Toronto at Ottawa - June 20, 2026 - Game Thread

[Will]

Offence is cooking, obviously. More than 500 yards (again), and 44 points. Kelly for the most part looks as good as he ever did in 2023, although he makes questionable decisions from time to time.

Mital is gearing up for a monster season, At this early stage he's in the MOP conversation (along with several others). It's too bad Argos weren't able to lock him up for 2028 as well as 2027. (Naylor reported they agreed on a contract for 2028, with the salary contingent on that year's post-rights-deal cap, but the league refused to approve it.) Hopefully he wants to stay well beyond 2027.

Hicks looked good again, but is still under-utilized. Smith looks like a real keeper.

The defence played better than last week, and got a bit of pressure on the pass rush. I'm still waiting for a breakout performance from Pickett. John looked very solid at safety in relief of Priester, who I assume is gone for a long time.

At this point Argos look to be in the middle tier of the league, behind Ham, Sask, Mtl and (surprisingly) Edm, and ahead of Ott and B.C. Tough to get an early read on Cal and Wpg.

I think that's a fair read. I'm not ready to say that the Argos are a good team, but the possibilities are there. Saskatchewan on Friday will be a great test.

[Unplayable]

I was looking at the game stats.

The Argos were only 9 for 20 on second downs.

As TrueBlueGuy noted, the Argos had 9 penalties for 122 yards. Even considering the misconduct penalties that is a lot. I note when Edmonton beat Ottawa earlier, the Elks had 14 penalties for 142 yards.

Of some concern, the Argos only had two sacks, one with a 3 man rush. Ottawa is listed as having only 1 sack though I would have thought there were a couple more than that. Edmonton and Ottawa each had only 1 sack when they played earlier.

Hopefully these areas will be better next Friday.

[paulwoods13]

Of some concern, the Argos only had two sacks, one with a 3 man rush. Ottawa is listed as having only 1 sack though I would have thought there were a couple more than that. Edmonton and Ottawa each had only 1 sack when they played earlier.

In 10 games so far this year, there have been only 27 total sacks, or 1.35 per team per game. There has been only one game with as many as five sacks. I don't know why o-lines and offences seem to be winning the battle to date, but it's interesting to note what might be the beginning of a trend. In 2024 there were precisely four sacks per game, on average.

[ArgoRavi]

Of some concern, the Argos only had two sacks, one with a 3 man rush. Ottawa is listed as having only 1 sack though I would have thought there were a couple more than that. Edmonton and Ottawa each had only 1 sack when they played earlier.

In 10 games so far this year, there have been only 27 total sacks, or 1.35 per team per game. There has been only one game with as many as five sacks. I don't know why o-lines and offences seem to be winning the battle to date, but it's interesting to note what might be the beginning of a trend. In 2024 there were precisely four sacks per game, on average.

I wonder if continuity in the offence for most QBs in the league isn't a factor, as they're getting the ball out faster. The only new starting QB so far this year is Jake Maier in Ottawa.

[gilthethrill]

After a hectic weekend it's nice to finally post about Saturday afternoons game that I watched early around midnight Sunday morning. I was relieved to see Liram be perfect although he wasn't called upon to kick any long Field Goals. 2nd week in a row the Punt cover teams have created a turnover.It was frustrating to see Kelly with those Interceptions, but I seem to recall this isn't the first time he has done this, only to return to his normal self. Run Defense was tough, and Jake Maier could only get his squad into the endzone once.
A lot of points have been left on the field both games now, I think this will be corrected and the league will see a very dangerous team emerge, despite the schedule.

[RichK]

.It was frustrating to see Kelly with those Interceptions, but I seem to recall this isn't the first time he has done this, only to return to his normal self.

4TD and 4 INT is one crazy QB stat line I couldn’t recall ever seeing before. Google said Kelly did it once before against Montreal but that may be an AI hallucination? (It’s been done twice in the NFL in the last 20 years)

He’s still not game-sharp and I expect the bad reads to dwindle. I don’t like that he got hit so much, still lots or room for improvement on the line. And I’m not sure I like seeing him doing the short yardage. Makes me cringe every time.

Shoutout to Jeremiah Ojo’s best game as an Argo so far. He plays a lot like Robbie Smith.

[OV Argo]

.It was frustrating to see Kelly with those Interceptions, but I seem to recall this isn't the first time he has done this, only to return to his normal self.

4TD and 4 INT is one crazy QB stat line I couldn’t recall ever seeing before. Google said Kelly did it once before against Montreal but that may be an AI hallucination? (It’s been done twice in the NFL in the last 20 years)

He’s still not game-sharp and I expect the bad reads to dwindle. I don’t like that he got hit so much, still lots or room for improvement on the line. And I’m not sure I like seeing him doing the short yardage. Makes me cringe every time.

Shoutout to Jeremiah Ojo’s best game as an Argo so far. He plays a lot like Robbie Smith.

Argos had a 20 some point lead late into the 3rd quarter when Kelly threw his first of 3 2nd half picks - and again, it was an outstanding play by Ottawa LB Cormier that cannot be chalked up to a bad throw by Kelly; then 2 more INTs on throws well down the field in the 4th. So - WTF is a team with a huge lead in the 4th making risky downfield throws ? This IMO is all on the offensive coaches and their play-calling; they should have been banging the run game or trying some off-script screens, or have Kelly roll-out and only throw to a wide-open receiver or if not take-off for positive yardage. I see a lot of simple, questionable or dumb coaching decisions (along with some putrid defence) so far this season amongst all the high scoring. big offence games.

[Will]

Condredge Holloway had a 4 TD/4 INT performance early in the 1981 season.

[ARGO57]

.It was frustrating to see Kelly with those Interceptions, but I seem to recall this isn't the first time he has done this, only to return to his normal self.

4TD and 4 INT is one crazy QB stat line I couldn’t recall ever seeing before. Google said Kelly did it once before against Montreal but that may be an AI hallucination? (It’s been done twice in the NFL in the last 20 years)

He’s still not game-sharp and I expect the bad reads to dwindle. I don’t like that he got hit so much, still lots or room for improvement on the line. And I’m not sure I like seeing him doing the short yardage. Makes me cringe every time.

Shoutout to Jeremiah Ojo’s best game as an Argo so far. He plays a lot like Robbie Smith.

Argos had a 20 some point lead late into the 3rd quarter when Kelly threw his first of 3 2nd half picks - and again, it was an outstanding play by Ottawa LB Cormier that cannot be chalked up to a bad throw by Kelly; then 2 more INTs on throws well down the field in the 4th. So - WTF is a team with a huge lead in the 4th making risky downfield throws ? This IMO is all on the offensive coaches and their play-calling; they should have been banging the run game or trying some off-script screens, or have Kelly roll-out and only throw to a wide-open receiver or if not take-off for positive yardage. I see a lot of simple, questionable or dumb coaching decisions (along with some putrid defence) so far this season amongst all the high scoring. big offence games.

I’m with you regarding the play calling, higher percentage passes and first downs a much more sensible strategy when playing with the lead.
I also didn’t like Miller’s play calling down by the goal line, when you have a good size end zone use it perhaps with a play action roll out with the option to run the ball in or dump it off to a receiver.

[ARGO57]

.It was frustrating to see Kelly with those Interceptions, but I seem to recall this isn't the first time he has done this, only to return to his normal self.

4TD and 4 INT is one crazy QB stat line I couldn’t recall ever seeing before. Google said Kelly did it once before against Montreal but that may be an AI hallucination? (It’s been done twice in the NFL in the last 20 years)

He’s still not game-sharp and I expect the bad reads to dwindle. I don’t like that he got hit so much, still lots or room for improvement on the line. And I’m not sure I like seeing him doing the short yardage. Makes me cringe every time.

Shoutout to Jeremiah Ojo’s best game as an Argo so far. He plays a lot like Robbie Smith.

Considering Kelly’s extended absence from game action he has looked quite impressive for the most part IMO.
Like you I also expect some of those bad reads to diminish with more game action.