Toronto Argonauts begin grueling stretch run with Stampeders

No team in the CFL has played fewer games than the Toronto Argonauts so far this season and none will play more down the final half of the season.

After a bounce-back win over the Ottawa Redblacks, the Argonauts had their final bye week of the season which means they will play their last 10 games without a break. It’s not an ideal situation but one that happens when a league has an odd number of teams.

Toronto isn’t going to complain about their situation but will have to be smart with the way they manage workloads in practice and in games.

“It’s going to be tough. I'm not gonna lie, but we have the depth that's gonna get us going,” said linebacker Jordan Williams about the Argos’ remaining schedule. “We have some guys rotating in practice and even in the game sometimes just in case we have injuries or something like that to keep us fresh. So Coach is gonna take care of us on that aspect of the game.”

Williams had to miss three games with a knee injury and the team was able to overcome that thanks to the depth they established. However, managing players with ailments will be crucial for Toronto.

Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie usually takes a cautious approach when it comes to players who are dealing with any injury. He’s hoping his team can just find a way to get through this stretch as unscathed as possible.

“Hopefully the rest early in the season could help us avoid having injuries towards the end,” said Dinwiddie. “But we are going to have some guys who are going to be missing from the lineup at some point during that stage so we just got to go next man up.”

Of course, as the Argos have maintained since the start of the season, they aren’t looking past their current opponent which is the Calgary Stampeders, the team that handed Toronto their first and only loss this season.

Heading into the game, Dinwiddie asked his players to go back and watch the game against Calgary. This was not to dwell on the loss rather he wanted his team to realize how much they beat themselves.

“I just told the guys that it's not a revenge game, instead, it's our next game,” Dinwiddie explained. “We've always tried to go 1-0 each week so it's not like let's go look back at Calgary and be upset that they beat us. I just want them to see that we beat ourselves.”

The concerning part of the loss had to be the struggles on offence when Chad Kelly was forced to leave the game with an ankle injury. Cameron Dukes put up 63 yards and an interception while Toronto finished with just 202 yards in the game.

Calgary’s defence does pose a challenge for the Argos considering their ability to get to the quarterback and their secondary didn’t make life easy on the receivers although there were missed opportunities.

“We just couldn't get our rhythm. But you know, the plays were there to be made whether they were routine, or the bigger plays,” receiver Cam Phillis said. “I just think as long as we focus on ourselves and what we're supposed to do, and I think we'll be fine.”

The team was able to get back on track against Ottawa putting up 544 yards while also having two receivers crack 100-plus yards in the same games since John Chiles and Chad Owens did back in 2014.

Chad Kelly knows that Calgary will be doing different things to try and throw them off.

“They were blitzing bringing zero and were just dropping a lot of guys. They do a great job in their zone coverages of covering up holes.,” Kelly said. “They got a lot of fast guys out there. You see it up front, their physical. I think they play hard and they play together and are a solid group on defence.”

Another important factor will be limiting Calgary’s rushing game which was easier said than done the last time out. Going up against the Argos’ second-ranked rushing defence, Dedrick Mills put up 137 yards on 27 carries.

The game plan from Calgary was simple. Try to ensure they weren’t facing a lot of second and long situations so that Jake Maier didn’t have to test the Argos secondary with a lot of deep throws as he finished the game with 149 yards but completed 22-of-24 attempts.

Redblacks quarterback Dustin Crum was able to put up 292 yards through the air and another 42 on the ground before Toronto’s defence found a way to make the adjustments needed.

“We have an exotic defense where teams going to have to attack us a certain way. So each week, they attack us differently,” Williams explained. “They try to get their offence going, but you can't just be like steak and potatoes and be average. You have to come to our defence with something that we haven't seen before. And it's been successful what Maier and it was successful with Crum so we'll see what they come this week.”