It’s a group of athletes that most football fans don’t notice until something goes tremendously well, or horribly wrong. In the case of the Toronto Argonauts, the punt and kickoff coverage units were noticed often early in the season, but not for the reasons they’d have preferred.
Special teams coverage is one of the most important aspects of Canadian football. The wide field can be as enticing as a decadent dessert for a returner, salivating at the options on his plate. For the first nine games of the season the Argos had become expert bakers, allowing returners to feast on their offerings time and time again.
Giving up a long return became a much too frequent occurrence, but in the last four games – the last three straight won by the Boatmen – the punt coverage has been much better, posting a net average of 42.5 yards per boot.
The Argos have climbed out of the league’s basement in the net punting category but are still in seventh spot overall with an average of 36.3 yards, almost a full 15 yards fewer than punter John Haggerty’s gross average of 51.1.
Toronto’s kickoff return coverage remains in last spot with an average of 27.1, but they’ve taken roughly eight yards per return of their average of over 30 per return before the last four games, averaging 22.9 yards over that span.
Still not great, but much closer to the league average.
There were injuries to key players on special teams coordinator Mickey Donovan’s coverage teams, meaning younger players had to step in, perhaps not yet comfortable with his system. It led to mistakes, which led to big plays against.
The players out of the lineup at that time are all vitally important to the group; Brian Harelimana, Jack Cassar, and Thiadric Hansen have been major contributors to special teams, and all three spent significant time on the injured list.
They’re all back and their impact has been substantial. The mid-season addition of Branden Dozier has been beneficial, as has the fine play of Isaac Darkangelo and Jonathan Edouard.
Darkangelo has been a beast of late. He’s recorded a whopping 10 special teams tackles in the last four games which gives him 14 on the season and moved him into the league’s top 10 in that category. He brings extreme physicality to special teams, something that’s been obvious since he joined the Argos last season.
The University of Illinois product has often been complimented for his “special teams mentality,” so Argonauts.ca asked Darkangelo what that term means to him.
“Hard hitting,” he said with a smile. “Doing your job and attacking every play because special teamers only get thirty plays, so you’ve got to go full gas, no brakes on those thirty.”
Harelimana is one of the group’s leaders. He thoroughly understands Coach Donovan’s schemes and essentially acts as a coach on the field.
“I feel like special teams are often forgotten about when we talk about our game,” the Laval, Quebec native told Argonauts.ca, “but to me it’s the tipping point. When we started playing better on special teams our season got better.”
He’s not lying. The coverage teams have been much better over the last four games, while the return game has also perked up. Janarion Grant recorded the longest punt return of the season on Labour Day, a 39-yarder, then topped that with a 50-yard burst last week versus Edmonton.
“We want to get JG (Grant) a touchdown,” said Harelimana. “We haven’t seen JG in the end zone in a minute.”
The Argos have two return TDs this year; Grant on a reverse on a kickoff, and one on a Derek Slywka missed field goal return, but still no punt return touchdown. They’ve been close and getting even closer to finding the end zone.
“It’s been one or two blocks away or making another move as a returner,” Donovan told Argonauts.ca, “but it’s getting a little cleaner back there for him (Grant) to have a better visual and get to see exactly where he wants to go with the return.”
It’s all about awareness. Donovan says it’s the most important aspect that a player can bring to special teams, speed and athleticism aside.
“Awareness is a lot,” the 2004 winner of the President’s Trophy as the top defensive player in U SPORTS explained. “Understanding where to fill in in the lanes when they’re covering, understanding the personnel who they’re playing with, knowing the system and what we’re trying to do off of it, because if one guy is out of position, getting two guys in one lane can really, really hurt a cover unit.”
The mistakes that plagued the Argos early have seemingly been corrected. With a tough schedule ahead, field position will be critical to the team’s success, much as it’s been for the last two nail-biting last-minute wins.
Both accomplished with points by the special teams.