July 14th 2012: Toronto Argonauts vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats

[dmont]

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Couldn't get all three phases of the game firing at once. Special teams took the first quarter off, and we never recovered. By the time they showed up, both the offense and defense were gassed and couldn't do anything down the stretch.

It goes without saying that the special teams were awful. Awful awful awful awful awful. Embarassing. Shameful. Unprofessional.

Jason Barnes was terrible. I now know exactly who to bench when Maurice Mann is healthy.

I got very tired of seeing Owens begging the refs for pass interference flags. If he played better, he wouldn;'t need the flags. I wonder if he's being stretched too thin.

Patrick Watkins was pretty bad in the first half, he looked very disoriented on two Hamilton touchdowns, both scored by his man.

Very nervous about our kicking situation. And our red zone play. Would like to see both sorted out, but at least one of those needs to be FIXED before we have any shot at winning some games.

[1argoholic]

I was affraid with all of our changes we'd have some serious growing pains. I just didn't think our oldest player would look like our oldest player. Plus our special teams aren't so special and I still think we lack a star receiver. We don't have a burner who can get deep and open. Chad Owens is being worked to death and it's only the end of week three. If we don't beat Winnipeg on Wed we're in trouble with the following games against Montreal and then BC.
I still think Owens left knee was down followed by his right as the ball came loose. What can you expect from Jake Ireland who's has always been known as a TO hater. He was as an official on the field and now that drunk gets us from a booth of tv's. I couldn't believe he could possibly see enough to overturn that Barnes diving catch which was ruled a catch on the field. His hands were under the frigging ball.
We're giving up way too many points and Montreal and BC will burn us. Oh well I hope we're better than the 5 or 6 win team I called way back when.

[DanTheFan]

Hearing those "Argos Suck" chants today, I was reminded of how much I hate it when any fan base starts chants of "(team name) sucks" or "(player name) sucks" at a game (inclusive of the likes of A-Rod in baseball or Vince Carter in basketball), even if it's from my fan base and directed at an opposing team. Sure I'll occasionally throw down some boos when attending a game, but I usually same my multi-syllabic chants to give support to my team or a player. Am I alone on this?

[Fungi]

What exactly were you expecting. Just wondering.

[AngeloV]

I didn't like the Argos simply kneeling on the last play even though it could not have decided the game. Send a message by always trying. If you are worried about a possible injury to Ray send out Harris to give a small feel for CFL football in the regular season by having him try a pass, even a short one.

Disagree completely. No chance would I risk an injury when there is no mathematic chance of a comeback.

[gilthethrill]

Well, it was an exciting game, but it figures the Hamilton D, which has been awful this season, would step it up somewhat against the Argos. Played well enough to win, but a dozen or so plays really scuttled it. Cory Boyd should be nicknamed "Bruiser".....

Will be interesting to see what happens with Ken Yon Rambo when he is cleared to play..also noticed Julien Fedio-Gudieno (sp) on the sidelines tonight....also met argofan1 & argoholics at the game...also survived getting hit in the back with a beer can for the first time....

[Stevoman]

Alright. Down 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. Momentum killing TD against them at the end of the first half. 2 missed field goals and 4 times inside the red without a TD and they still clawed their way back to be only down by 2 late in the 4th. Impressive. Some players could've jumped ship and gave up but these guys didn't. While I hate it when we lose, I was proud of them for keeping on fighting. Yes, special teams suck right now and our O couldn't get enough TD's (our field goal unit should be amazing with all of the game time they get!) while our D couldn't hold them at the end. But I am still encouraged and know that the Argos will be in every game they play this season which will be entertaining. Kudo's to McCullogh for his pick and for Boyd's great game! Redemption will come on Wednesday.

[Argocister]

It was an exciting game, and I'm glad the Argos could mount a comeback.
I think we lost the game rather than the Ticats winning it.
I don't know what was up with Barnes. Miscommunication or butter fingers.
Boyd, I thought , ran better in the second half.
Owens had 1 or 2 of those type of games last year....... I hope that's the last one. He usually makes up for it though the next game.
Four field goals that could've been... Two missed field goals that could've been..... I know it's could've would've , but it's better than last year . This year there is evidence of the team getting better...... Now special teams....... They will have to prove it.
Our stats were good...... But that's of no use unless we get the W.....
Work hard players, fix those mistakes and lets get another home Win.

Did Ricky Ray reach his Passing milestone? I don't know if they mentioned at the game or not. The PA system at Ivor Wynn is awful.

[1argoholic]

Nice also that on a 32c day that the Argos locker room had no AC. They had to scramble to rent something to cool the room which was at least 10 degrees hotter than outside. F ing class move by Hamilton. No wonder the team looked sluggish. Can you imagine how hot and steamy those crappy little rooms would get. They showed a picture of the tomb during the game. I say turn the water off when they hit TO.

I guess Pre got hurt on the missed fieldgoal that was returned. I heard it was his feelings. hahaha. I kill me.

Gil so you met my buddy Finn. He called here saying pick up the phone I have someone you have to talk to at one point.

[Will]

Where is the source for the information that the Argos' locker room had no A/C? Was this mentioned on the TSN broadcast? Are we proposing this as an excuse for the loss because special teams coverage were also brutal last week when there was plenty of A/C! That's really what this game comes down to the missed FG return and the punt return TD. Burris didn't play particularly well and the D kept Hamilton in control for much of the game. I was impressed with the containment of Walker for much of the game. I think DT Cohen got hurt, which seemed to me to be right around the time that Burris got those two big gains that set up the Ticats clinching TD. The Argos D might have been simply gassed by that point too.

I feel sorry for Cory Boyd because he played his guts out in the second half. Like dmont said, Chad Owens annoyed me, firstly with the fumble and then with the complaining about a non-call. I know certain aspects of his play had annoyed people as early as last year, but I find myself starting to agree with those people to a certain extent. Also, poor Inman is our only deep threat, somebody has got to help him!! Watt seems to being utilized as a shorter to intermediate range receiver. Ricky Ray didn't play well in the fourth quarter at all. We need to improve that red zone offense bad!

In summary, although the Argos brought the score to 29-27 the way I see it now is that the Argos just didn't do enough while Hamilton did just enough to stay ahead. Prefontaine's miss hurt really bad and it appears he was injured. If so, a kicker needs to be brought in (if Pre's injury is long term) as I do not trust Alix on FG's. The special teams need to clean up their act or else O'Shea might need to beg Crawford to come back although he might not be all of the problem. I'd like to say a lot of the mistakes are fixable, so fix them! Last year, some insisted that was the problem here in the early going, but things were never fixed and we ended up 6-12.

EDIT: The o-line was fine for a lot of the night and Ray simply threw some bad passes. Wayne Smith got beaten very badly on one play though. Gagne-Marcoux got hurt and I don't know if he returned or not.

[1argoholic]

They showed the locker room and talked about it on the telecast as well as on Slam there's an article about it. The room felt like it was ten degrees hotter than outside. That's just cheap tatics as far as I'm concerned.

I still can't see how they called Owens fumble that when his left knee was down. Also calling that Barnes catch back after it was called a catch was horrible. There was no view that they showed in which that should be over turned. I hate Jake Ireland.

[Will]

They showed the locker room and talked about it on the telecast as well as on Slam there's an article about it. The room felt like it was ten degrees hotter than outside. That's just cheap tatics as far as I'm concerned.

I still don't want to use it as an excuse. As I said before, (i) field goals instead of touchdowns and (ii) poor special teams coverage were something that was evident last week against Calgary.

[anthonyrussell]

I didn't manage to stay up sadly but got up and quickly watched the highlights before bunkering down to watch the replay but when 2 of the main highlights are the special teams failing to do the job on kick returns, this really needs addressing and quickly.
OK the Bombers are coming in 0-3 and Buck seems to get broken like a bad, plastic spork at the moment but all it needs is more poor blocking and Demond Washington making some decent returns to give Winnipeg some confidence which they don't need to be given for free.

Scoreboards don't lie sadly. Regroup and go again on Wednesday.

[marcwagz]

Boyd is a beast
168 yards rushing.
A couple passes were off but really we dominated the play the entire second half...
Why did we lose? Missed easy field goals and special teams coverage, along with failing to connect in the red zone.

All this talk of Rambo and Mann, I don't know who we'd take out of the receiving core for them to come in.
Definately not Durie, I doubt they would take out Owens, Barnes hasn't been great but will they really take out their prized off season acquisition? Watt had a good game and has caught all his passes. Inman seems to have a big reception every game...

So who do we get rid of?

[Will]

Did DT Joseph Cohen return to the game? I felt that the d-line was doing a nice job of containing the Ticats running attack all night until right around the time when he was injured. That was when Burris was able to take off for two long gains that set up the TD that clinched the game for the Ticats. The D might have also been gassed at that point, but that might have been a factor as well. Again, I felt that the D played well enough to allow the Argos to win yesterday, but the offense and special teams just weren't able to keep pace.

Regarding, the A/C the article in the Sun states that the Argos learned about the problems prior to the game. Does that mean that the Argos locker room staff or whatever arrived at the locker room to set up or something and discovered this or were they informed by the Ivor Wynne staff beforehand. The problem is that while many people here we'll attribute malicious intent here, we don't have any clear-cut evidence that supports that theory.

[argotom]

Just like most here have said, my summary is similar on the game.
Boyd is awesome, Inman is the go to guy with Durie while Barnes and Pre were horrible and should be cut.
The offense has to get better in the red zone while the special teams let the team down and need a new scheme.

[1argoholic]

Pre has obviously been injured and Barnes got ripped off on a sweet diving catch that was called a catch. Jake the ArgodomeArgodomeArgodomeArgodomeArgodomeArgodomeAr godome overturned that call when there was no real evidence to overturn it. Owens had his left knee down and that should not have been a fumble. Jake will always go against TO and always has.

What the hell happened to my post? I never wrote that argodome shit.

[Will]

Just like most here have said, my summary is similar on the game.
Boyd is awesome, Inman is the go to guy with Durie while Barnes and Pre were horrible and should be cut.
The offense has to get better in the red zone while the special teams let the team down and need a new scheme.

Pretty knee-jerk reaction on Barnes.

[1argoholic]

I think Barnes will be ok. He's shown that he has no issue or fear in going after the ball. Your bound to drop a few when your up in the air going for a ball and getting nailed. He does not here footsteps. He'll be fine I'm sure.

[argonaut11xx]

The Argo's will be fine this year...as long as they sort out the major issues on special teams....

In hindsight im REALLY glad that the Argo's did NOT consider Mike O'Shea for the head coaching spot....