Argos still spinning their wheels
Just when you thought the Argos had turned a corner offensively, reality strikes, and the unit getting exposed.
Just when you thought the Argos were ready to beat a Western opponent, they are unable to play to the level required to escape with a road win.
Following Saturday night’s late-night 23-7 loss to the host Stamps, the Argos find themselves back to the drawing board, searching for ways to sustain drives, make plays when plays are necessary, finish drives with touchdowns.
For the second time in three games, the offence did not cross the end zone. Against the Stamps, the Argos offence barely crossed midfield.
And to think this is the same offence, minus Anthony Coombs, that lit it up in the opening half against Montreal, scoring 35 points in 30 minutes of play.
Ray tossed for four touchdowns that afternoon, creating this belief that the Argos would be much more competitive against the Stamps, whose win was the team’s 14th in a row at McMahon Stadium.
The Argos’ only points on the night came on a pick six by Cassius Vaughn.
Marc Trestman coached 100th game in the CFL.
“Like I said to the team, there are no moral victories, but our defence played an excellent football game other than a few presnap penalties,’’ he said. “They played extremely hard with a great sense of urgency throughout the game.”
The same couldn’t be said about the offence or special teams, a unit that took too many penalties that forced the Argos to operate on a longer field.
“We have a defence that’s building and it’s going to be a great defence down the road,’’ said Trestman. “We’ve been consistently the last few weeks, inconsistent offensively and on special teams.”
The defence does promise to get better with the likely return of Victor Butler at defensive end and Ken Bishop inside at tackle.
Bear Woods and Marcus Ball have led this unit at linebacker, while co-ordinator Cory Chamblin has found ways to mix and match his secondary when injuries take their toll. his
But, defences need an offence to stay on the field and the Argos were woeful against the Stamps.
The loss was Toronto’s fifth against the West in five games with five more against the CFL’s power division.
The Argos close out the regular season with four straight games against the West.
Ricky Ray looked unsettled, missing thrown when the rare window opened against Calgary’s aggressive defence.
Tipped balls on second down led to punts.
The Argos weren’t clean and when they did manufacture some type of drive the offence stopped itself.
Trestman admitted it all starts with him when it comes to the playcalling.
“We’ve got work conceded.
Normally when one unit is playing so well, the other so poorly, tensions can rise, but Ray’s presence is so strong that it’s doubtful any resentment will filter into the locker room, the kind of divide that destroys a team.
Clearly, the offence has to do its part and not just for one week.
“Our defence was awesome,’’ said Ray. “They played well enough for us to win. Offensively, we just didn’t do our part. It’s definitely disappointing because we didn’t do our part to help our team.” to do,’’ he