CFL: Argos can lock up East Division playoff spot with home win over Lions
McLeod Bethel-Thompson has a rather unique explanation for the Argonauts’ success at BMO Field this season.
Dirt, grass and worms.
“I think it’s really the connection with the real dirt,” the veteran quarterback said about Toronto’s 4-0 home record ahead of Saturday’s visit by the B.C. Lions. “We’re the only team in the league that has grass, so I think it’s a real organic connection with nature and the worms and the grass that’s growing out of the field.”
Toronto plays on a hybrid grass surface installed at BMO Field in 2019. The venue certainly agrees with the 6-4 Argos, one of only two CFL teams sporting an unbeaten home mark. The other is the leagueleading Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-0 at IG Field, 10-1 overall).
Toronto puts its unbeaten home record on the line Saturday afternoon against the 4-6 Lions. The Argos can cement a playoff berth — their first since winning the 2017 Grey Cup — with a fifth straight home win.
The contest is also important to the Lions. They’re just two points behind third-place Calgary in the West Division standings and trail 5-5 Hamilton for the third and final East playoff spot. If the fourth-place finisher in the West has more points than the third-place squad in the East, the West team gets the final East seed.
Bethel-Thompson will make a fifth straight start but first as the team’s clear-cut No. 1. Earlier this week, the club dealt Nick Arbuckle to Edmonton. Toronto signed Arbuckle to a one-year deal in the off-season to be the starter. The former Calgary Stampeder was 2-2 with the Argos, but twice was sidelined with a hamstring injury.
The Argos are 4-2 under Bethel-Thompson, who also started the first two games. After three straight wins, he threw four interceptions in a 37-16 road loss to Montreal last week.
“We can’t turn the ball over, that’s No. 1,” Bethel-Thompson said. “You can’t win football games in the CFL turning the ball over. I think we did a good job in the weeks before that ... That’s going to be an imperative.”