Game Thread: Toronto Argonauts at Calgary Stampeders

[paulwoods13]

As others have noted, it was one game after a short week and in the middle of an endless road trip. No heads should or will roll anytime soon IMO. The org needs to play the long game and not react in knee-jerk fashion like we fans tend to do. IMO the personnel on defence may not be spectacular, but it should be capable of cleaning things up sufficiently. Same goes for the (new, it's worth mentioning) coaching staff. We're four games into an 18-game season, and there's no indication any player has tuned out coaches (in contrast to last season).

[OV Argo]

There’s too much talent on this defence to be giving up 400 yds a game. Surely the coaching staff deserves some blame. The defence looks pretty vanilla to me. They are not taking advantage of all that playmaking ability. I’m not seeing a lot of different looks. I’m not seeing any gap-switching, stunts or slants. There’s not enough pressure packages. Sending one more guy could have stopped Adams on several occasions. It is early in the season and there is plenty of time to make improvements but it is definitely a concern at this point.

For what it's worth, DBs coach Jovon Johnson took the blame on Twitter.

They’ll get it figured out.

Sure hope so; when though? 153 points given up in 4 games so far.

So just stay the course if that continues ?

[ARGO57]

For what it's worth, DBs coach Jovon Johnson took the blame on Twitter.

They’ll get it figured out.

Sure hope so; when though? 153 points given up in 4 games so far.

So just stay the course if that continues ?

D hasn’t been outstanding by any stretch so far but they are 2-2 so no need to panic….yet.
Having said that the coaching staff (Greg Quick) in particular needs to start making strides in tightening up the defensive play either by scheme or personnel (probably both) sooner rather than later.
Can’t expect the offence to light it up every game.

[gilthethrill]

I'm trying hard to find anything positive to say about Thursdays game. Initially I was thinking Kelly's 4 INT game in Ottawa was a one time thing, but now I am getting concerned about his turnovers. I guess there is a price to pay for having a QB with an aggressive mentality, but I'd like to see a little more patience. Calgary really took his rollout away after the 1st Half. On D, the DBs bit on the Pump Fake, Franklin went for that INT to end the 1st Half, some poor tackling, yet Adams seemed to be under pressure by the DLine at times.
We all knew the start of the season was going to be tough. This was thier 4th straight road game, 2nd consecutive out west on a shorter week. I'm hoping they were just tired from the Saskatchewan victory. I seem to recall blowout losses on the road in the last 2 Grey Cup seasons as well.

[Will]

I'm trying hard to find anything positive to say about Thursdays game. Initially I was thinking Kelly's 4 INT game in Ottawa was a one time thing, but now I am getting concerned about his turnovers. I guess there is a price to pay for having a QB with an aggressive mentality, but I'd like to see a little more patience. Calgary really took his rollout away after the 1st Half. On D, the DBs bit on the Pump Fake, Franklin went for that INT to end the 1st Half, some poor tackling, yet Adams seemed to be under pressure by the DLine at times.
We all knew the start of the season was going to be tough. This was thier 4th straight road game, 2nd consecutive out west on a shorter week. I'm hoping they were just tired from the Saskatchewan victory. I seem to recall blowout losses on the road in the last 2 Grey Cup seasons as well.

Still managed to put up 36 points (albeit the last TD was Arbuckle). It might matter little what Chad Kelly does if the defence continues to allow 400+ passing yards/game.

[ArgoRavi]

I'm trying hard to find anything positive to say about Thursdays game. Initially I was thinking Kelly's 4 INT game in Ottawa was a one time thing, but now I am getting concerned about his turnovers. I guess there is a price to pay for having a QB with an aggressive mentality, but I'd like to see a little more patience. Calgary really took his rollout away after the 1st Half. On D, the DBs bit on the Pump Fake, Franklin went for that INT to end the 1st Half, some poor tackling, yet Adams seemed to be under pressure by the DLine at times.
We all knew the start of the season was going to be tough. This was thier 4th straight road game, 2nd consecutive out west on a shorter week. I'm hoping they were just tired from the Saskatchewan victory. I seem to recall blowout losses on the road in the last 2 Grey Cup seasons as well.

This is also a brand new defensive system; there are going to be growing pains. I thought they got pressure at times, also. From some of the analysis I have heard, it sounds like some of the veteran DBs were messing up on fundamentals at times on Thursday. That stuff should be correctable.

[gilthethrill]

I'm trying hard to find anything positive to say about Thursdays game. Initially I was thinking Kelly's 4 INT game in Ottawa was a one time thing, but now I am getting concerned about his turnovers. I guess there is a price to pay for having a QB with an aggressive mentality, but I'd like to see a little more patience. Calgary really took his rollout away after the 1st Half. On D, the DBs bit on the Pump Fake, Franklin went for that INT to end the 1st Half, some poor tackling, yet Adams seemed to be under pressure by the DLine at times.
We all knew the start of the season was going to be tough. This was thier 4th straight road game, 2nd consecutive out west on a shorter week. I'm hoping they were just tired from the Saskatchewan victory. I seem to recall blowout losses on the road in the last 2 Grey Cup seasons as well.

This is also a brand new defensive system; there are going to be growing pains. I thought they got pressure at times, also. From some of the analysis I have heard, it sounds like some of the veteran DBs were messing up on fundamentals at times on Thursday. That stuff should be correctable.

I really hope Hendrix can get in the lineup Friday. I saw Judge go down in the 2nd half, hope he's not out....did John see the field at S or did Johnson play the entire game?

[ArgoRavi]

I'm trying hard to find anything positive to say about Thursdays game. Initially I was thinking Kelly's 4 INT game in Ottawa was a one time thing, but now I am getting concerned about his turnovers. I guess there is a price to pay for having a QB with an aggressive mentality, but I'd like to see a little more patience. Calgary really took his rollout away after the 1st Half. On D, the DBs bit on the Pump Fake, Franklin went for that INT to end the 1st Half, some poor tackling, yet Adams seemed to be under pressure by the DLine at times.
We all knew the start of the season was going to be tough. This was thier 4th straight road game, 2nd consecutive out west on a shorter week. I'm hoping they were just tired from the Saskatchewan victory. I seem to recall blowout losses on the road in the last 2 Grey Cup seasons as well.

This is also a brand new defensive system; there are going to be growing pains. I thought they got pressure at times, also. From some of the analysis I have heard, it sounds like some of the veteran DBs were messing up on fundamentals at times on Thursday. That stuff should be correctable.

I really hope Hendrix can get in the lineup Friday. I saw Judge go down in the 2nd half, hope he's not out....did John see the field at S or did Johnson play the entire game?

I think you mean Wilson and not Johnson. I believe Wilson played the entire game and I don’t recall seeing John out there. I thought that Wilson played well in Regina but struggled in Calgary.

[gilthethrill]

This is also a brand new defensive system; there are going to be growing pains. I thought they got pressure at times, also. From some of the analysis I have heard, it sounds like some of the veteran DBs were messing up on fundamentals at times on Thursday. That stuff should be correctable.

I really hope Hendrix can get in the lineup Friday. I saw Judge go down in the 2nd half, hope he's not out....did John see the field at S or did Johnson play the entire game?

I think you mean Wilson and not Johnson. I believe Wilson played the entire game and I don’t recall seeing John out there. I thought that Wilson played well in Regina but struggled in Calgary.

Yes, #18 Wilson.

[RB957]

For what it's worth, DBs coach Jovon Johnson took the blame on Twitter.

They’ll get it figured out.

Sure hope so; when though? 153 points given up in 4 games so far.

So just stay the course if that continues ?

A point for consideration. While the performance of our D is of concern, it should be noted that the average total score in all the games so far this season is averaging about 65. So, while this game is clearly an outlier, offences are much more potent all around. Every team, with the possible exception of Ottawa, has an excellent proven starting QB and every team seems to have multiple excellent receivers. With that in mind, putting pressure on the QB is key. In our next two games, if we let Collaros and Mitchell stand in the pocket unmolested for up to 5 seconds, with the receivers those teams have at their disposal, we are in for a hurt big time. Finding a way to put pressure on the QB is going to be paramount for the Argos to have success.