My mother came down to visit the family and amidst all the activity, I forgot they were playing. Can't. Believe. I. Missed. This. Game. However, this was the type of game where I probably would have been hate-posting the whole time, calling for several firings, and ultimately turned off during the 3rd quarter in disgust.

Streamed the game this morning. This game got out of reach very quickly, and coming back to win it bordered on a miracle. We always seem to spot the other team 12 - 14 points in the first four of five minutes of the first quarter. Every game, this seems to happen. Until our guys stop sleeping through the first half of the first quarter, we're not going to win a lot of games.

I actully thought the defense played a pretty good game, overall. Shutting down the run game was huge, but even the secondary was alright. The opposing receivers weren't as wide open as they usually are. Even when their receivers made a big catch, one of our guys was usually in his hip pocket. I'll take that any day over the Stubler-esque bend-and-then-break garbage we've been seeing lately. For the first time, I thought Darby was a little soft at times. Love Trumaine Washington's tackles in the open field. Defense gave up two touchdowns, but I think Abdul Kanneh was to blame for those more than the defense as a while. Although he had an interception, Kanneh was still bad. Based on Darby's reaction, I think Kanneh screwed up his assignment on the first Ottawa touchdown, and then his pull on the opposing receiver's wrist led directly to the second touchdown. Take Kanneh out of the equation, and it's a pretty good night for the defense. Better yet, take Kanneh out... period.

Blame for the first half struggles lies squarely with the offense and special teams. I noticed later in the game Wilder wasn't doing to eagle claw on his carries and I wonder if that factored into his fumble. The flubbed Martese Jackson punt reception was disheartening, though easily correctable. Eiben needs to clean up the special teams coverage. What is with this team and short yardage? I've never seen a team stopped so often on third and short. I miss Fajardo.

Great to see SJ Green come back to life. No kudos to those of you smugly saying "haw haw, you thought SJ lost a step, eh?" Sorry, Captain Hindsight; there was nothing from SJ's performance in the first six games to suggest that a night like this was in the cards, with the third-string QB, no less. I like Malcolm Williams and think he's coming along. Noel took some (deserved) flack for clock management at the end of the first half, but at least he caught the damn ball and managed to accumulate some yack yards. On this team during this season, I'll take it (just work on your timing!). Rodney Smith had a quiet game, but that's more an indication of the other receivers doing well.

Now to MacLeod Bethel-Thompson. His running ability was a big surprise; everything I read about him made him sound like a pocket passer with a cannon. Given our hot-and-cold O-line, this made me nervous. I agree with one of the earlier posters that he needs to feet-first slide more often if wants to stay healthy. I like the guy, but I'm not breaking out the champagne for a few reasons: 1) It was his first game. I remember thinking Dan LeFevour was going to be our answer at QB in 2016 after he was lights out in his first game. You've ruined my ability to trust, Dan LeFevour!!! On the other hand, he had his greatest success in the second half, so it's not like he hit the other team in the mouth when they didn't know what to expect, and then get shut down once the other team adjusted. Makes me a little more optimistic that he can be successful once the other teams have him on film. 2) Ottawa penalties (some of which looked pretty marginal on TV) kept our offense on the field a lot in the second half, which must have been a big factor in getting MBT into a rhythm. Can MBT keep the offense on the field without the ref's assistance? I don't know.... 3) There was A LOT of going for it on 3rd down in the fourth quarter, and MBT deserves some credit for keeping the drives going. However, in order to have a chance in most of our games, we need our QB to get 10 yards in two downs rather than 3. Until he does, we're always going to be trying to claw our way back in the fourth, and we might not be so lucky next time. 4) MBT needs to work on his soft touch on those 5 - 8 yrd crossing and outlet passes. A few times, the ball was thrown so hard at Edwards and Noel that the ball bounced of their hands/face and high into the air. He was lucky they didn't turn into INTs. Anyways, I like the guy and I'm happy for him, but I predict he'll have a tougher time in his next game or two.

Overall, despite the disastrous first quarters that we've come to expect from this team, they put together a good game in the final 19 minutes. Some might even say a great game. Win going into the bye against a divisional opponent was key. Hopefully we get some injured players back over the next two weeks and a suitable replacement can be found for Kanneh.

Two other notes:

1) Did anybody else notice TSN making an obvious effort to find attractive women in the crowd and give them screen time? This is along the lines of something I've been saying for years as an outside-the-box way to improve the profile of this team in the city. The Argos need more cute team merch geared towards 18 - 35 yr old women, and then get them posting those cute selfies wearing team merch to their social media. I'm convinced that this was a big help in the Blue Jays resurgence. Anybody notice that young cute girls like going to Blue Jay games? They don't just show up either, they're decked out in jays cap and top as well. And they spend a good chunk of the game taking selfies and posting on social media for all their friends to see. The Argos need to get into this business. Better merch for cute girls, and entice some of those popular female Instagram models and bloggers to come to a game and tell everybody what a great time they had. I believe it'll pay off in the long run.

2) I've detected some exasperation (particularly from Argofans.com) with the negative tone that often surfaces in the gameday threads during the game. I admit I'm probably one of the worst offenders. I hope nobody takes this as disliking or hating the team. Speaking for myself, it's a way to cope when things are going poorly. Watching the team you love playing inept football at home during important games can have lasting negative consequences for the future of this team in the city. It's hard to watch, and the critical posting helps deal with the frustration. Speaking for myself and the other sometimes-negative-nancys, we greatly appreciate having this forum as a place to congregate and experience this team, good or bad.