Eastern Final: Montreal Alouettes @ Toronto Argonauts

[Antwon]

My two cents.
Dinwiddie was out coached. The two third down play calls were horrid. The out coached may have started in Sept when they locked up first place. It all looked good resting players and they still won. But they may have lost the competitive edge. Who knows?
Kelly simply crapped the bed. He made decisions to throw that was pop warner level. MAYBE he should have played against a WPG team that needed the win. Because he folded under the pressure. This should all be analyzed in the coming weeks.
I still believe in this team, coach and QB. But they have to learn from this and come back next year with a chip on the shoulder.

[Antwon]

Also, I'm sure Chad's uncle will be talking to him tonight and asking "WTF were you thinking!!!!"

[kellynjk]

I do kind of feel badly for Kelly as he had an exceptional season, but as far as this season, he will be remembered mostly for the bad game he played today. But agree that despite the loss, they are so many positives from this team, so they will be back next season with a vengeance!!

[OV Argo]

My two cents.
Dinwiddie was out coached. The two third down play calls were horrid. The out coached may have started in Sept when they locked up first place. It all looked good resting players and they still won. But they may have lost the competitive edge. Who knows?
Kelly simply crapped the bed. He made decisions to throw that was pop warner level. MAYBE he should have played against a WPG team that needed the win. Because he folded under the pressure. This should all be analyzed in the coming weeks.
I still believe in this team, coach and QB. But they have to learn from this and come back next year with a chip on the shoulder.

The 2 predictable QB sneaks by Kelly that got stuffed for turn-over, when you have a big power back like Ouellette was standard CFL same old stuff - a bit disappointed in coach D for that.

Kelly might have been pulled just for one series to try to get his head together, but a raw rookie QB instead could have made bone-head plays as well. A bit more run game when Ouellette was rumbling well early would have been smart too - but a lot of same old CFL offence instead.

[jerrym]

Kelly might have been pulled just for one series to try to get his head together, but a raw rookie QB instead could have made bone-head plays as well.

I've been nervous all season long about not having a veteran backup both in terms of a possible Kelly injury and because of him playing a clunker with no veteran alternative to play even a few downs so Kelly can see how the D is operating.

[kellynjk]

I've been nervous all season long about not having a veteran backup both in terms of a possible Kelly injury and because of him playing a clunker with no veteran alternative to play even a few downs so Kelly can see how the D is operating.

Yeah the guys calling the game said the same thing - that Kelly was having an "off game" and do you go with an inexperienced back-half" instead. Noted that's why you want some depth with the quarterbacks, including the back-ups!

[OV Argo]

After watching the Lions/Bombers, I belive the Als have a very good shot to win the GC. Collaros without Schoen as a good weapon is limited; and they might not ride Oliveira enough - they did not stick with him as much in the 2nd half and BC stayed in the game. Als have a better D than BC IMO, and if they get the big turn-overs, return game success they had today - they can win the GC

[Will]

I just don't know what to say after that. We all thought that Chad Kelly might have a stinker at some point during the season, and Murphy's Law seemed to dictate that it happened today. He just couldn't recover from that pick-six thrown to Dequoy on the first drive. That sequence during the third quarter was just mind-boggling. I thought there might be a glimmer of home when they made it 24-10, but then the special teams gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown.

This 2023 team may be the best Argo team to not win the Grey Cup, but make no mistake, they go in the column with the 1969, 1971 and 1988 teams.

[ArgoRavi]

Obviously, this is an extremely disappointing result today but Pinball said back in 2019 when he took over that the goal was to have a team which can contend every year, even if they don't win the Grey Cup every year and he seems to have accomplished that. There's no reason to believe that this team won't be a contender once again in 2024.

As far as today's game went, the defence played a phenomenal game and I don't have one bit of blame for them. They gave up just 17 points and 14 of those came when Montreal took over the ball deep in Toronto territory after turnovers. Even then, the defence had the Montreal offence off the field on one of those occasions until Oakman took an unfortunate, though legitimate, roughing penalty on the long-snapper.

On the kickoff return TD, there was a missed block to the back of Jonathan Jones, but you can't challenge that.

This loss is really hung on the offence and mostly on Chad Kelly who had, by far, his worst game of the season - his only bad game - at the worst time of the season. He made a bad decision on the Dequoy INT at the start of the game when he should have just handed the ball to Ouellette and, after an impressive drive, he just seemed rattled and off. His internal clock was clearly broken on the fumble near the end of the first half, after the McFadden INT, and then the wheels fell off in the third quarter with consecutive interceptions on the the first three possessions. He just was pressing too hard and making bad decisions that he hadn't made all season. He will learn from this experience and move forward and will have this team back in contention in 2024. I am calling it already - the Argos will play BC in next year's Grey Cup game in Vancouver.

Otherwise, I don't blame Kelly on the third down and short gambles that failed. They shouldn't have been doing a QB sneak on 3rd and 2 inside the Montreal 5. The offensive line, on both of those plays, just didn't get the push that they normally do either. That resulted in Kelly just pressing more and more and making more and more mistakes.

It is unfortunate that the Argos didn't have a veteran backup QB to spell Kelly, even for a series or two in the third quarter, but, again, there was nobody out there. They were interested in Dane Evans but he was traded to BC by the Ticats and they tried to sign Cody Fajardo but he chose the guaranteed starting job in Montreal instead. Next year, Dukes may be a better option in those situations, with a year under his belt, but that option just wasn't there this year.

Nobody feels worse tonight that either Chad Kelly or Ryan Dinwiddie but they will use this loss as motivation through the off-season and will be back in 2024 with a vengeance.

Did it suck to lose before over 26,600 at BMO? For sure, it did, but it isn't the end of the world. The Argos, almost certainly, will see an increase in season ticket sales and attendance in 2024 and continue to build this franchise up. There are lots of good times ahead in the upcoming years for us all to look forward to. For now, we will lick our collective wounds but eventually come to appreciate what an incredible season 2023 was.

[Rich]

The out coached may have started in Sept when they locked up first place. It all looked good resting players and they still won. But they may have lost the competitive edge. Who knows?

To me there’s no question this was an issue. Kelly looked like he was still playing in safe mode not wanting to get hurt. He didn’t take off with the ball until the second half when it was too late.

The Kelly we saw earlier in the season loved running with the ball, it not only seemed to fire him up and get him completely engaged in the game, but it was very effective. That wasn’t the same guy we saw last night.

The coach needed to recognize that and maybe call some QB draws or bootlegs to try kick-start Chad’s mojo. Or anything to shake things up a bit. I didn’t see much of an adjustment at all in the 2nd half.

[Rich]

Did it suck to lose before over 26,600 at BMO? For sure, it did, but it isn't the end of the world. The Argos, almost certainly, will see an increase in season ticket sales and attendance in 2024 and continue to build this franchise up. There are lots of good times ahead in the upcoming years for us all to look forward to. For now, we will lick our collective wounds but eventually come to appreciate what an incredible season 2023 was.

As long as the Argos keep winning a lot of games, attendance will keep growing slowly but surely. They’ve never had a run of sustained excellence lasting years, and I think we’re going to see how that’s the very best thing the Argos could ever do to build their fan base.

[ArgoRavi]

As long as the Argos keep winning a lot of games, attendance will keep growing slowly but surely. They’ve never had a run of sustained excellence lasting years, and I think we’re going to see how that’s the very best thing the Argos could ever do to build their fan base.

I honestly don't think that winning or losing this game will ultimately have much long-term impact on attendance. The bottom line is that they got almost 27k to attend and I suspect that, at some level, most had a good time in spite of the result; however, the plan on building the attendance steadily and sustainably remains the same. If they can grow attendance next year as much as they did this year, the average will be in the 16k to 17k range. Within a year or two of that, we are looking at 20k and on and it goes from there.

["Issues"Mcgee]

I don't know what to say. That game was a load of horse hockey.

[Will]

Ben Grant's thoughts on the game.

He is bang on here:

This was a missed opportunity for the Argonauts organization. A big win, or even an exciting performance on par with any of their other home games this season, would have gone a long way towards winning over thousands of new fans and potential future season ticket holders.

[Argo57]

A pretty much dead on summary of yesterday’s loss by Ben Grant.

https://3downnation.com/2023/11/11/c...s-to-montreal/

[paulwoods13]

To me there’s no question this was an issue. Kelly looked like he was still playing in safe mode not wanting to get hurt. He didn’t take off with the ball until the second half when it was too late.

The Kelly we saw earlier in the season loved running with the ball, it not only seemed to fire him up and get him completely engaged in the game, but it was very effective. That wasn’t the same guy we saw last night.

The coach needed to recognize that and maybe call some QB draws or bootlegs to try kick-start Chad’s mojo. Or anything to shake things up a bit. I didn’t see much of an adjustment at all in the 2nd half.

Bang on. But that shouldn't have waited until the second half. The one thing Kelly has that his predecessor lacked is mobility. Designed running plays by the QB would have caused a huge issue for Mtl's defence. Instead, they were able to focus on stopping Ouellette and covering an Argo receiving corps that is talented but lacks speed. RD has not always made the best decisions on play calling, and yesterday was another example of that.

[RB957]

Obviously, this is an extremely disappointing result today but Pinball said back in 2019 when he took over that the goal was to have a team which can contend every year, even if they don't win the Grey Cup every year and he seems to have accomplished that. There's no reason to believe that this team won't be a contender once again in 2024.

As far as today's game went, the defence played a phenomenal game and I don't have one bit of blame for them. They gave up just 17 points and 14 of those came when Montreal took over the ball deep in Toronto territory after turnovers. Even then, the defence had the Montreal offence off the field on one of those occasions until Oakman took an unfortunate, though legitimate, roughing penalty on the long-snapper.

On the kickoff return TD, there was a missed block to the back of Jonathan Jones, but you can't challenge that.

This loss is really hung on the offence and mostly on Chad Kelly who had, by far, his worst game of the season - his only bad game - at the worst time of the season. He made a bad decision on the Dequoy INT at the start of the game when he should have just handed the ball to Ouellette and, after an impressive drive, he just seemed rattled and off. His internal clock was clearly broken on the fumble near the end of the first half, after the McFadden INT, and then the wheels fell off in the third quarter with consecutive interceptions on the the first three possessions. He just was pressing too hard and making bad decisions that he hadn't made all season. He will learn from this experience and move forward and will have this team back in contention in 2024. I am calling it already - the Argos will play BC in next year's Grey Cup game in Vancouver.

Otherwise, I don't blame Kelly on the third down and short gambles that failed. They shouldn't have been doing a QB sneak on 3rd and 2 inside the Montreal 5. The offensive line, on both of those plays, just didn't get the push that they normally do either. That resulted in Kelly just pressing more and more and making more and more mistakes.

It is unfortunate that the Argos didn't have a veteran backup QB to spell Kelly, even for a series or two in the third quarter, but, again, there was nobody out there. They were interested in Dane Evans but he was traded to BC by the Ticats and they tried to sign Cody Fajardo but he chose the guaranteed starting job in Montreal instead. Next year, Dukes may be a better option in those situations, with a year under his belt, but that option just wasn't there this year.

Nobody feels worse tonight that either Chad Kelly or Ryan Dinwiddie but they will use this loss as motivation through the off-season and will be back in 2024 with a vengeance.

Did it suck to lose before over 26,600 at BMO? For sure, it did, but it isn't the end of the world. The Argos, almost certainly, will see an increase in season ticket sales and attendance in 2024 and continue to build this franchise up. There are lots of good times ahead in the upcoming years for us all to look forward to. For now, we will lick our collective wounds but eventually come to appreciate what an incredible season 2023 was.

Very well written.

I take my hat off to the Alouettes. They played a great game. Kind of remind me of the 2012 Argonauts, who were 9 - 9 and not expected to contend. But then got hot and just believed in themselves and won it all in spectacular fashion. When a team finds their mojo, and believes in themselves, anything can happen.

I also feel bad for Kelly, but every great player gets humbled in their careers and brought back down to earth, so to speak. In the long run, this will probably be good for him, it just sucked that it had to happen yesterday. Still, not the end of the world. Lots to feel good about regarding this franchise.

[Stevoman]

This feels like 2005 again, only worse. It has been so rare for the Argos to capitalize on a championship winning season and this year they did, even improving their record. They did the same thing in 2005 and just like that year they lose in the Eastern Final to the Alouettes. The Argos followed that loss with 2 more seasons of being a very competitive football team and I expect these Argos to come back strong as well. As much as a back to back championship would've been amazing, it was vitally important that the 2023 Argos be a strongly competitive and winning team. They accomplished that and for that I'm happy...but to lose in this fashion after such a great season is extremely painful and frustrating. I guess I should've seen it coming when I saw that they were going to have their largest crowd at BMO, that's usually the game where the Argos crap the bed.

[Will]

This feels like 2005 again, only worse. It has been so rare for the Argos to capitalize on a championship winning season and this year they did, even improving their record. They did the same thing in 2005 and just like that year they lose in the Eastern Final to the Alouettes. The Argos followed that loss with 2 more seasons of being a very competitive football team and I expect these Argos to come back strong as well. As much as a back to back championship would've been amazing, it was vitally important that the 2023 Argos be a strongly competitive and winning team. They accomplished that and for that I'm happy...but to lose in this fashion after such a great season is extremely painful and frustrating. I guess I should've seen it coming when I saw that they were going to have their largest crowd at BMO, that's usually the game where the Argos crap the bed.

There are three Argo coaches (O'Billovich, Clemons and Milanovich) who had Grey Cup victories early in their tenure (Pinball was more to the middle I guess), but failed to build on that. I guess the jury is still out on Dinwiddie.

[OV Argo]

For CFL historians: when was the last time a play-off game like that featured 2 teams wearing their main color uniforms, and not with one team having to wear mostly or half white unis ? Maybe it's happened lots in the past, but I don't recall; and I found that feature striking right from the start on TV.

Looking for more bad luck/curse type things to pin the loss on - like the 16 & 2 curse. ;o)