Early in the season the Toronto Argonauts defence didn’t look great. There was much blame to go around, but as the season has progressed, the defence has been showing signs of connecting the pieces of the puzzle, allowing just two touchdowns in the last two games, one of which came on a three-yard drive following a turnover.
One obvious strength from day one has been the Argos ability to shut down their opponent’s starting running back.
Through eight games the seven backs – Dedrick Mills started two of those games – have combined for 420 yards on 95 carries. That works out to a pedestrian 4.4 yards per carry, 52.5 yards per game, with Quali Conley of the Roughriders the only back to score a rushing touchdown.
Argonauts.ca listed those numbers to defensive tackle Ralph Holley, then asked for his immediate response.
“Dominance,” he said, bursting into his trademark broad smile. “I love it. That’s more of a mentality that we’ve put together. We established from the beginning of the year with GQ (defensive coordinator Greg Quick), Maxie (defensive line coach Demetrious), with all the defensive coaches, that we want to be a dominant force. There’s no better way to be dominant than establishing who you are in the run game.”
The other starting tackle is Soane Toia. The rookie from San Jose State has also been strong against the run, while also collapsing enough pockets to make quarterbacks uncomfortable.
When he heard those running back stats, he had a different outlook than his fellow DT.
“I think I want more,” he answered to Argonauts.ca. “I still feel we have a long way to go and have more we can get better at as a defence. What was that number again, 52 yards per game? We’ll try to knock it under 50.”
The only player to have a great ground game against the Argos was Ticat quarterback Tre Ford, who rushed for 109 yards on 10 carries in Hamilton on July 18.
This week the Argos will battle the Elks in Edmonton, meaning it will be the first time they face Justin Rankin. He was the talk of the CFL through five weeks and was on pace to become the first player to record 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving.
His output has cooled considerably of late. After rushing for over 100 yards in four of his first five games, he’s amassed a total of just 138 yards on the ground in his last four outings.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for them,” said Toia. “They’ve got a great team, a great running back, one of the best in the league. We’ve got to stop him. That’s our plan, is to stop number 5 (Rankin).”
There’s obviously more to shutting down the Elks than stopping Rankin. Cody Fajardo has played well, never better than his 510-yard, 4-touchdown performance against Saskatchewan in Week Eight.
It will take more than the front four or the front seven to slow down the Elks, but it’s imperative that Toia’s group plays well against the run and makes life uncomfortable for the former Argo QB.
Toia has looked good so far, something the Argo personnel department was anticipating. The native of Nuku’Alofa, Tonga, comes from good football stock. His brother Jay plays for the Dallas Cowboys, while another brother, Siaki Ika, plays for the UFL’s Dallas Renegades after winning an NCAA championship with LSU.
“Coming in as a rookie, it was hard,” he admitted. “I came in with the mindset of being the best player out there, even though I was a rookie. I guess it runs in the family a little bit with me and my siblings being competitive. I try to go out and compete and be the best player I can be.”
Holley’s return to the Argos has been as advertised. After a year in the NFL, the Michigan native has drawn attention from opponents, being on double-teamed roughly 50-percent of snaps that the Argos send just a four-man rush.
He’s hoping the Elks don’t follow that script and try to block him one-on-one.
“I love it,” Holley said of his head-to-head opportunities. “Maxie told me that every time I get a one-on-one, I get either a pressure or a sack. I’m on a little streak right now where I’ve gotten a sack a game (in each of the last three games) and I want to keep that going. We’ve got (Shawn) Lemon now, we’ve got (Jonathan) Kongbo going crazy on the edge; it’s just freeing us up. They’ve got to pick and choose who they want to double.”