Coach tees off after Argos fumble in crunch
Milanovich questions players’ commitment in wake of blowout loss to East rival
MONTREAL— Scott Milanovich stood there in the rain on Sunday afternoon, trying to explain a 38-11 loss to the one team in the CFL’s East Division that his Toronto Argonauts have a better record than.
The Argos head coach casually questioned the commitment level of his players three times — they’re now 5-9, after the 4-9 Alouettes looked like a team reborn under interim head coach Jacques Chapdelaine — before he elaborated a bit on what he’s been unhappy with.
“We need to find out who’s going to be a part of our team going forward. We’ve got some good football players here that I’m not sure are committed to what we need to have taking place,” he said.
“It’s little things. It’s being late, it’s showing up not prepared, it’s screwing around. That’s where we’re at right now. It’s not going to stay that way.” It might already be too late. You couldn’t see it through the lowlying clouds and the misty rain that slowly ate up the skyline around Percival Molson Stadium, but the stars had aligned for the Argos before this game.
The Ottawa Redblacks (6-6-1) and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (6-8) had both lost this weekend. An Argos win would have tied them with the Ticats, just a point behind the Redblacks for first place. The pressure of what feels like an impending West crossover in the playoffs could have been shifted at least a little bit to those other teams and given the Argos’ shoulders a rest.
But the little things carried over into the big moment. The defence showed up late and unprepared, giving up a two-play touchdown from Rakeem Cato (18-for-23, 210 yards, four TDs) on Montreal’s opening drive. Drew Willy completed 24 of 35 passes for 226 yards, but the Argos couldn’t put a touchdown drive together, relying on Lirim Hajrullahu’s three field goals and a conceded safety for their only points on the day. Willy’s targets dropped passes while he and tailback Brandon Whitaker each fumbled the ball away, part of a five-turnover day.
The Argos defence regrouped after its opening-drive nap, but as Milanovich put it, “in the third quarter we got steamrolled again. We’re just not playing consistently well enough for a long time.”
Sunday was a golden opportunity, the perfect scenario.
“It really was,” said Argos receiver Kenny Shaw, whose illegal block on Diontae Spencer’s 58-yard reception cost the team 25 yards in the third quarter. Toronto was flagged13 times for 123 yards.
“That’s the third or fourth time this year Ottawa and Hamilton have both lost in the same week and we had a chance to gain ground,” Argos defensive end Ricky Foley added. “That’s probably what’s the most disappointing thing, is you look back on weeks like that, you look back at this week. We still got a chance, but we’ve got to . . . ”
You have to be perfect, it was put to Foley. “Basically,” he said. The Argos’ final four games will be against 12-1-1 Calgary (twice), Saskatchewan and Edmonton. Perfect is asking a lot when, on paper, only one of those games look winnable.
For now, players committed and uncommitted alike will wait for practice on Wednesday to see if there are in fact changes made around them.
“It’s hard to say because you’ve got so many groups on the field,” Shaw said of Milanovich’s comments on commitment. “I’m confident that our receivers will give it all they got, but it’s a team thing. If (Milanovich) saw it, every guy not buying in, that’s the way you get losses.”
“Winning solves everything and we’re not winning,” Foley said. “Everything is under the microscope when you lose. Everybody’s job, everybody’s performances are magnified. Winning will solve a lot of things. We need to win.”