Toronto Argonauts defence capitalize on mistakes by Vernon Adams Jr. to remain undefeated

The matchup between the Toronto Argonauts and B.C. Lions was pegged as a heavyweight bout and the game certainly lived up to the hype.

Despite missing some key players, the Toronto defence made life miserable for Lions quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. forcing six interceptions.

Robertson Daniel led the charge with a trio of interceptions, including a pick-six, and four tackles while Jonathan Jones had a sack and an interception in a 45-24 win for Toronto in front of 12,473 fans at BMO Field Monday night.

"The defence did a great job," head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said after the game. "They took advantage of every opportunity, they made the play on every one of them.

"B.C. talked all week that they're the best defence in the league, they have the best secondary. I don't know, I think our secondary played pretty well. Great day by Rob, he had a mistake early on and he just battled back, he was solid."

Going into the game, there was a lot of talk about how good the Lions defence was coming off a dominant win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Toronto wanted to avoid adding fuel to the fire by showing what they can do.

"When you're talking about another defence being as good as us, we're going to take that challenge," Daniel said after the game. "You always have to face that elephant in the room.

It has been a tough time for Daniel who has dealt with injuries his entire CFL career but credits a strong support system for helping him through it.

“The last three years have been rough. From the concussion that put me out for the year, to the torn hamstring last year. Just kind of keep your faith going, and keep working. Sometimes you can see that light on the other side. But you got to create that light yourself,” Daniel said about how he’s found a way to persevere through the difficult moments. “ All my DBs, those guys have had my back and kept me going. My DB coaches, and the organization who stuck around and helped me by believing in me and putting me back in that starting spot.”

Chad Kelly finished the game with 249 yards and a touchdown while Adams put up 388 yards and three touchdowns.

It was a tough start for the Argos offence as they struggled to get things going early.

“It was a great, fantastic win. And it's hard to play man coverage up here, it really is I mean. Guys run, you know, 15 miles per hour right at you at the start of the line of scrimmage. What do you want to do, play press. play off (the ball)? It's tough. It really is,” Kelly said about the tough challenge B.C. presented.

“We just got to be better. Some of those sacks are on me. We got to just keep on improving every single day. And I think it'll come and it's still a team effort.”

The Lions made a statement early as, Dominque Rhymes made a great catch in the endzone to complete a four-play, 73-yard drive for B.C.

Just when it looked like the offence was going to get going but an illegal-block penalty on offensive lineman Ryan Hunter wiped out a 20-yard completion to Kurleigh Gittens Jr.

After giving up the touchdown, the Argos defence turned up the intensity with Thomas Costigan getting to Adams Jr. On the next play, the defensive line almost got another sack forcing the Lions quarterback to throw the ball away.

Unfortunately for Kelly, the pressure from the Lions defence would get to him again as a sack on first down put the Argos in a 2nd and 16. He would complete a nine-yard pass to DaVaris Daniels but that forced another two-and-out.

After the defence was able to force a punt, Javon Leake took the punt back 91 yards for the touchdown to tie the game 7-7. Dinwiddie believes Leake continues to show improvements and comfort as a returner in the CFL.

On the play, Leake praised the work of his blockers to get the lanes open, let his speed do the rest of the work and not let a mistake cost him the six points.

“I’m not going to lie, you can’t get tackled by the kicker. I almost tripped up but just happy to keep my balance,” Leake said about the play.

He also shared a moment with general manager Michael “Pinball” Clemons who after the touchdown thanking him for believing in him.

There were many miscues from the Lions offence that allowed the Argos to capitalize on the situation. Not long after allowing the punt return for the touchdown, the Lions had a second-and-short situation negated by a time count penalty that seemed to swing the momentum in the Argos’ favour.

Adams Jr. would throw an interception to Daniel and he would get the Argos into B.C. territory. A 15-yard reception by Gittens Jr. set the stage for Cameron Dukes to sneak the ball in to give the Argos a 14-0 lead.

With a 3rd and 2 on the Lions’ 46-yard line, Toronto decided to take a delay of game penalty and then punt the ball away. The Lions offence made quick work with Adams finding Justin McInnis for a 61-yard gain.

Right after, Rhymes would haul in his second touchdown of the game. It was a two-play, 82-yard drive that took 44 seconds.

The defence would step up again to make a big play with Daniel tipping a pass intended for Rhymes in the air and it would be intercepted by linebacker Jonathan Jones.

Kelly would find Daniels for a 17-yard reception to retake the lead late in the second quarter. Then after Adams threw another interception to Tarvarus McFadden, Toronto would add another three points on a 47-yard field goal by Boris Bede.

Going into the first half, the Argos defence had three sacks and two interceptions despite some moments where they allowed some big plays.

On their first series of the second half, Toronto would turn the ball over after failing to convert on a quarterback sneak. Fortunately for the Argonauts, the defensive line continued to create problems for the Lions’ offensive line as Jones would wrap up Adams Jr. in the backfield for the sack.

Kelly would show his mobility on a nice play design where the Argos faked the handoff to A.J. Ouellette and kept the ball for an 18-yard gain. Unfortunately, Kelly couldn’t find a way to keep the drive going but it was another occasion where Toronto was able to put up points increasing their lead to 28-17.

There were some questionable decisions made in the game by Toronto including one where the team was faced with a 2nd and 2 situation and instead of handing the ball to Andrew Harris, they tried for the pass and it led to a sack and a change of possession.

Adams’ nightmare game continued as he threw his fourth interception of the game to Daniel who returned it 78 yards. Ouellette would rush through the Lions defence getting three-straight carries with the third leading to his fourth touchdown of the season as Toronto took a 35-17 lead.

The Lions would respond with just over 10 minutes left in the quarter with Adams Jr. finding Keon Hatcher in the endzone to cut the lead to 35-24. Adams made a few nice conversions on second down to keep the chains going and the Argos defence on the field.

With a chance to close out the game, Toronto turned to their running backs as Ouellette and Andrew Harris took over and put the game out of reach.

It wasn’t the type of dominant performance we saw from the Argos running game against the Edmonton Elks but when they had some consistent opportunities they made it count and still managed to get over 100 yards for a third-straight game.

It got chippy near the end of the game with six penalties assessed to both Toronto and B.C. and instead of the Argos threatening to potentially add a late touchdown they settled for a 45-yard field goal by Bede to make it 38-24.

Daniels put a stamp on the game with a 62-yard interception that took to the house to give the Argos 40-plus points for the second-straight game.