO – The Toronto Argonauts need to make that dome of theirs home sweet home, now.
Now that a hellscape of summer football has passed.
Feeling good after an impressive 40-23 win over the B.C. Lions in Vancouver last weekend, the Argos kick back over this bye week, and look ahead to a fall of mostly home cooking, with five of their remaining six regular season games being played in Toronto.
A favourable schedule will have them feeling positive about the path ahead. Take advantage of it and they’ll cruise to a playoff spot. Misfire and they could wind up watching from their couches.
That Toronto is in the position to get on a home field roll and capture the East is largely due to the mediocrity of their Division during July and August. That mediocrity meant that they could wrestle through their struggles – struggles that head coach Scott Milanovich was insistent they would overcome – and remain in the hunt.
In the hunt they are. In the rapidly improving East, the Argonauts can still scramble back into the driver’s seat, if they can make home field really count. Looming extra large on the schedule are two home dates with the first place Hamilton Ticats, on October 10th and 25th. A home and home with the Montreal Alouettes casts a large shadow, too.
There’s the rub for the Argos. While they feel the corner has been turned, the ‘Cats and Als feel the same way. All three may be right.
Coming through this season’s maelstrom of uncertainty and aggravation is not exactly miraculous, but it is noteworthy. (More on Toronto’s tribulations can be found below in “The Extra Point”)
I needn’t go over the long, long list of injuries suffered by the Argos’ offence through the first half of the season. That’s been well documented. Let’s also know that making it through such a disastrous spate of personnel changes does not guarantee that particular storm is over. If the Argos are to be bitten badly by the injury bug down the stretch, they will surely be left up the track when November rolls around.
No need for such negativity though, the East is rising, right?
With Chad Owens back to bring his big play ability and even bigger energy boost to the Argos’ huddle and Andre Durie complementing that with his yards after catch abilities, quarterback Ricky Ray has the tools he needs to make things tick and the yardsticks move.
With Durie and Owens in the line up, slotback Jason Barnes becomes more dangerous. If John Chiles can jump in after the bye, Toronto’s offence will have another stretch receiver to add to the variety. If he can’t, newcomer LaVon Brazill might be the answer, provided he has truly cleaned up the ball protection mistakes that plagued him in the Calgary game two weeks ago.
In running backs Steve Slaton and Curtis Steele, Toronto has a pair of explosive athletes and a platoon situation that seems to suit each of them just fine. More importantly, the Argonauts might have arrived at a backfield duo that suits their offence. Block well, catch a few short passes and lug the ball when called upon. The Argonauts don’t have a powerful run game, but it isn’t necessary. Short routes with a little yards-after-catch production are just as good as any run game. That is what will be key for the Argonauts’ offence going forward.
A healthy offensive line is a boost, too. Against B.C., the Argos employed all five of their usual starting linemen for a second game in a row and it showed. Ray often had time to scan and dissect a very good Lions’ secondary. It wasn’t perfect – it rarely is – but the game in Vancouver illustrated an old lesson: If Ray has even juuust enough time in the pocket, he can get things done.
You wonder if the Argonauts have settled on a defensive look that could allow for some stability, as well, in the final third of the season.
The line has performed well all season, with the emergence of rookie end Tristan Okpalaugo as a highlight. Pressuring opponents’ quarterbacks has been a fairly usual occurrence in 2014, with the D-line’s talents being augmented by a healthy dose of blitz packages from the units behind them.
Linebacker Shea Emry, who spent most of the first half of the season adjusting to a different style of play, struggled mightily at times. Over the last few weeks, he has surely looked more like the Emry of old – fast, ferocious and yappy. Earning Canadian Player Of The Week for his efforts in Vancouver, the Argos will need him to keep that up as they endeavor to leave the nightmares of summer behind them. The play of fellow linebacker Gregory Jones has no doubt helped. Jones has 22 tackles in his last three games and could be the tonic the Argos are looking for in bottling up the run a bit more.
In the secondary, moving Jalil Carter from halfback to corner has paid off. The third year Argo looks much more at home there than at the halfback position he formerly patrolled. Jermaine Gabriel’s rise as a safety has been a blessing, and the recent addition of former Blue Bomber defensive back Alex Suber has been an important one. Suber’s abilities, experience and energy are welcome in a secondary that has seen its share of inconsistency. That Suber’s teammates gave him a game ball after the B.C. win tells you plenty.
Optimism abounds and that’s a welcome change in Argoland. The Calgary game showed they could get the offence back on track. The B.C. game showed they could close the deal against a good opponent after a second half collapse against the Stampeders a week before.
The Toronto Argonauts have had bad luck (injuries) and good (slow-starting division mates) in 2014. With a big win in Vancouver, they can enjoy a happy bye week.
After that, the burden of proving what they’ve insisted all along – that they were much better than their record indicated – is squarely on their shoulders.
Time for a crucial stretch of home games.
Having multiple practice facilities (they had three different ones before landing full time at Downsview) and watching key players on their roster go down on a regular basis were not the only factors plying the Argos with adversity through the long summer months.
Add to them a schedule that, while favourable now, was a nasty piece of work through thirteen weeks. It featured life on the road as well as more rested opponents than any other team in the CFL.
Of the team’s first 12 games of the season, eight were played on the road, including seven of nine between July 18th and last Friday night.
In the first 10 weeks of the season, the Argos faced teams coming off the bye four times, the most of any CFL team. The only other team to face an opponent off a bye more than once in that stretch – the Winnipeg Blue Bombers – did it twice.
The Argos lost three of those games against the rested, beating only Montreal on August 1st.
Now, however, Toronto gets a break from the trials of facing the well rested. The Argos will not face a single team coming off a bye for the rest of the regular season.
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