July 26, 2014: Toronto Argonauts vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders

[Wobbler]

Ricky Ray deserves as much criticism as anybody....what are you watching ?

Conventional wisdom suggests that deflected ball interceptions aren't the QB's fault. The fumble is on Ricky and he did miss a few easy throws, but it's foolish to suggest that he should be perfectly in sync with Coombs at this point. Considering that we fielded a rookie LT (pulled in the 4th quarter) and a dubious receiving corps, I'm not inclined to be particularly judgmental.

[Argo57]

Love the challenge flag with a huge lead and 5 minutes left, class move!!

[OV Argo]

Conventional wisdom suggests that deflected ball interceptions aren't the QB's fault. The fumble is on Ricky and he did miss a few easy throws, but it's foolish to suggest that he should be perfectly in sync with Coombs at this point. Considering that we fielded a rookie LT (pulled in the 4th quarter) and a dubious receiving corps, I'm not inclined to be particularly judgmental.

Big mistake IMO to expose a rookie OT in Sewell against 2 of the best DEs (Chick & Foley) in the league - but it certainly wasn't all on Sewell as the whole offence was useless and stupid.. Woulda made way more sense to move King back to OT, and play vet Smith at OG this game. Argos brain-trust looking kinda stoned/stunned this season IMO - coaching smarts are ultra critical in the game of football.

[Stevoman]

Injuries are definitely a factor but I am not impressed with our lack of depth. We have 1 touchdown in the last 2 games and you cannot accept that kind of drop off in performance. Tonights struggles seemed like the offensive line. Quarterbacks were hurried all night. Now I know that Molden is "injured" as is Matt Ware but I think they both need to be re-inserted into the lineup for another evaluation and when Matt Black gets healthy, Gabriel should stay at safety with Black in a new position. This defence has a long way to go before anyone should feel secure. Oh yeah, I dislike Rod Black's commentating, it makes for an even more painful viewing experience than the lopsided score.

[jerrym]

Not many players deserving of praise right now. Ray (because he is doing his best with very little), Coombs, Sewell, Waters, Okpalaugo, Gabriel, Yurichuk, Steele are about it.

Lots of players deserving of criticism, including (in no particular order) Keeping (stupid penalty), Van Zeyl (missed blocks), Laing (stupid penalty), Carter (terrible coverage) and Emry (hasn't made a play all season). No doubt I've left several others off this list.

I am not a Maurice Mann fan (to say the least), but I thought he played well and seemed to be always trying, something I could not always say about him.

I am surprised you put Sewell on the list of players deserving praise as Chick manhandled him, granted that Chick is one of the best players and this is Sewell's rookie season.

Will Ford is a decent to average RB IMO; the Argos do not need him as Jeremiah Johnson, Slaton, Steele or even Coombs are just as good or better at tailback.

What the Argos need is wayyyyy sharper offensive thinking and play-calling from Millanovich & Brady; and sure the key injuries to the receiving corps hurts, but you need game-planning & play-calling smarts. No consistent ground game and no vertical passing game.

Ford had 114 yards rushing including a 38 yard run and repeatedly showed his elusiveness. He also was a 1000+ yard returner last year. While Johnson, Slaton and Steele each have some skill they lack the speed of a Kackert or the power of a Boyd and therefore teams can afford to pin back their ears and go after Ray on every play without worrying much about an Argo RB breaking one because of this. A Ford, Kackert or Boyd type player would make them think about the running game even if the Argos were still predominantly a passing team.

[ArgoRavi]

With Owens, Durie, Barnes and Chiles injured and Inman in the NFL, the Argos are missing their top 5 receivers in yardage from 2013. It's sure showing tonight as is the inability of Sewell to protect Ray.

I hate using injuries as an excuse but take away any team's starting receiving corps (or at least 80% of it) at the same time and you are going to have problems winning football games. The offence right now has zero chemistry with all of the newcomers in the lineup. It doesn't help when even one of the replacements, Sinkfield, is also hurt. And let's not forget the injuries at tailback as well which has resulted in a carousel at that critical position.

Big mistake IMO to expose a rookie OT in Sewell against 2 of the best DEs (Chick & Foley) in the league - but it certainly wasn't all on Sewell as the whole offence was useless and stupid.. Woulda made way more sense to move King back to OT, and play vet Smith at OG this game. Argos brain-trust looking kinda stoned/stunned this season IMO - coaching smarts are ultra critical in the game of football.

OV, aren't you often critical of recent CIS grads not getting a chance to start right away? Now the Argos give Sewell that chance and you are all over them for that? Your scenario, btw, might have been one to consider. One reason I can think of them not doing so is that King has played right tackle but has never played left tackle and the footwork is different between those two positions.

[larz-7]

Injuries are definitely a factor but I am not impressed with our lack of depth. We have 1 touchdown in the last 2 games and you cannot accept that kind of drop off in performance. Tonights struggles seemed like the offensive line. Quarterbacks were hurried all night. Now I know that Molden is "injured" as is Matt Ware but I think they both need to be re-inserted into the lineup for another evaluation and when Matt Black gets healthy, Gabriel should stay at safety with Black in a new position. This defence has a long way to go before anyone should feel secure. Oh yeah, I dislike Rod Black's commentating, it makes for an even more painful viewing experience than the lopsided score.

Rod he is special. Had to laugh when they showed Anderson on the side lines shaking hands with some rider fans and Rod cherps in saying four argo fans made the trip to Regina .thats right Rod they flew all the way from Toronto to see the game and the first thing they did was buy rider jerseys and put them on.

[Argocister]

Yuk,yuk and double yuk!
My 2 cents ...... Oline needs help. Sewell was thrown in the deep end, but he will have to be in these situations in the future. Perhaps more coaching is needed.
Can't we run more north south rather than east west?
Some of our veterans are tackling like its a touch football game. So I'm glad we brought in DAnderson . He was all over the field tonight. Hopefully his passion rubs off on the rest.
I am worried that many on the team were copping out earlier than they should have. At least get a touchdown guys!

All I can say, it's the beginning of the season.... There are some good things happening on this team, if only we can capitalize on them ....what's that saying? It's insanity to keep doing the same things but hoping for a different result? .....I keep hearing its execution, but if execution isn't happening, then our goal of a W will not be achieved.
Hopefully, all our regulars will be back for the last half of the season. We need to place first or second .... I think there will be crossover this year the way the teams are playing.

[Wobbler]

Big mistake IMO to expose a rookie OT in Sewell against 2 of the best DEs (Chick & Foley) in the league - but it certainly wasn't all on Sewell as the whole offence was useless and stupid.. Woulda made way more sense to move King back to OT, and play vet Smith at OG this game. Argos brain-trust looking kinda stoned/stunned this season IMO - coaching smarts are ultra critical in the game of football.

I think the intent was to evaluate Sewell's progress and give him a chance to test himself against a good D, and I have no problem with that approach. He didn't have a great game, but when I noticed him I thought he was almost as effective as Van Zeyl (who had a sub-par game).

Personnel-wise, I think our offense is built around two essential concepts.

1) 80% passing (lots of money invested in a top-flight pocket passer, and an OL full of tackle-types specialized at pass defence)
2) Receivers who can get separation and turn short passes into intermediate yardage, creating secondary opportunities for backfield receivers and the occasional long ball

Essential concept #2 is completely broken right now, for obvious reasons. So, is our offense poorly conceived? Maybe. We've done our best to bring in players (Coombs) who *might* be able to keep things going, but Owens and Durie are quite exceptional players. They're also somewhat injury-prone, and starting to near the end of their careers. For 2014, they'll heal up in a few weeks, and suddenly our offense will make sense again. However, I doubt that our current concept is sustainable. I suspect that the 2016 Argo offense will feature significantly different personnel and philosophies.

[Nob]

Wow....lots to be miserable about tonight.

Why not move King back to LT? You can't put a raw rookie in there against Chick. If you do at least help him out by a)running the ball more, b) have the back or slot chip Chick every play, or c) line up a TE to help out.

Did nobody ever call out any of the Brackenridge blitzes?? Somebody needs to yell it out to the QB.

One td in the last three games.

Next week the Argos play their third team coming off of the bye week. Based on the last two results clearly having the bye week has helped.

I'm also confused by the roster they dress on game day. Why so many LB and so few DL? Wouldn't you want more DL to rotate them in, and keep them fresh? Why so many FB's??

It's tough for any of the receivers to step up when they are all new. It's easier to add one into a lineup and have him look good. Right now this group needs to jell. They need to find consistency. Tough to accept, but they need some time playing together.

Agree with the sentiments on Emry. Has really underwhelmed.

The RB situation is a mess. Nobody has looked good. Steele is the best of the lot, so far. Slaton could be, but one game is too small of a sample. Johnson does not impress me.

On the bright side - Waters is kicking great, and Harris looks like we won't miss Collaros.

It could be a long season, but they still have time to get it together in a really bad eastern division. But I still think that the Cats are the team to beat in the east and they found a bit of a groove tonight.

[Argocister]

I hate using injuries as an excuse but take away any team's starting receiving corps (or at least 80% of it) at the same time and you are going to have problems winning football games. .........

Unless you have Hufnagel as coach/GM.

I think the intent was to evaluate Sewell's progress and give him a chance to test himself against a good D, and I have no problem with that approach. He didn't have a great game, but when I noticed him I thought he was almost as effective as Van Zeyl (who had a sub-par game).

Personnel-wise, I think our offense is built around two essential concepts.

1) 80% passing (lots of money invested in a top-flight pocket passer, and an OL full of tackle-types specialized at pass defence)
2) Receivers who can get separation and turn short passes into intermediate yardage, creating secondary opportunities for backfield receivers and the occasional long ball

Essential concept #2 is completely broken right now, for obvious reasons. So, is our offense poorly conceived? Maybe. We've done our best to bring in players (Coombs) who *might* be able to keep things going, but Owens and Durie are quite exceptional players. They're also somewhat injury-prone, and starting to near the end of their careers. For 2014, they'll heal up in a few weeks, and suddenly our offense will make sense again. However, I doubt that our current concept is sustainable. I suspect that the 2016 Argo offense will feature significantly different personnel and philosophies.

This is the key ..... Sustainable. ... And I'm sure Milanovich and Barker are trying to work on this, but with major change on our coaching staff as well as our roster, I think this year it is very difficult to do.

As an aside, .... If these are the two key focus points of the offense, what is it for the Defense?

[Wobbler]

Well, this is the CFL: blowing up the offense every 2-3 years with new staff and players is par for the course.

For now, though, we've taken a chance by becoming hyper-reliant on Owens+Durie. We're screwed, short term.

[larz-7]

My two cents.Offense we are injured and will be for some time .The replacements we have can not do what this offense was designed to do ,short throws make something of it.Every defense we play knows that we will have receivers when the ball is snapped , walk out a yard or two waiting for the ball.Change the game plan abit just move everything up a few yards.Ray looks frustrated cant blame him.He needs a receiver to catch a deep ball here and then .Then he will be ok.that and a RB to just break one once.On defense i think we are a couple of players away from a not bad D considering the new bodies.So note to coaches and Gm. On offense this is not working adjust it. On D Barker keep locking for the missing pieces your mlb has lost a step too many

[Neely2005]

I turned the game off after the first half but in all my years of watching the CFL I've never seen a team struggle to score TDs as much as the Argonauts have in these past 3 games.1 TD total in 3 games in the CFL???

[1971GreyCup]

Apart from a run late in 2012 the Argos haven't progressed. I have heard for three years that the killer penalties will be addressed. Jim Barker may be near the end of his tenure here. Most frustrating to me is the constant upgrading of talent and deterioration of on the field product. Sheesh

Play/entertainment at home rarely is at the standard that brings back fans that come to check out the team. This is supposed to be entertainment and less "technical" football. Example the showman Leo Cahill.

[ArgoRedneck]

Any excuse is BS at this point of the year. Injuries are a easy scape goat. Why do i say that.......

They lost to an expansion team. With the number 1 rated player in the CFL at QB. I believe that with the backup QB playing last night they still would have been able to get 9 points. This team looks so unprepared by the coaching staff right now.

[paulwoods13]

I am surprised you put Sewell on the list of players deserving praise as Chick manhandled him, granted that Chick is one of the best players and this is Sewell's rookie season.

My observation was based on the first half, where I thought Sewell was (apart from one or two plays) pretty solid for a first-time starter. I gather he did not fare as well in the second half. (I did not stay up to watch as I had no expectation we could overcome a 22-point deficit with a bunch of unknown receivers; PVR'd it but may simply archive it and not bother to watch.)

Next week the Argos play their third team coming off of the bye week. Based on the last two results clearly having the bye week has helped.

I'm also confused by the roster they dress on game day. Why so many LB and so few DL? Wouldn't you want more DL to rotate them in, and keep them fresh? Why so many FB's??

The bye situation really sucks. Aside from Montreal, I believe we also get one more team (Winnipeg?) later this year after their bye week. And the Argos' upcoming "bye" is a half-bye -- they play 11 days after their previous game.

I also wondered why we dressed Gillanders once Robinson returned. Dressing a backup INT MLB may have been a message to Emry. Right now his signing is looking like a big, expensive mistake. Wonder if Mtl would like him back in a trade. I don't know if any of our INT d-linemen (other than Okpalaugo) are good enough. Gibson made one nice play. Harrell has been invisible and looks too small to be an effective DT.

[gilthethrill]

The bye situation really sucks. Aside from Montreal, I believe we also get one more team (Winnipeg?) later this year after their bye week. And the Argos' upcoming "bye" is a half-bye -- they play 11 days after their previous game.

I also wondered why we dressed Gillanders once Robinson returned. Dressing a backup INT MLB may have been a message to Emry. Right now his signing is looking like a big, expensive mistake. Wonder if Mtl would like him back in a trade. I don't know if any of our INT d-linemen (other than Okpalaugo) are good enough. Gibson made one nice play. Harrell has been invisible and looks too small to be an effective DT.

Milanovich has proven in the past he will cut a high profile player. Perhaps Emry gets shown the door. I am wondering when Kyle Moore will be healthy. I have not been impressed with Gibson this year at all. Maybe Marcus Thomas can add some girth in the middle if he gets healthy/in shape. I just don't see a Troy Smith led team beating us Friday night no matter how bad the Argos appear right now.

[Will]

I'll bet the Als fans are saying the same thing as you just said gilthethrill and I don't blame them.

I didn't see the game because I was hosting people, but have a few very general comments:

(i) It isn't a question of whether or not the Argos have any depth at receiver, but you've basically taken the group at the end of the year (Owens, Durie, Barnes, Inman, Chiles and Watt) and have introduced (due to injury and NFL) a whole new group there except for Chiles who has been ineffective this year and Watt who was the weak link of this group. I thought the team could weather Durie being out, but it's clear it cannot weather Barnes and Owens as well. Milanovich is going to have to find a way to get this to work because the team could be really screwed by the time those guys are ready to return. It seems the offense is unable to unwilling to adapt to the new reality. I mean 1 TD in 3 games is brutal and in that respect how long can we

(ii) The O-Line is really living off of that stretch at the end of 2012 isn't it? But, even consider the new bodies since then Sewell, King, Rogers, etc who weren't there and thus present a new variable.

(iii) The "bye week" thing is unfortunate and interesting, but ultimately I feel that's grasping for an excuse as to why this team struggles right now.

[paulwoods13]

Jeremy Lewis, who we cut, started at OT for the Ticats last night. Maybe we should have kept him over Rogers. BTW, is Rogers actually hurt? As far as I can tell we played one INT short last night -- there were just 20 listed on the depth chart and one (Chiles) did not dress.

There is no meaningful longterm data on team records after bye weeks because there hasn't been an uneven number of teams for eight years. This year teams are 2-2 after the bye, with the two wins both being blowouts against the Argos (Calgary and Sask). The two losers were Ott (which had a good first quarter after its bye but then collapsed) and Hamilton (which gave the Stamps a good battle before losing a squeaker).