June 9, 2014: Toronto Argonauts vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers

[ArgoRavi]

#93 - Delano Johnson - impressed me some on the Argo D-Line tonight.

In addition to Johnson, I thought that Whiteside played well with a sack and fumble recovery. Herbert struggled on the final Winnipeg drive unfortunately. I find it difficult to assess the defence though. Offensively, I thought that Natey Adjei, Terrell Sinkfield and Darvin Adams stood out among the receivers with Sinkfield having the best kick return of the night. K.J. Stroud made a couple of plays in the fourth quarter while all of the tailbacks looked good. Alexandre Dupuis seemed to play a lot at the tight end/FB position and was on the field for two Argo TDs. The offensive line played well I thought too. Jas Dhillon seemed to play the entire game at centre and did not look out of place. The long-snapping tonight went without incident as well which was a good sign.

[AngeloV]

Pachall is terrible. will they even keep him around.

I thought he did quite well for a guy that has never played a down in the league before. Like his arm, and actually showed decent running ability for a 230lb QB. Just needs to protect the ball better. I like the way he pushed the ball down field. Overall, I liked what I saw from all the QB's tonight.

The long-snapping tonight went without incident as well which was a good sign.

I was watching that as well Ravi. The long snaps were all rockets back to the punter, and right on target. Very impressed with it.

[Wobbler]

I like the way he pushed the ball down field. Overall, I liked what I saw from all the QB's tonight.

Agreed. I think Harris and Gale (as the potential backups) needed to show that they could get first downs, protect the ball, and potentially win games, and they mostly did that. Gale misjudged his velocity a few times - especially with the weak sideline pass that was nearly intercepted - and looks a bit less polished than Harris. Understandably.

Realistically, Pachall has no chance of being our backup this year, so his job was to prove his potential. I assume that's why we had him throw downfield more than the other guys. After a couple of rough series he started to look pretty good; I liked the perfect timing on the pass to Adjei (who had a great game despite going offside once).

I'm encouraged by our performance in general. This could be a good year.

[gilthethrill]

I hope Argo DB Washington is ok after that tackle(hate that there was a flag on the play, but that is football now). Harris is #2, but I really want to see what Portis can do. Deep receiver core with Adams, Sinkfield, Stroud and Robert "Gill the Thrill" all looking for work. Whiteside looked good at DE as did Delano Johnson on the interior against the worst O-line in the league. All the RB candidates looked good. Rod Smith is looking good to replace the veteran Rod Black too....

[doubleblue]

That was a pretty entertaining game IMO for the first one of the season. I agree with most of the comments except Pachall being terrible, he's a good prospect, but has a lot to learn.
The new DLine guys didn't get a lot of pressure on the Winnipeg QB's but maybe we have to give the Bomber OLine some credit. But the Argos didn't blitz much which would have made a difference. Staton and Johnson are as advertised, I think they are both better than Steele. Coombes needs to be brought along slower in spot situations for a while, but he looks like he can be a player.
The young Canadian OLinemen played well which bodes well for the future. But when Winnipeg DLine started using some stunts they showed some in-experience which would be expected.
Don't know what to think about the DB's yet. They weren't bad. I was never to enthralled with the holdovers. A work in progress.

[Will]

Trevor Harris is starting to look like Ricky Ray a little bit out there. Good for him, I wasn't overly impressed with Harris in training camp last year, but he seems to have improved a lot in the past year. We'll see how he does against Hamilton, which is a better defense than Winnipeg. Mitchell Gale did not look out of place either. He didn't looked as polished as Harris and I'm not sure the team scored any points with him on the field, but he showed flashes. I wonder why Josh Portis wasn't brought to Winnipeg? Is he injured or is he not fitting into the Argos' plans any longer? Pachall was playing his first pro game (albeit exhibition) and it showed a bit. That fumble was a huge mistake, but I'm sure he'll learn his lesson on that account. Slaton, Steele and Johnson all showed something at RB. Coombs had a few descent runs as well. Hogan and JJ said on the broadcast that it'll probably come down to the little things such as blocking and how quickly the RB get to their checkdown positions that will solve the running back battle. I'm not sure if the Argos will have to cut any of these guys prior to the game against Hamilton, but they've deserved a 2nd look in my opinion. Steele also looked good on special teams coverage, which may help him a bit. I was interested to see how Robert Gill would do and unfortunately he got hurt after making that catch on the first play. Darvin Adams and Natey Adjei were busy receivers for the Argos yesterday and it will be interesting to see how Adjei does going forward because many were raising an eyebrow at that draft selection in the first place. Receiver is not a position where I am remotely worried and that says a lot considering how we felt about that position as recently as two years ago. The Argos tried to feature Terrell Sinkfield a bit and he made an impressive catch. Hogan seemed impressed with the top-OL unit, I was a little bit wary about their play in the 2nd quarter though.

The defensive line was good in the second half. I'd say that some of those guys deserve a look against the better Hamilton players next Thursday. I think the Bombers got off a lot of long completions, but the secondary looked all right at other times. The 4th Winnipeg QB did provide a different look that the D as a whole had a bit of difficulty adjusting to.

[AngeloV]

It was pretty obvious that on D, the team was looking to see who can win that 1 on 1 battles last night. It was a very vanilla defence with no blitz packages at all. Considering that, I thought they did ok.

[Will]

Yeah, vanilla D is common for the pre-season. I thought the front seven looked pretty good against the run early.

[argotom]

No to be critical, however I noticed Harris did not have the zip and tight spiral on the ball like Gale or Pachall had.
Pretty much the same thing during his tenure with the Argos and unlike Zach last year.

[ArgoRavi]

I wonder why Josh Portis wasn't brought to Winnipeg? Is he injured or is he not fitting into the Argos' plans any longer?

I was wondering about this a couple of days ago and it was mentioned that Portis was hurt during the scrimmage on Friday. I hope that this doesn't spell the end for Portis and that he gets a chance to play in the second preseason game. BTW, I read in the Ottawa Sun that the RedBlacks released Corey Leonard and appear to be down to three QBs. Rick Campbell said something about hoping to bring in a QB from another team at some point so the Argos may have a trade option there.

[Will]

The new PI review was utilized successfully by the Argos last night and eventually led to an Argos touchdown. I'm still uneasy about it even if it benefited the Argos last night.

[AngeloV]

The new PI review was utilized successfully by the Argos last night and eventually led to an Argos touchdown. I'm still uneasy about it even if it benefited the Argos last night.

I hate the review on PI. Thankfully each team still only has 2 (or 3 if they are successful) challenges a game. What happens in the last 3 minutes though? Can the both call down and take a look at virtually every passing play? That would be horrible.

No to be critical, however I noticed Harris did not have the zip and tight spiral on the ball like Gale or Pachall had.
Pretty much the same thing during his tenure with the Argos and unlike Zach last year.

Ricky Ray is the best passing QB in the league, and he doesn't have a lot of force on his throws. As long as the read is good, and the balll is thrown on time, it means absolutely nothing.

[argotom]

Ricky Ray is the best passing QB in the league, and he doesn't have a lot of force on his throws. As long as the read is good, and the balll is thrown on time, it means absolutely nothing.

Ricky has the touch and with a nice soft spiral.

Winnipeg's new stadium sure looks great on TV. Hopefully a rebuilt and covered new BMO will look that good.

Agree with you, it's a jewel and looks awesome on TV.
Dare I say even though I do not watch, like a No Fun league stadium.

[ArgoRavi]

I hate the review on PI. Thankfully each team still only has 2 (or 3 if they are successful) challenges a game. What happens in the last 3 minutes though? Can the both call down and take a look at virtually every passing play? That would be horrible.

I believe that a PI review in the last three minutes can only be instigated by one of the teams, providing that they still have a timeout.

[Rich]

Trevor Harris is starting to look like Ricky Ray a little bit out there. Good for him, I wasn't overly impressed with Harris in training camp last year, but he seems to have improved a lot in the past year. We'll see how he does against Hamilton, which is a better defense than Winnipeg. Mitchell Gale did not look out of place either. He didn't looked as polished as Harris and I'm not sure the team scored any points with him on the field, but he showed flashes.

I'm a little less concerned than I was in the off-season about what happens if/when Ricky gets hurt this year. Harris does seem to have grown into a serviceable QB. He doesn't have star potential like Collaros, but he's a smart player, a student of the game, and is not likely to kill us with mistakes.

On the other hand, I didn't see any growth from Gale over his performances last year. I wouldn't have nearly the same confidence in him as I do now in Harris. I think Pachall has way more upside than Gale, given that Pachall missed the minicamps this year and has very little experience with the system. Plus he may have the strongest arm on the roster. If it was up to me, at this point in time, I'd put Pachall at #3.

Darvin Adams didn't disappoint. The guy can make any catch. I don't know how you keep him off the roster. And as for Natey Adjei, I'd be awfully worried if I was Mike Bradwell or Spencer Watt today.

Ricky Ray is the best passing QB in the league, and he doesn't have a lot of force on his throws. As long as the read is good, and the balll is thrown on time, it means absolutely nothing.

How can you say it means absolutely nothing? If you want to thread the needle 25 yards downfield you sure as hell better have some zip on it.

[1argoholic]

Hard choices to make at rb. We look pretty solid. Can't wait to see more of Coombs. He looks to have a real strong burst to the hole as well as some Barry Sanders types lateral movement. His name came to mind on one run that was called back due to a penalty.

I thought that both Harris and Gale aimed the ball with a pushing type throw rather than gunning the ball. Perhaps nerves. Like to see more of Pachall.

Some big D lineman that at times looked lost but I think there's some good stuff to look forward to.

[bluto]

Harris will be a good backup. He plays from the pocket so the offence will be able to play the same way with him as with Ricky. When given the additional weapons we have (Owens, Durie, Chiles, Barnes et al) he will be able to eat up yardage and allow our RB (whoever that turns out to be... really i haven't the foggiest) to run without having defences cheat on them.

How can you say it means absolutely nothing? If you want to thread the needle 25 yards downfield you sure as hell better have some zip on it.

touch & timing >>> zip

any day

[AngeloV]

How can you say it means absolutely nothing? If you want to thread the needle 25 yards downfield you sure as hell better have some zip on it.

It's all about timing and accuracy. There isn't a pro QB that can't do that, or else they wouldn't even be looked at as a prospect. Good QB's don't fit the ball into tight areas. They throw to a spot where their receiver can get to it and not the defence...what they call throwing the receiver open.

[paulwoods13]

Arm strength is overrated -- that's why Michael Bishop kept getting signed by teams. They fell in love with the cannon while forgetting that to be effective, every cannonball needs someone adept at lighting the fuse.

While Collaros seems to have a strong arm, a lot of his most effective throws last season were wobbly. It's about getting it to the receiver in a catchable place and in stride, not on always gunning it. Based on what little we saw of Harris last night, I think he can be more than adequate as No. 2 and injury insurance. Most importantly, he seemed to have a good grasp of the offence (as did Gale, albeit to a lesser extent, I thought). Don't know what to make of Pachall yet, and I really hope we get a good long look at Portis in Game 2.

Adjei looked pretty solid. I think Watt and Bradwell are still reasonably secure since Bradwell is effective on special teams and Watt is well established as a decent-enough deep threat from the little-used field WR spot. We need another NI receiver to replace Feoli-Gudino as a backup/ST guy and that will probably be Adjei. Coombs makes it as well, as a RB who will eventually also be worked into the Durie hybrid spot.

[ColdCrusty78]

It was great to see all the RB perform well, as Milanovich has mentioned being able to protect Ricky Ray is going to be key to securing this position. Was also impressed with WR Adams too, he had a couple of sweet catches.