Argos serve up holiday turkey
Playoff hopes sinking fast after blowout by CFL’s best
Kenny Shaw could feel his team’s frustration building.
Every time the Calgary Stampeders’ defence broke up a play, each of the six times it sacked Toronto Argonauts quarterback Drew Willy, the Toronto Argonauts tensed. Every time that Calgary QB Bo Levi Mitchell threw impossibly perfect passes to his catch-anything receivers and every time that running back Jerome Messam bulldozed his way through the Argos defence, the team’s blood got hotter.
Calgary went for two-point converts on their first three touchdowns, making the first two, inflating the score of a game that was for all intents and purposes over in the second quarter.
“Just seeing the shots . . . and the respect factor,” Shaw said of the Stampeders. “That makes you a little angry.”
With Calgary up 25-6 late in the half and set up again at the Argos’ four-yard line, tensions boiled over.
Away from Calgary’s short yardage play, Argos’ defensive back Devin Smith and Stamps’ receiver Kamar Jorden got into a wrestling match in the end zone. Smith’s teammate Josh Mitchell came to his aid then eventually ended up smacking the helmet of Jorden, then Marquay McDaniel, before another, bigger wrestling match ensued.
Somehow, Mitchell stayed in the game. Smith and McDaniel were disqualified.
Calgary (13-1-1) got its touchdown before the half and rolled to a 48-20 win, clinching first place in the West Division. Calgary’s win, along with Edmonton’s over Montreal earlier on Monday, clinched playoff spots for B.C. and Winnipeg.
All of this West movement casts a dimmer light over the Argos (5-10), who face the very real possibility of having the Eskimos (8-7) bump them out of the playoffs with a crossover berth.
Asked about his role in the melee, Mitchell was brief.
“I don’t know man, I got a concussion,” he said. “I don’t really remember much.”
It was a game that the tiny crowd of 14,224 at BMO Field would like to forget, too.
The Argos are losers of four straight and eight of their last nine. They’re not mathematically out yet, but playoff spots are being gobbled up and they don’t look like they belong at the table.
Willy made 26-31 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, but was no match for Mitchell (18-27, 281 yards, three touchdowns), his receivers and Messam, who broke the 1,000-yard rushing mark on the season with his 133-yard performance.
“It’s been the same story: penalties, including myself,” said Argos run- ning back Brandon Whitaker. They were flagged 10 times for 95 yards.
“We kill ourselves. We put ourselves in bad field position, leave the defence out on the field too long and it’s the same story. It’s just something we’ve got to fix.”
They’ll try to channel some of their garbage-time play for Saturday, when the 4-10 Saskatchewan Roughriders come to town.
Even with the West’s worst team visiting, there’s nothing easy.
The Riders are on a three-game win streak.
“It’s a little adversity and you have to figure out how to deal with it,” Whitaker said. “Either you . . . hit the bottom of the tank or you come back next week . . . which is what we’re going to do.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel still. It might be dim but there’s still some light there.”