Landry: Argos Need To Be Clean And Efficient

DON LANDRY – ARGONAUTS.CA COLUMNIST

TORONTO – Ricky Ray was chuckling when he answered the question. Not the kind of ‘that’s hilarious’ chuckle, either. The kind that suggests frustration, as in ‘I can’t believe we still need to talk about this.’

“We’ve been trying to crack down on that all year,” was the sentence coming from the quarterback’s mouth, as he responded to a question about penalties and turnovers.

“Two areas we haven’t been very good in all year long,” he conceded, soberly.

With an almost must-win situation ahead of them in this Saturday afternoon’s home game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Toronto Argonauts are still grappling with the two headed monster of self-destruction.

It’s not news to a professional football player that he has to be disciplined and not take silly penalties. Not news that ball security is of the utmost importance. On the first point, you’ve got more control, although it doesn’t seem anyone can stay away from penalties in 2014 (there have been 1,525 penalties called through 69 games this season; over 72 games in each of the four previous seasons there had never been more than 1,389 flags thrown).

On the second, you can be as conscious of hanging on to the ball as can be and still suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, being separated from the rock by a great defensive play or even irregular happenstance. But, in a year where CFL officials are tossing flags like they’re contagious, seems the turnover aspect of the game may well be the more controllable of the two.

Those numbers add up and they are the bane of the Argos’ existence as they try to scramble their way back into playoff position this week.

“We’re not good enough to play our ‘B’ game and beat people,” offered a fidgety head coach Scott Milanovich, just after the Argonauts had fallen to the Montreal Alouettes, 20-12, last Saturday.

Neither are this week’s opponents, the Hamilton Ticats. Turnovers and bad penalties were paramount in their coughing up a 17 point lead against the Argos two weeks ago, on the way to a 34-33 loss. The Argonauts cannot necessarily count on those mistakes happening again this Saturday, though they’d happily accept the circumstance and the Ticats have been obliging in the areas of turnovers and penalties in 2014. Like the Argos, Hamilton has not exactly been the picture of consistent, clean football.

“That’s why we haven’t been winning the games that we need to be winning,” Ray told Argonauts.ca this week. “We’ve gotta have that focus. Penalties come down to being disciplined and being focused. And turnovers, the same thing.”

“If we can win those two areas we’ve got a great shot at being anybody in this league,” he continued.

The stats bear this out, particularly with turnovers. In 2014, the Argonauts have a record of 4-0 when they have fewer turnovers than their opponent. When they have the same number, they are 1-1. When they commit more turnovers, their record is 1-8. Indeed, every single CFL team has a losing record when they turn the ball over more times than their opponent, with the exception of the Edmonton Eskimos, who are 3-3 in that situation.

“Against a good defence like that, you just can’t make those kinds of mistakes,” Milanovich had said, in the wake of the Montreal loss. It’s not just the number of mistakes, he added, but the timing of them.

For instance,  Toronto’s first drive of the game was going swimmingly against the Als’ defence and they seemed poised to romp into the end zone with ease (or, at least, a field goal) when running back Curtis Steele fumbled. A quick start against one of the league’s best defences was denied, changing the complexion of the game. The Argonauts have struggled when placed in the chase position this season; they are 3-6 when behind after a quarter, 2-8 when trailing at halftime and 1-8 when down after three quarters. Contrast those numbers with when they have had the lead; they are 3-1, 4-1, and 4-1, respectively.

40 giveaways on the year have the Argos ranked second worst in the CFL, with only Winnipeg turning it over more (44). Where they are a league worst, however, is in opponents’ points scored off turnovers, with a total of 109. As well, no team has lost more fumbles in 2014 than the Argonauts (22). The Ticats, meantime, are 1-6 when committing more turnovers than their opponents. Like the Argos, the are a minus in the takeaway/giveaway game (Argos are -11, Hamilton is -3) and have given up possession of the ball 33 times this season.

Bottom line is that both of these teams are going to find it necessary to reduce the turnover damage as they get set to square off in this weekend’s monumentally large battle. The penalties will largely balance out, if they play to form. The Argonauts average just under 12 penalties for close to 104 yards, per game. The Tiger-Cats average just under 13 penalties for 101 yards, per game. Two weeks ago, they combined for 40 penalties, with Toronto being flagged 21 times, Hamilton 19.

“The thing that I’ve been telling them and the thing that I believe is that if we play well – if we play our game – we can beat anybody and should beat anybody,” said Milanovich.

He may well be right and the statistics tend to agree. When the Argos have played a cleaner game than their opponents, their chances of victory have risen dramatically this season.

“I still believe in ‘em,” said Milanovich. “And they still believe. But, we’re not a great team right now.”

According to the coach, greatness is next to cleanliness.

Montreal’s stifling defensive effort against the Argos has, no doubt, provided some interesting viewing for Ticats’ Defensive Coordinator Orlondo Steinauer this week.

In Toronto’s comeback win over Hamilton two weeks ago, Steinauer’s defence was stung when Argos’ slotback Chad Owens got open in man to man coverage against linebacker Erik Harris, and sprinted to the end zone for the winning touchdown. The Argo passing game was afire in the fourth quarter of that game, but could not get on track at all versus Montreal, one week later.

The Als had decided to adopt a steady diet of zone defence and it worked.

Steinauer – most everybody’s pick to be the next coordinator to ascend to head coach – is no fool. He might just decide to adopt that style as a template for Saturday. Zones aplenty, with a ferocious front four rush.

Milanovich is no fool either, however, and he is aware that the Ticats might try and mimic Montreal’s defensive choices.

“We need to do a better job of getting guys open a little quicker for him (Ray). We’ve gotta come up with a little bit better ways, maybe, of finding Ricky some quicker answers,” he said.

It’s a two way street, of course. Hamilton’s offence was kept mostly under wraps by Ottawa last week and Argos’ defensive coordinator Tim Burke will use that information as he plans for Saturday’s game.

“You try and steal from other teams,” said Ray, of the importance of film work.