Pre-Season Game Thread: Toronto Argonauts @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats

[paulwoods13]

My observations from midfield:

Hunter and Moore are definitely starting at the two tackle spots. Moore looked very good. Hunter is not an ideal height for tackle, but I don't think there is anyone else on the roster they'd be comfortable with at tackle. Doxtater looked OK at guard but got turnstiled a few times at left tackle. Delance did not get on the field and will be cut, along with Redd (who at 386 pounds needs to focus on his health, not football). Dankwah is way too green and will be on the PR this year.

The battle for the inside spots is very intriguing. Vandal is definitely a starter, the question is where. He played centre for the first half but I didn't assess the quality of his snaps. Ciraco played centre in the third quarter, and guard in the fourth. Nicastro did not get on the field until the fourth, at centre. Could one of them be traded, or even cut? I hope not, but there is a lot of depth inside with those three plus Doxtater, Giffen and Bosse. Hard to keep them all -- hopefully someone suffers a "toe injury" that requires time on the six-game.

Blackburn looks very likely to start at safety. He was a mini-Metchie out there, directing traffic in the secondary. Assibo-Dadzie also played a bit at safety but did not look CFL-ready to me. Rutledge, while listed at safety on the depth chart, seemed to be lined up at SAM when he was in the game.

Slywka will almost certainly be kept around because of his positional versatility. I don't know how that will work practically -- which group does he attend mtgs with? But it's useful to have a guy who can be plugged into multiple positions.

Williams looks like a keeper for sure. Runs very hard, and very tough to bring down.

Horn is going to at minimum survive for another week, but based on his first game he's probably here for the season. I could see him supplanting Dukes eventually as the third-stringer.

There's some nice talent to work with among the receivers. Be interesting to see who sticks around on the PR, and whether any of the rookies gets on the game roster. If Blackburn does in fact start, Argos will have at least eight NAT starters and potentially nine, so there's room to play around with how the DIs are allocated.

Mital, unfortunately, seemed to suffer a hamstring tweak early. He took a bit of treatment, went to talk to Dinwiddie and then took off his gloves. Hopefully nothing serious.

Ojo was not dressed, as far as I could tell. I also did not notice Carter, and suspect he sat out.

Kwamou was a beast at LB, and I really liked what I saw from Stephen Smith, the LB out of CJFL Regina. He just looks like a football player. Cassar also looked very solid. Varga played specials and only a bit on defence in the fourth quarter.

D-line is going to take some time to come together. No one stood out although the starting unit (Parrish-Christmas-Williams-Chatfield) wasn't bad in Q1. Secondary will be OK despite a few busts.

Argos have a ton of guys around, will have to cut at least 10-15 this week I, think.

[Will]

With the caveat that I cannot be certain, I believe the Mital injury took place during a Ticats punt. Janarion Grant got dumped for a short return and it appeared that Mital was in a trail position to the Ticat who tackled him. It was after that I noticed Mital talking to a coach on the sideline. I didn't think anything of it at the time, though, just thought it was chatting about Mital's missed block assignment.

[paulwoods13]

Argos have signed NAT LB Ryan Collins out of U of T, which probably means Harelimana is out for a while. Hopefully no other NAT LB got hurt last night.

Delance, predictably, has been released. I have no idea why Redd hasn't been. He's far too big to play in this league IMO.

[OV Argo]

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Carey 6-gamed all season long like Muamba in 23. An expensive voice of experience in the room-slash-insurance policy. We would be fools not to put Chop Williams onto the active roster. He looks like possibly a generational talent.

This offence — this QB, this line, these skill players — looks like one of the finest ever assembled in the CFL. This defence - not so much. I guess we win a lot of high-scoring games this year.

I like your enthusiasm and positivity Rich, but let's not get too carried away with "the finest ever assembled in the CFL " stuff. Please. Nobody on this Argo offence would be even close to making an all-time Argo team. It might be argued that HC RD is the "finest" offensive mind in the CFL now. And I hope Williams is another Leon McQuay or Gil Fenerty, but seeing - all regular season long - would be the only way to make me believe, with proof from the football field.

[OV Argo]

Argos have signed NAT LB Ryan Collins out of U of T, which probably means Harelimana is out for a while. Hopefully no other NAT LB got hurt last night.

Delance, predictably, has been released. I have no idea why Redd hasn't been. He's far too big to play in this league IMO.

Ryan Collins was a huge sized DB at U of T before the switched him to LB; I have to idea why they think they would need another LB around, and what about this year's draft pick Rayam ?

[paulwoods13]

Ryan Collins was a huge sized DB at U of T before the switched him to LB; I have to idea why they think they would need another LB around, and what about this year's draft pick Rayam ?

1. Likely because one of their veteran NAT LBs/ST guys is inactive (and presumably out for a while); also possible that they haven't been blown away by some of the depth pieces they have; also possible someone got hurt last night.
2. Not in camp and not coming any time soon, it seems. I believe he suffered a serious injury last year so might still be rehabbing.

[OV Argo]

Ryan Collins was a huge sized DB at U of T before the switched him to LB; I have to idea why they think they would need another LB around, and what about this year's draft pick Rayam ?

1. Likely because one of their veteran NAT LBs/ST guys is inactive (and presumably out for a while); also possible that they haven't been blown away by some of the depth pieces they have; also possible someone got hurt last night.
2. Not in camp and not coming any time soon, it seems. I believe he suffered a serious injury last year so might still be rehabbing.

I meant Collins got switched from DB to LB while at U of T.

And he was healthy enough to go to the CFL Invitational Combine this year; 6-5, 248, but mostly average or nothing special testing #s, but his DB experience in U Sports ball might mean he could cover well as a LB.

I thought I saw Rayam on the Argos site roster?

[paulwoods13]

I thought I saw Rayam on the Argos site roster?

It's a mystery. He's listed as wearing uniform No. 30 on the Argo app, but he was not listed on the depth chart (active or inactive) for last night, and 30 was worn by Joey Zorn.

[RichK]

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Carey 6-gamed all season long like Muamba in 23. An expensive voice of experience in the room-slash-insurance policy. We would be fools not to put Chop Williams onto the active roster. He looks like possibly a generational talent.

This offence — this QB, this line, these skill players — looks like one of the finest ever assembled in the CFL. This defence - not so much. I guess we win a lot of high-scoring games this year.

Nobody on this Argo offence would be even close to making an all-time Argo team.

I don’t know man, I think Chad’s got at least two more Cup seasons in him, which would easily make him the GOAT Argos QB. And a couple more seasons of excellence would put Ryan Hunter pretty close to that list too IMO.

[gilthethrill]

One player who could get lost in the shuffle is Jake Herslow. Not your typical big bodied fast Receiver, but appears to be technically sound. His heads up play batting the live ball out of bounds on the muffled KO in the 4th prevented a turnover.

With Cox appearing to be out, I am wondering about the status of the "Global" DT that was drafted out of SDSU. I know he is a FA probably still hoping to sign an NFL deal. He looks like a disruptive player who could help inside.

Watching the game on TV, there was a shot of Moore and Hunter chatting with each other on the sideline. Moore made Hunter look as if he was small.