Toronto Argonauts: Cameron Dukes flashes potential but Blue Bombers pull away late

Expectations for the Toronto Argonauts weren’t high going into Friday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers but a 31-21 loss still felt like a disappointing result given how the game started.

The Blue Bombers opened the game with an impressive drive that resulted in a touchdown. However, it was the response from the Argonauts that caught many off guard as they responded with a quick touchdown drive of their own.

Toronto and Winnipeg exchanged touchdown drives but it was the home team that would eventually pull away late in the fourth quarter to win the only regular-season meeting between both clubs.

Here are some takeaways from the Argos’ second loss of the season.

Dukes impresses in first career start

The big storyline going into the game was Toronto’s decision to not have Chad Kelly play against Winnipeg. An obvious complaint was taking away the chance to see the Grey Cup rematch featuring the best lineup on both teams.

It appears Cameron Dukes didn’t get the memo.

The Argos backup made his first career start and impressed many by throwing for 231 yards (completing 71 per cent of his passes) along with a touchdown while also running in for another. The big improvement Dukes made since his last appearance was going through his reads and buying himself time in the pocket.

Against Calgary, Dukes got caught holding the ball too long in the pocket allowing the Stampeders pass rush to get to him which meant either taking a sack or making a poor decision with the ball.

Having A.J. Ouellette at least on the first drive helped the rookie quarterback get things going especially when he broke free for a big gain to get the Argos in scoring position before finding an opening for Dukes to toss him the ball for the opening touchdown.

There was some serious doubt about the Argos’ QB depth behind Kelly and Dukes showed that he has the tools to be an adequate replacement. It wasn’t a perfect game but the 25-year-old’s performance should have alleviated some of the concern.

Take head coach Ryan Dinwiddie’s word for it.

"I think I found my backup quarterback doing it,” Dinwiddie said. “That was great to see Cam get in this environment and do that.

“That was kind of the point of resting Chad, but also seeing what we got. We wanted to win it and we thought we could with our backup, we just didn’t make enough plays.”

Defence gives offence a chance to win

It wasn’t just the Argos offence missing a couple of important players as Dinwiddie also chose to have Wynton McManis, Jamal Peters and Shawn Oakman inactive for this game.

Toronto had its challenges with Winnipeg’s running game as Brady Oliveira ran for 169 yards on 25 carries.

This was a classic bend but don’t break performance from the Argos defence as they did what they could to limit Winnipeg to field goals with Sergio Castillo going 6-for-7 on the night. Considering the Blue bombers held a significant advantage in time of possession, the Argod defence held up quite well until the fourth quarter.

It also doesn’t help that after a strong start, the Argos offence went 3-for-14 on second down. The Argos countered that by limiting Winnipeg to going 2-for-5 in red zone opportunities.

Despite the big chunk of yards allowed and the number of plays Winnipeg was able to run, Toronto’s defence held up as well as could be expected against one of the top offensive units in the league.

Dinwiddie questioned for decision to play Scott late in game

A big talking point during the game was Dinwiddie’s decision to play Bryan Scott in the fourth quarter with the Argos holding a five-point lead.

In fairness to Dinwiddie, the plan all along was to have Scott get some reps in the game but you can’t blame fans who were puzzled by the decision considering how the game was going. Having Scott in the game is not a problem but the timing of it, especially with Dukes coming back in, was a bit questionable.

Would it have made more sense to let Scott get some time coming into the second half? It’s never an easy decision to make when trying to figure out when to make a quarterback change, especially in a game that you have the lead.

Dinwiddie must’ve thought long and hard before thinking about when to put Scott in the game but now he has some film to study and knows he’ll need to start working on his game.

Crucial turnover changed course of game

The Argos kept the game within reach and got a big play from their defence to put themselves in a position to potentially win it.

Up five points to start the fourth quarter, the Argos got a big interception from Qwan'tez Stiggers. Unfortunately for Toronto, when the Blue Bombers make a mistake, you better find a way to capitalize on it.

The Argos would cough the ball up to Winnipeg almost immediately after as running back Deonta McMahon fumbled the ball while trying to gain extra yards after getting stuffed by the defensive line.

McMahon didn’t have as productive of a game as he did against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. That was bound to happen against a stout defence in Winnipeg.

Let this be a lesson to the young running back who is just getting his first taste of professional football.