Game thread -- Tor at Sask, rescheduled to Sunday, July 24

["Issues"Mcgee]

Two hard-fought wins against a good team and the Argos now have a hold of the East.

This Argos team has all the tools to play at an elite level, they just need to fix those dumb mistakes at offense. The defense is very good.

The next few weeks will be interesting.

[DanTheFan]

Ja'Gared Davis turned a TD into a FG.

That's the best one-man goal-line stand I've seen in a long time.

[argolio]

That's the best one-man goal-line stand I've seen in a long time.

Just one play in the grand scheme of things, but as good a one-on-one "who wants it more" battle you'll see in any football game, and, as it turned out, a very important play.

[kellynjk]

I guess the nearly 500 yards of offence had nothing to do with it. Argos O-Line was also really banged up. Plenty of teams have won in this league missing a bunch of starters. Hell, Argos were missing 2 starting receivers (for all games thus far) and their starting safety too.

I suppose a win is a win - but against a team that was without 10 regulars in their lineup is hardly a stunning victory. Yeah the Argos are great at yards of offence that lead to nothing - okay two touchdowns and the leaders in the East - they still need to improve a lot to be a real contender this season. Maybe they're first in the east but that's not saying much with how dazzling most of the Western Teams are this season!!

["Issues"Mcgee]

I suppose a win is a win - but against a team that was without 10 regulars in their lineup is hardly a stunning victory. Yeah the Argos are great at yards of offence that lead to nothing - okay two touchdowns and the leaders in the East - they still need to improve a lot to be a real contender this season. Maybe they're first in the east but that's not saying much with how dazzling most of the Western Teams are this season!!

Welcome to being a fan of the Toronto Argonauts.

[ArgoGabe22]

A win is a win but Dinwiddie’s decision making must not get a pass. I am in no way demanding his firing now but similar to Raptors and Casey, might be time to move on in the off-season if there is an upgrade available.

Also, is it not common sense just to move Blake to C now?

[AngeloV]

A win is a win but Dinwiddie’s decision making must not get a pass. I am in no way demanding his firing now but similar to Raptors and Casey, might be time to move on in the off-season if there is an upgrade available.

Also, is it not common sense just to move Blake to C now?

Mike O’Shea made terrible decision his first 2 years as a HC. He got better. Demanding Dinwiddie’s firing when he is 12-7 as a head coach is ridiculous. Who was the last Argo coach to have that good a record through his first 19 games? Please enlighten me.

[ArgoRavi]

Mike O’Shea made terrible decision his first 2 years as a HC. He got better. Demanding Dinwiddie’s firing when he is 12-7 as a head coach is ridiculous. Who was the last Argo coach to have that good a record through his first 19 games? Please enlighten me.

I think you would have to go back to the late Don Matthews in 1996-97.

[ArgoZ]

Mike O’Shea made terrible decision his first 2 years as a HC. He got better. Demanding Dinwiddie’s firing when he is 12-7 as a head coach is ridiculous. Who was the last Argo coach to have that good a record through his first 19 games? Please enlighten me.

Great example. I used it on Twitter. Dinwiddie has had his struggles, but I can list quite a few coaches, NFL hall of famers, who struggled in their early years. Coaches have to learn on the job.

[Will]

A win is a win but Dinwiddie’s decision making must not get a pass. I am in no way demanding his firing now but similar to Raptors and Casey, might be time to move on in the off-season if there is an upgrade available.

Also, is it not common sense just to move Blake to C now?

Why are we firing Dinwiddie in the offseason when we don't know what the final result of the year will be?

[ArgoGabe22]

Why are we firing Dinwiddie in the offseason when we don't know what the final result of the year will be?

I will repeat myself. Not demanding his firing, also key words include “might be time IF….”. There is obviously a lot that can happen and there are a lot of factors in play but point is, despite his record, despite winning, his poor decision making and personnel decisions should not be ignored or forgotten. Argos should have steam rolled Sask last night.

Especially if it continues happen and may be the cause of some important losses. Dwayne Casey was coach of the year and got fired in the same offseason. I know it’s early but the Argos need to make it to the Grey Cup.

How much of the wins is credited to coaching and not the fact that the East is weak?

[Tobin Rote]

Welcome to being a fan of the Toronto Argonauts.

Yeah... so unlike us to simply enjoy a win.

[paulwoods13]

That was one of the weirder games I can recall. We were somehow both exceedingly lucky to win, and eminently deserving of the victory.

Take away four or five serious mistakes, and we win by 30 points. Obviously we need to clean things up and start making fewer of those types of mistakes, and I am confident we will.

Despite the turnovers and two or three bad coaching decisions, we dominated both offensively and defensively (as we should have, given the lineup disparities). The defence forced tons of two and outs, and nine total punts. We had our hands on three or four passes that might have been intercepted. We got good pressure on the QB most of the time. Ja'Gared Davis played his best game as an Argo, and the interior of the line shut down the run.

Bethel-Thompson was on target for about 35 of his 38 passes. He had three or four easy catches dropped, and still completed 30. Gittens and Harris were utterly brilliant. I am so, so glad we got Harris -- the man is an absolute beast. We haven't had many RBs who give me so much confidence every single time they get the ball in their hands -- Fenerty and Drummond are the only ones that come to mind. Gittens is our best receiver, period. (And that's saying something because we have a good receiving corps.)

The o-line struggled when both Richards and Mackellar were in, but settled back down when Allen returned to the game. Putting Blake at LT and MacKellar at LG made the most sense, and it worked. That was MacKellar's best game, by far. I'd love to be able to move Blake to centre since Lawrence continues to struggle with snaps, but we are far too thin at tackle to do that. If Tate has to miss any games, I think we should start Blake at LT, play MacKellar or Churchill at LG and dress Kofi Appiah as a backup. That would require taking Polite out of the lineup, which would not be a huge loss IMO.

It was great to see one big punt return from Banks. As we move along in the season, his best chance of making an impact might be in the return game. If and when Rogers is healthy enough to play, I could see Banks being the odd man out (although we need to see if Daniels is going to miss any games). Despite the fact that Wright has done nothing to impress as a returner, I do not want to see him jettisoned -- we have given away too many guys who became excellent returners for other teams.

As for Dinwiddie, he's a conundrum. At halftime, I was thinking that if the Argos were to lose the game, a good case could be made to fire him. He has made -- and continues to make -- some egregious errors in his in-game decisions. But he has put together good game plans this year, for the most part, and we could easily be 4-and-1 based on how we have played. I look at it like this -- he is learning on the job how to be a head coach, and we are watching it all in real time, warts and all. I see no evidence he has lost the room, and it's going to take things going a lot worse than they are -- a LOT worse -- for his job to be on the line. This is not a Mike Faragalli situation.

[Rich]

Nobody would be complaining if Bede made the 61-yarder, and he came damn close. He boomed a kickoff into that endzone earlier in the quarter, so I don’t think it was an unreasonable decision to try the FG. The problem is that kick coverage and kick returns have been abysmal so far this year, and I guess Dinwiddie deserves his share of the blame for that if not for the decision to try the FG.

[argolio]

Nobody would be complaining if Bede made the 61-yarder, and he came damn close. He boomed a kickoff into that endzone earlier in the quarter, so I don’t think it was an unreasonable decision to try the FG. The problem is that kick coverage and kick returns have been abysmal so far this year, and I guess Dinwiddie deserves his share of the blame for that if not for the decision to try the FG.

I would, and wide right and a bit short is not damn close. Asking that many linemen to cover a missed FG is not worth the risk. It's not the same personnel as the punt cover team.

[ArgoGabe22]

Nobody would be complaining if Bede made the 61-yarder, and he came damn close. He boomed a kickoff into that endzone earlier in the quarter, so I don’t think it was an unreasonable decision to try the FG. The problem is that kick coverage and kick returns have been abysmal so far this year, and I guess Dinwiddie deserves his share of the blame for that if not for the decision to try the FG.

For some reason, despite many players coming and going as well as many different STCs, this has been a problem for years

[paulwoods13]

I would, and wide right and a bit short is not damn close. Asking that many linemen to cover a missed FG is not worth the risk. It's not the same personnel as the punt cover team.

As far as I could tell, there were just three o-liners on the field for that kick (Blake, Bladek and MacKellar). Everyone else was either a defender or a special teamer: Marion, Smith, Hoyte, Calver, Cross, Reinhart, Haggerty and Penney-Laryea (and Bede, of course).

[AngeloV]

Nobody would be complaining if Bede made the 61-yarder, and he came damn close. He boomed a kickoff into that endzone earlier in the quarter, so I don’t think it was an unreasonable decision to try the FG. The problem is that kick coverage and kick returns have been abysmal so far this year, and I guess Dinwiddie deserves his share of the blame for that if not for the decision to try the FG.

It was a terrible decision. The right call would have been to let the clock tick below 10 seconds and try and complete 10 yard pass, then try the FG. Worst case, turnover on downs and Riders have 1 play from mid field. A FG of that length should only be attempted if it’s to tie or take the lead on the last play of the game.

[AngeloV]

As far as I could tell, there were just three o-liners on the field for that kick (Blake, Bladek and MacKellar). Everyone else was either a defender or a special teamer: Marion, Smith, Hoyte, Calver, Cross, Reinhart, Haggerty and Penney-Laryea (and Bede, of course).

But Marion and Smith are lineman, just not on that side of the ball. It’s asking a lot of those guys to make the play. God knows Smith tried, but you can’t expect him to catch Alford in space. There were no DB’s or receivers out there so no speed to counter that of the returner.

[paulwoods13]

But Marion and Smith are lineman, just not on that side of the ball. It’s asking a lot of those guys to make the play. God knows Smith tried, but you can’t expect him to catch Alford in space. There were no DB’s or receivers out there so no speed to counter that of the returner.

Which speaks, in addition to the decision to try the kick, to the special teams coaching.