We heard all the talk about the Eskimos’ vaunted running attack. The Edmonton ground game took the Saskatchewan Roughriders for 299 yards last week and entirely controlled the flow of the game.
The questions for the Argos were, how can you stop it? Can you even contain it?
Argos D the Key to Victory
On Saturday night, as Toronto began their important four-game home stand, questions weren’t just answered, they were driven home by the defensive line, with the support of middle linebacker Shea Emry, who played like he was tired of hearing that kind of talk.
The Argonauts’ defense came out on fire. They held the Eskimo ground game in check, only allowing 58 yards on the ground. Aside from Mike Reilly’s 23-yard touchdown run it was clear the double blue wouldn’t be pushed around on the ground.
On defence, Emry put in a highly emotional performance. He had five tackles and was key piece in the defensive scheme, stopping John White and keeping QB Mike Reilly from breaking containment for most of the game.
When you flip the game around on your opponent as the Argos did, great things can happen – and they did. The Toronto rushing attack produced a combined 145 yards, and it was production by committee, with each ball carrier averaging no fewer than 5.7 yards per carry. Those are serious numbers, and they that also help keep your competition’s offence on the sideline as the Argos had 10 rushing first downs which is huge in winning the time of possession battle.
Head coach Scott Milanovich stated that “his team is confident in the running backs they have, and will be treating the idea of playing [Chad] Kackert on a week-by-week basis.” With the kind of production we saw on Saturday, the team can afford to continue monitoring Kackert at practice. They will want to make sure his leg is 100 percent ready to go before sending him out on the field.
For the third straight week in a row, the Argonauts were off to a very fast start. Ricky Ray threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to their star slotback Chad Owens. When Owens is healthy, he is one of the most dangerous and elusive players in the game.
The biggest negatives for Toronto on the day were losing the turnover battle, and their seven field goal attempts in the game. Obviously any time you can points on the board it helps your team, but Toronto repeatedly let their drives stall, letting their opponents hang around instead of burying them. This is a concern, especially with the Argos chasing down Hamilton for the division lead. It’s something they will need to address this week in practice.
Another problem they need to work on is kickoff coverage. Toronto allowed a controversial 107-yard kick off return for a touchdown. Sometimes those big plays are hard to prevent, but it’s an important concern for a team that is often in closely-fought games.
But after a great character win on Saturday, the Argos can look forward with confidence to hosting the division-leading Ticats. Expect these teams to produce more than they did on Labour Day, now that both teams are much improved and healthier. The Argo D has a big challenge ahead in this coming matchup. You can be sure with the type of fight we saw against Edmonton, they will need no motivation to get ready for their rivals from just down the highway.
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