The title defence began reasonably well for the Toronto Argonauts.
An 32-14 opening night win came against their rivals from Hamilton. The first-year starter at QB answered a lot of questions being asked by some fans and members of the media. The defence played well. There were no turnovers and punter John Haggerty looked like he had filled the football with helium before the game.
All this coming off a first week bye.
The coach liked what he saw from his team but knows there’s a long way to go to get back to becoming a Grey Cup calibre team.
“We’re seeing we’re not quite there yet,” head coach Ryan Dinwiddie told Argonauts.ca. “We did some good things. We didn’t finish off some drives. I thought we played pretty well on defence and special teams, but offensively we’ve got to put more points on the board.”
That’s the level of confidence Dinwiddie has in his offence; it scored 32 points against a team many or most predicted would represent the East in the Grey Cup, yet he still wants to see more.
Right now, the Edmonton Elks can only dream of having problems like that.
The Argos travel to Northern Alberta to take on the Elks on Sunday night. It’s a team that has struggled offensively so far, putting up a total of 13 points in its first two games, averaging just 197 offensive yards per game.
That’s a stunning total when you realize the team boasts players like Geno Lewis and Steven Dunbar Jr. in its receiving corps; both of whom finished in the league’s top ten in receiving yards a year ago.
It would seem to be a question of when, not if the team has a breakout game.
Conversely, the Elks defence has played well. Opponents have averaged fewer that 20 points per game, despite the struggles of the green-and-gold offence.
“They give you some fits,” Dinwiddie said of the Edmonton D. “They kept BC in check for the most part last week. They make you sound; they’re playing three-man lines one week, the week before they’re playing man coverage.”
Chad Kelly will get the start at quarterback for the Argos. He did what was asked of him in the first game. He passed for just under 200 yards in the first half before the team switched to a mostly running attack in the final 30 minutes.
The offence didn’t turn the ball over and Kelly himself rushed for three touchdowns with Andrew Harris adding a fourth running major.
It was a solid, if unspectacular season debut for Kelly; 14-23 passing (60.9%) for 238 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 28 rushing yards to go with the three TDs.
He was most impressed by how his teammates stayed calm, cool and collected throughout the entire game against the Ticats yet remained enthusiastic.
Kelly’s full attention now is on Edmonton. He gave his thoughts on the Elks defence to Argonauts.ca.
“Fast, physical as well, and long,” said Kelly. “I think they play sound defence. They do a lot of funky things and we’ve got to be prepared for whatever they throw at us.”
After the 0-2 start there is little doubt the Elks will be fired up for this one, especially with the constant talk of their CFL record 18-game home losing streak. There is some discussion of this being a “trap game” for the Argos, but Kelly but the brakes on that theory pretty quickly.
“Every team has the ability to win on any given day,” he said. “You’ve just got to make sure you go out there and upgrade your intensity with great focus and I think everything else plays itself out.”
Dinwiddie concurs with his quarterback, making total sense when pointing out why this game is difficult to be placed in the “trap game” column.
“We talked to the guys. I just think it’s too early in the year to have a ‘trap game’ in my opinion. But the guys have to be aware of it. We’re going on a four-hour plane ride and we didn’t play that well there last year, so we’ve got to play much better than we did last year to get a win.”
While the Argos are favoured in the game by just under a touchdown, this is far from an easy game; certainly, far more than some prognosticators are making it out to be.
Rest assured the Argos are doing anything but taking it for granted, despite some of Edmonton’s early season offensive woes.