just....wow
Feel bad for Kamar Jorden, as that's his Leon McQuay moment, and he didn't deserved to have his teammate throw him up the bus.
Funny thing is, that play, McDaniel's reaction, and Bo's pick, are perfect reasons as to why the Stamps have lost the last two Grey Cup. Perennial chokers because their not much of a "team".
- Jorden fumbled, and yet both Mitchell and McDaniel gave of on chasing Vaughan down, McDaniel showed no better than throwing his teammate under the bus, nor do I see him blame Mitchell for the pick, and even Dickenson seemed more po'd about the pick.
- Mitchell instead of going for the smart play of centering the field for Paredes, went for the great big kill shot for Grey Cup infamy. Last year he was so pissed because he wanted the ball in his hands instead of having Buckley out there near the goal line, I get it, and you do want your top guys to want the ball, but it just seems more arrogant than team first coming from Mitchell. So, he gets the ball this round, and doesn't go throw his reads, doesn't read the defense, and decides that he wants to win the game, not for the team, but his own Glory.
Can anyone here see guys like Ray, Ball, Woods, Van Zeyl, etc, blame anyone of their teammates if they were to lose ? I doubt it.
Was Ricky complaining because Fajardo's the one who scored the game winning drive touchdown ? Nope.
I am still in disbelief today. What a great game.
I never made a prediction on here before the game, but I really didn't think the Argos would win this game. I thought it was just a bad match up for them due to the troubles the Stamps D-Line gives the Argos. Boy, am I glad I was wrong. What an unbelievable finish.
Some random thoughts:
Ricky Ray must have no pulse. Nothing seems to ever bother the guy. What an awesome leader.
A special thanks to Jim Barker for bringing in DeVier Posey among others that contributed. So easy to forget some of the key members of the team that previous regimes are responsible for.
At the beginning of the season, I wondered if Marcus Ball would be the player he was 4 years ago. IMO, he was actually better.
Unbelievable job of fixing the secondary this season. Look forward to seeing Quadarius Ford in the years to come.
I really felt for 2 Calgary players yesterday. Kamar Jordan and Jarome Messam.
Jordan, not for the fumble, but for the idiotic comments from Marquay McDaniel afterwards. Never mind the fact that he scored a TD, set up another by drawing PI, and put the team in position to tie or win at the end with a great catch. McDaniel is an idiot, plain and simple. A guy that averaged 5.8 yards per reception, had a drop, and failed to hustle when chasing Vaughan on the fumble return (in watching again, when Vaughan was forced to turn back in, a hustling McDaniel would have had a good chance to make the tackle) should really shut the hell up.
Messam wears his emotions on his sleeves, and the camera shot of him balling after the game, really made me feel bad for him.
It's us vs the rest of the country
Maybe, but i certainly did not see that; Laing did little for the RedBlacks other than maybe be fairly solid at DT - what were the "huge" things he did in last year's GC? OTOH - he had a sack early in this GC game and also made a key play to hustle and then force the fumble on Jorden, resulting in a fumble return TD - which IMO was the biggest play of the game.
Part of it is on Mitchell, but IMO it is wayyyyyy more on the Stamps coaching staff & offensive play-callers (unless Bo was ignoring or over-ruling them?).
a) Stamps are driving and in position to kick a FG to go up 2 scores = game would have been over basically (IMO), but instead of playing it safe there, they throw a pass, out towards the sidelines (in danger) to a young receiver who tries to do too much and gets stripped for a TD the other way. HUGE play for the Argos and just plain dumb by the Stumps.
b) Stumps are driving again with a chance to kick the game tying FG, but they get overly aggressive, or thinking they are going for the kill, when really all they are doing is giving the Argos a chance to take the game away by throwing it deep into decent coverage; maybe this was Bo trying to be the hero to make up for last year's GC (when he was po'd that he did not get the ball instead of Buckley = you're being a selfish @$$-hat there in both cases); but the offensive coaches there should have just said - under no circumstances do you throw the ball unless a receiver is WIDE-open, or else they should have went to a run play with Messam or Finch, and maybe they run for a TD or at least set up the tying FG.
IMO - classic examples of DUMB, STUPID football coaching decisions - just like moron coaching gifted the over-rated Patriots 2 Super Bowl wins recently: Seattle throws a pass that gets picked off in the end-zone when they had a powerful RB who could have had 2 chances to just bash it in; and the Falcons have a chance to go up 2 scores with a FG, but they call a pass play that gets their QB sacked and out of FG range so they have to punt it away, DUMB !!!
And Jason Maas is now breathing again
I wonder how large the change in Stampeder personnel will be next year, not simply because they've lost 2 GCs in a row, but also by the lack of team cohesion as exemplified by McDaniel's comments concerning Jorden. The Argo's cohesion through thick and thin throughout this season was one of their keys in winning, as exemplified by Matt Black not badmouthing the coaches or teammates when he was cut. His maturity resulted in him being made a team captain. It must have been extremely satisfying for him to know his interception terminated Calgary's hopes.
Drake's Instagram posts on the Argo's Grey Cup win could help in developing new fans.
http://3downnation.com/2017/11/27/si...-win-grey-cup/Canadian music icon Drake watched Sunday’s Grey Cup with his hometown Toronto Argonauts winning the CFL’s championship game over the Calgary Stampeders.
Drake posted a story on his @champagnepapi Instagram account that included several clips from the TSN broadcast.
Well known as a fan of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors – Drake’s a team ambassador who often sits court side – Drizzy has over 38 million Instagram followers. His inclusion of the Argos on his social media potentially exposes them to a massively important demographic the team is trying to attract to BMO Field.
It was cold. It was snowing.
Being there though, what a thrill!
The footing was clearly an issue in the first half, but we now know that Danny Webb was prepared for that. The defence struggled for much of the night, but came up big when it counted.
I also bumped into Paul Woods at two separate en routes today.
TORONTO ARGONAUTS FOOTBALL CLUB
GREY CUP CHAMPIONS: 1914, 1921, 1933, 1937, 1938, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1952, 1983, 1991, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2012, 2017, 2022
A lot of people on the Leafs subreddit are commenting on the game, how they're "not normally Argo or CFL fans" but were "jumping around like a madman" during the fumble return. One guy said he "should start watching the CFL and supporting our Argos" which is great. Leaf fans are some of the least supportive of the other teams, especially the Argos so that's a good sign for sure. Hopefully they don't forget when next season starts up
Marner, Flutie and Theismann were tweeting and I've seen a couple of soccer fans burying the hatchet so maybe this is better than not winning right away. It's going to be interesting to see how all this plays out. How many will be at the parade, how many season tickets will be sold, what will happen to attendance next year, what will be the TV rating with Toronto in the game.
Last year ratings were about 3.9 million IIRC,this year, with the addition of Toronto, Shania and the exciting game, I'm hoping for a 5 million average audience. If that doesn't happen I honestly believe it will be because of the cord cutting and lack of interest in all mainstream sports. I don't think anything about the GC this year can be faulted.
So does Ray officially win the Ray-Collaros-Harris debate?
Bookmarks