LUCAS PALLESCHI – ARGOS ADMIRALS INSIDER
TORONTO: Another nail biter in TO sees the Toronto Argonauts put up a win and climb to second in the East.
A tenacious and hard-fought effort by the whole Argos squad Saturday night gave a great preview to the kind of strengths and options they should focus on going forward. RB Steve Slaton was magnificent with 80 rushing and 77 receiving yards, capped off by a touchdown and the Player of the Week title. Well deserved.
The other side of the ball was just as impressive. The Argos D kept the Ticats off the board in the first quarter and only allowed three points in the fourth to allow the Argos to hold on for the win. LB James Yurichuck had an impressive performance, picking off Jonathan Crompton and recording his first ever career sack. Yurichuk (Canadian player of the week) and the rest of the Argos defence had one of their best games of the year.
Up next for the Argos are the red-hot Alouettes in Montreal on Sunday.
This week should be all about stopping the momentum of the Alouettes. A team that’s on a hot streak is hard to stop and it would be beneficial for the Argos, not only in terms of a playoff run but with divisional points still up for grabs, to halt the Alouettes early in this game. First and foremost it starts with the QB. Crompton looks too comfortable in the pocket, as last week he went 18 for 32 and was only sacked and intercepted once. For a QB to have a 56% passer completion rating and still win the game is remarkable. The Argos D will need to enforce tremendous amounts of pressure and capitalize on Crompton’s mistakes, because if he is 18 for 32 comfortably in the pocket, one can just imagine what kind of distress he will be in if he has to scramble and dodge tackles.
In Week 6 Toronto was able to effectively shut down the Alouettes by moving the ball to different offensive weapons while constantly putting up scores with possession. They should look to do the same in this week’s matchup. The Alouettes offense has struggled to put up some big numbers in their last two games. Moving the ball around consistently to different weapons and making reliable decisions downfield for go-ahead scores will put a lot of pressure on the Alouette offense to match the score total and more importantly, will consistently burn out their defence.
On defence, the Alouettes are a squad that has only allowed a combined 29 points in their last two games, while putting up a combined total of 5 sacks and 3 interceptions. Ray will have to be at his best all game long and in order to give him the protection he needs to do that, the emphasis has to be on spreading the ball around.
If the Argos follow this game plan they can effectively suck the energy right out of Percival Molson Memorial Stadium on Sunday and chalk up another much needed win on the road.