Toronto Argonauts' lack of discipline, execution lead to disappointing loss to Redblacks

In a season where the Toronto Argonauts have been provided with many lessons, Sunday’s 23-13 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks was a much-needed reality check.

Even in their wins this season, the players have made it known that the team hasn’t played at the level expected of them. Toronto realized what happens when they are unable to overcome their own mistakes and unable to control their emotions.

With the Argos defence struggling to get off the field, frustration boiled over as Chris Edwards took two straight penalties that gifted the Redblacks crucial yards and a chance to add to their lead in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t just the defensive players showing frustration after the game but also head coach Ryan Dinwiddie who was not too thrilled with the team’s execution, especially in the field position battle.

“I thought our offense did some good thing in the first half and missed some opportunities in the second half. But our defense, we got to get better there,” Dinwiddie explained after the game. “It almost feels like we're always on our back end, we got to drive like 90 yards to score.

We finally get them on the back end, but we haven’t been able to stop them inside the 20 the whole freaking year. So we have to do a better when they're on their back end and be more aggressive on defence.”

While the team’s performance on defence wasn’t as good as it has been the last two weeks against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, they still kept a win within reach.

What this game came down to was the Redblacks’ ability to execute on the plays they needed to at crucial points in the game. In previous games, the Argos did just enough and made the plays they needed to when it mattered but that wasn’t the case on Sunday.

“We didn't play our best brand of football, and I don't think we’ve played our best brand of football all year,” Shane Ray said after the game. “It feels like Toronto vs. Toronto and Ottawa and Sask.

“We were able to get it pull out the win last week, but it didn't fall in our favour this week. We really got to do some self-searching within ourselves amongst the team to figure out how we can be more disciplined, not get penalties, and stop beating ourselves. I think we have one of the best defences in the CFL. I think our offence is starting to pick up and figure out who they are, who they are as, as a unit. And, you know, we just got to put all these little things again and finish.”

On paper if feels like this team has the pieces to be a contender but talent only gets you so far. What we have seen in the CFL over the last few years is that the best teams find a way to execute even if they aren’t playing their best.

There are many veterans on this team who understand that considering what they have accomplished. No one perfectly articulated the Argos’ struggles better than Ray who was pretty blunt about where the team is right now.

“We're not in a position to look past teams, we're not in a position to go out here and think we're gonna get easy wins,” Ray explained. “We're barely scraping by with these wins. So the mentality that I have, and the mentality that the entire team just has to incorporate and put on the field is we ain't s***t yet. Hats off to Ottawa, they came out here, and they won a football game in our home and in a game that everybody thought that we won't be confident enough to win. We got to prepare, get ready for Hamilton, we got to get ready to go. We're not we're not too good to overlook anybody.”

After a game like that, it’s easy to put the blame on a single player and of course, quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson was the easy target. Was he perfect in this game? No and honestly, he missed plays that could have been the difference in the game.

However, the offensive line had their struggles against Ottawa, the kick return game made too many blunders that harmed field position and Caleb Evans was given the time he needed to make plays and extend drives.

Now with a crucial stretch with four of their next five games against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Toronto could find themselves in a tough spot if they cannot clean things up.