Argos licking their wounds, looking for answers as season already teetering on brink
Once the carnage had ended at BC Place on Saturday night, Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie tried to come to grips with the humbling 44-3 defeat he and his club had just endured at the hands of the Lions.
“I don’t have the words,’’ Dinwiddie said. “That was flat-out embarrassing. We looked like a college team.”
It was worse because the Argos looked like a team that lacked coaching and talent.
The shellacking evoked memories of the 2019 Argos team — which lost 55-8 in Vancouver that season — prompting changes to all levels of the club’s operations.
Two games into the new CFL season, there’s no point in trying to come to any rash conclusions about the Argos, but clearly something is amiss.
“We can go in either direction,” said Dinwiddie. “We can take the loss and implode or we can get better.”
On paper, the Argos in pre-season were considered championship-worthy contenders. But that paper has now been shredded.
Granted, the team has been dealt with a series of early injuries that have exposed its depth.
The coaching staff is pretty inexperienced and the front office has just one true seasoned football man in senior adviser Jim Barker.
A lot was made of B.C. keeping its young QB Nathan Rourke, in the game when the score was out of reach. Some felt the host Leos were running it up.
“I don’t care about that,’’ said Dinwiddie, who has much more pressing issues on his plate. “We deserved to get our asses kicked. No hard feelings. We just got embarrassed.”
Toronto’s defence couldn’t get off the field. The secondary looked lost or confused on so many easy and routine throws that led to wide-open touchdowns, leaving one to question what game plan was being run.
Offensively, the Argos’ inability to finish drives resurfaced — the lowlight arriving early — when they were stopped three times from B.C.’S one-yard-line.
In eight quarters to begin the season, the Argos have manufactured one offensive touchdown.
Mcleod Bethel-thompson attempted only 21 passes on Saturday night, the same night rookie Rourke slung it 45 times for 436 yards, the most passing yards thrown in a game by a Canadian QB.
It was a debacle of epic proportions, not the type of performance any team with title aspirations can tolerate.
Veteran linebacker Henoc Muamba drew comfort knowing no fingers were being pointed in the locker room. This is, after all, a veteran team and players who have been around the football block know what to do, what to say and what not to do and say.