August 23, 2015: Ottawa RedBlacks vs. Toronto Argonauts

[Wobbler]

Burris played an amazing game today. He was elusive in the pocket, made great decisions, and deservedly put up big numbers. Although we had a few guys disappear on D today (where the heck was Jones?), Hank was really on fire.

[Neely2005]

Back home from the game and I have to say that was the smallest crowd that I've ever seen at an Argonauts game!

[Fumblitis]

Burris played an amazing game today. He was elusive in the pocket, made great decisions, and deservedly put up big numbers. Although we had a few guys disappear on D today (where the heck was Jones?), Hank was really on fire.

I was surprised that Burris couldn't elude the pressure on that last third down. Argo D came through when needed. Very good game I thought.

[Argo]

Without the late foolish objectionable conduct penalty taken by the Ottawa player, the Argos probably would have lost this game.

Looking at the stats, both Whitaker and Kackert couldn't get any yards on the ground today.

[argotom]

Swayze was the difference.
Couldn't believe the numbers that Hank threw up something like 32 for 36 and a whopping 426 yards.
And the RB still lost, due to the penalties.

[Stevoman]

Dunigan questioned Miller if the Argos were winning by using "smoke and mirrors" because they are always coming back from behind. The Argonauts were "smoke and mirrors" in 2010 but are a much better team this year. I think that they will eventually start winning a few games outright but I'm okay with them figuring themselves out (as long as they are winning) and then peak in the final third and playoffs to win it all rather than being excellent in August and fall apart at the end.

[Argocister]

Swayze tilted the field for the Argos quite nicely thank you!
So we couldn't establish the run game today .... Is the RedBlacks Defense that much better ? or is it our Oline not in sync?
We will have to remember next RedBlacks game ...... You get Hank upset next play is a F..? Up in our favour, 😄
Not the prettiest win but I will take it .... Are we playing more of the game now that we are in the middle stretch? It was still 2 quarters today that we played. There were times when our Dline was super dominant ...... It will be fun at the end of the season!

Even though the crowd was only shy of 15,000 it did make some noise in the last quarter.
It will be so much fun next year during the CNE ! At least when the crowd participates there , the CNE visitors will want to know what they are missing! Kids will go home chanting ARRRRRRGGGGOOOOOS!

[Wobbler]

+ Swayze Waters: best punter in the league, and a fine FG kicker.
+ Anthony Coombs: after a few quiet games, today he was getting open and making terrific moves for extra YAC and reminding us why he's in Durie's spot.
+ Cory Greenwood: he really is a noticeable upgrade on Yurichuk in positioning and tackling
+ Akwazi Owusu-Ansah: breakout game. He was all over the place, hitting hard. I couldn't tell why he was so much more noticeable today; did they move him from field corner?

- Trevor Harris: not bad, but a mediocre game by his standard. Two of the three TDs were total gimmes thanks to blown coverage, and the pick six was obviously a problem.
- Greg Jones: invisible! Ottawa didn't rush a lot, but he's still normally far more involved. Miles came in for Isaac, but Jones played the whole game... didn't he?

[ArgoFan1]

Argos really didn't deserve to win that game. Ottawa killed themselves with a few poorly timed penalties. Argos were infuriating as they simply refused to run the ball. First three series that Kackert was in, they never handed him the ball once. I assume they were hoping he would be the decoy to attract all the attention. Just way too much reliance on the pass today. Defence came up big when they absolutely had to, but other than that, they got beat for about 500 yards. Way too much ground to be giving up.

Crowd size was very disappointing, but this is what I have been saying all along to those that wish for weekend games. They just will not work in Toronto in the summer. A beautiful summer day, as summer begins to wind down and I imagine a lot of people were preferring to do other activities. It will be the same at BMO next year if they try to play too many weekend games. Maybe a Saturday night game or Sunday night game, which allows people the day to do their thing. I am recently retired, but even when I was working, I always preferred the weeknight games. A nice break in the middle of the work week.

This team is headed into a really tough stretch of the schedule, so they better get their act together and not rely on late game heroics too many more times.
Forgot how great Swayze Waters is in the time he was away. He was probably the biggest difference in the game, as some others have said. In the end, Argos have to at least try to run the ball more.

[OV Argo]

+ Swayze Waters: best punter in the league, and a fine FG kicker.
+ Anthony Coombs: after a few quiet games, today he was getting open and making terrific moves for extra YAC and reminding us why he's in Durie's spot.
+ Cory Greenwood: he really is a noticeable upgrade on Yurichuk in positioning and tackling
+ Akwazi Owusu-Ansah: breakout game. He was all over the place, hitting hard. I couldn't tell why he was so much more noticeable today; did they move him from field corner?

- Trevor Harris: not bad, but a mediocre game by his standard. Two of the three TDs were total gimmes thanks to blown coverage, and the pick six was obviously a problem.
- Greg Jones: invisible! Ottawa didn't rush a lot, but he's still normally far more involved. Miles came in for Isaac, but Jones played the whole game... didn't he?

Miles seemed to be in at MLB for Jones a lot from what I saw ... and did a nice job - 2 good run stuffs and flying around to the ball otherwise; not sure why he was in unless Jones was nicked or something because it is odd or unusual for a back-up NI to get a lot of playing time at a position that is pencilled-in for an import? - anyways, maybe Miles gets rewarded with more playing time - he was better than Jones has been lately.

Argos D a bit of a cause for a concern - young secondary lit up by vet QB Burris and a very good receiving corps; and still not enough consistent pass rush. Have to be better than that when they face the Ticats O with Collaros the way they are going now.

[Wobbler]

Miles seemed to be in at MLB for Jones a lot from what I saw...

Thanks OV. It sounds like both Jones *and* BI must have been hurt. Since he's the best defender on the team, obviously we wouldn't have taken Jones out without a good reason.

[OV Argo]

Thanks OV. It sounds like both Jones *and* BI must have been hurt. Since he's the best defender on the team, obviously we wouldn't have taken Jones out without a good reason.

Jones was still playing some D and STs AFTER Miles got some playing time, so it does not make sense that Miles was just in as an injury replacement; and like I said - Miles did more on D anyways; who is the best defender on the team? - certainly not Jones IMO.

[argolio]

- Greg Jones: invisible! Ottawa didn't rush a lot, but he's still normally far more involved. Miles came in for Isaac, but Jones played the whole game... didn't he?

Jones was substituted quite a few times from what I could tell, though those stupid unis didn't make it easy to tell. Maybe they tried to limit snaps for him (and others?) due to the short week before Edmonton.

Jones did make a really nice special teams tackle, or at least I think it was him (stupid unis!).

Argos were infuriating as they simply refused to run the ball. First three series that Kackert was in, they never handed him the ball once. I assume they were hoping he would be the decoy to attract all the attention. Just way too much reliance on the pass today.

Hard to justify that when you average only 2.8 yards per carry, easily our worst this year. If anything, 16 rushes was too many.

Crowd couldn't have been more than 10,000. Looks like it might be that way for every game other than the Riders and Ticats.

[Will]

Henry Burris had way too much time to throw the ball today, although the Argos did do a good job when it counted with getting pressure on him. Even on some of those long bombs there wasn't a significant problem with the coverage just nice plays by the Ottawa receiver. The Ottawa run game wasn't a significant factor.

Ottawa's defense is pretty good and I think people tend to forget that. Their schemes were pretty effective against our offensive line. The Argos could get nothing going on the ground and the Rough Riders really didn't allow anything deep, although busted coverage on those two TD's really do hurt. Also, great catch by Vidal Hazelton for the TD. In fact, Elliott, Gurley and Hazelton all got majors today. I agree that it was good to see Coombs get involved a bit, and I like Spencer although he'll probably lose the numbers game when Owens comes back.

The difference in this game was the special teams. Credit to the Argos defense in the 4th for pinning the Rough Riders deep. The Ottawa punter was brutal and although the Argos didn't take advantage of the field position (to any real extent) the ball was already well within Swayze range due to the no yards penalties. Conversely, Swayze Waters was great punting and the downfield coverage of Williams was quite excellent as well. I think I'm probably under appreciating the impact that McDonald's objectionable conduct penalty had as well.

The Argos are now 6-2 with 5 of their 6 wins being by less than 10 points. Someone mentioned the smoke and mirrors from 2010. My brain keeps turning to that, but remember that fortunately it isn't Cleo Lemon back there and the receivers are credible. It is about getting a bit of a running game going and the defense finding consistency. Two tough games await.

[Will]

On the visitor's side there was hardly enough of a queue for any such delay to take place.

[Ron]

Low attendance = zero cares. The problem is already solved and who cares of people can't be bothered to spend a min of $35 to go to the Dome.

As for the game. Thanks Ottawa for the penalties, Frankly the Argos are not as good as the two elite teams (Ham and Cal) and wouldn't be as good as Edmonton with Reilly. But they are better than most thought they would be. They play with grit and heart and that's worth a lot. (and helps make up for a Creehan defense)

Just imagine that Ottawa offense with Ray instead of Henry!

The broadcast was also cool. Really sounded like Dunigan had a bender last night.

[ArgoRavi]

Regarding Thomas Miles, he seemed to replace Greg Jones for a lengthy stretch of the game from sometime in the 2nd quarter through the 3rd quarter at least. I just assumed that Jones was hurt but then he was suddenly back on the field for the fourth quarter and playing special teams to boot.

There isn't much more to add about the game other than that the Argos are a resilient bunch. They were able to shift momentum after Ottawa took that 24-17 lead and never relinquished it. Yes, Ottawa took a stupid penalty but the Argos made them pay. The offence looked very good in the first half but struggled in the second half. Ultimately, Swayze Waters was the difference in this game.

[paulwoods13]

Miles played a lot. Jones did not appear to be hurt as he was on the sidelines with his helmet on, and he still came in on special teams and also spotted in on D. IMO he and Greenwood have been far and away our best and most consistent defenders so I am guessing the coaching staff just wanted to get some PT for Miles who has potential to become a longterm starter. With four minutes left and Ottawa deep in its own end, the Argos had SIX NATs on D: Miles, Greenwood, Waud, Foley, Laing and Gabriel. Made the stop that led to our last FG.

Remember how some were suggesting we should keep Pfeffer over Waters because Pfeffer is a NAT. Yesterday we got a reminder of why that would be a stupid idea. Btw my daughter saw a guy who looked a lot like Pfeffer, wearing a Laurier hat, in the west side concourse.

[mchesher03]

my thoughts:
- Prefontaine was on the home side outside section 109 before the game. He looks good and hasn't aged much.
- Cummings had 2 huge sacks just when we needed them. our D line also drew a bunch of holding penalties which are basically sacks in my book.
- who cares about attendance? I struggle to think of times I've had more fun at football games then yesterday and the Sask game (yesterday was better - fewer flags). Fun, the fans were into it and to be honest I'll make noise on defence whether it makes a difference or not (i'm sure it doesn't 99% of the time).
- we are off to our best start since the flutie years, let that sink in a little. we also have played a brutal schedule so far with essentially 2 home games. just enjoy it for what it is. yes i'd love to see certain things happen but what a ride this has been - 5 straight home wins even!

[Argo]

Remember how some were suggesting we should keep Pfeffer over Waters because Pfeffer is a NAT. Yesterday we got a reminder of why that would be a stupid idea. Btw my daughter saw a guy who looked a lot like Pfeffer, wearing a Laurier hat, in the west side concourse.

Everybody agrees that Pfeffer did a nice job (including Milanovich), but no one on this board ever suggested retaining Pfeffer in preference to Waters. That would simply be Pfsilly