The Toronto Argonauts are ready to do battle with the Edmonton Eskimos Saturday afternoon at BMO Field. The Argos, coming off of a rough game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Week 8, look to get back to the top of the CFL East Division with a victory.
Argos Ready for Eskimos in Week 9 at Home
In a defence with no shortage of personality, Bryan Hall stands out for his joking nature in practice however the Paducah, Kentucky native is frustrated by the team’s recent struggles in their new stadium, using it as further motivation against the Eskimos.
“The fact that we lost last week, at home, again, we’ve got to get that sorted out. We have a great stadium, great fans that come out and support us and we’ve got to start dominating at home,” he said.
The Boatmen are looking to have a short memory going into Week 9 when the defending Grey Cup Champions arrive at the exhibition grounds and come out with a home win.
High Expectations for Kilgore
Logan Kilgore’s play last week hasn’t decreased his head coach’s expectations of his young quarterback. Scott Milanovich expects him to put aside last week’s troubling performance and prepare for their next game.
“Well, I expect to him to play well, I expected him to play well last week. In the CFL you can’t really hide a quarterback, he’s going to have to go out there and make throws. Obviously we’re playing a team with a really good offence, we’re going to have to put some points on the board and he’s going to have to do his job,” Milanovich said.
“He’s been fine this week (in practice); I think we’ll find out early in the game how his mind is.”
The Argos are 1-1 going into their game against Edmonton with Kilgore starting under centre. Kilgore is looking to rebound after a less than stellar five-interception outing against the Blue Bombers.
Ricky Ray Almost Ready
Ricky Ray was taken off of the six-game injured list by the Argonauts management on Wednesday. Milanovich wasn’t the least bit surprised by the passer’s progress.
“He’s on track. We thought it was going to be the low end of the 4-6 weeks. Were going to look at him early next week, see how he’s practising and if he’s ready to go it’s possible he could be playing next week.”
Returning Players Require Roster Shuffling
With Ray now near ready to return to action and the return of several Argos on the horizon, management has been forced to make decisions about the roster and that resulted in the release of National defensive lineman Brian Bulcke Thursday morning. Bulcke played in just one game for the Argos after battling injuries for the last two seasons.
“Its just the depth we’ve accumulated, we’ve got new guys with (Ken) Bishop and (Daryl) Waud’s getting healthy and Tracey Robertson’s getting healthy and Hall. We’ve just ended up having a lot of players on our interior defensive line that we think we can play. Its tough on everybody in this locker room players and staff alike we all loved Brian, its just a part of the business,” Milanovich said.
Saturday marks the return of two key offensive pieces for the Argos in Kevin Elliott and Vidal Hazelton. Elliott and Hazelton practised Thursday with the team and could be seen flying around the field looking fluid, catching balls and talking some trash with defensive teammates while taking reps on offence.
Post practice Hazelton was optimistic about himself being in the game Saturday.
“I’m feeling good, my injury died down so I’m going to go out there and try and play at a high level. I had a lower ankle sprain, so it took some time, waiting for some of the swelling to get out. The coaches and training staff did a great job; they gave me enough time to let me heal up,” he said.
The return of Diontae Spencer last week from a back injury gave the Argos a deep threat that their quarterback could eye down the field. The returns of Elliott and Hazelton is highly anticipated for that same reason by the Boatmen. Hazelton in 6 games has 24 catches for 324 yards and 3 touchdowns while Elliott has yet to play in a full regular season game after an injury to his shoulder in Week 1. Tori Gurley is expected to make his return in the next few weeks as well.
For Milanovich this is a long awaited positive for his team.
“We’re trying to see who exactly were going to have and how healthy they are anytime we get guys back. I think in the next couple of weeks we should start getting the majority of our players back. It’s always a positive and there’s always a bit of growing pain as players get back into game shape and get back to being familiar playing.”
Milanovich wouldn’t out-right confirm Elliott and Hazelton’s statuses on Thursday however both players appeared as ready as ever to make an impact and help out the team. On Friday Hazelton and Elliot were slotted in the starting offence on the Argos depth chart.
Communication is Key on D
Communication was an emphasis throughout the practice Thursday by defensive coordinator Rich Stubler. Players were vocal pre-snap and mid-play about their responsibilities in order to identify situations and get to ball carriers quickly. The defence needs to be sharp with a young quarterback running their team’s offence and they know it.
“Having a young quarterback, a young guy like Logan step in puts pressure on the defence to make sure we’re giving him confidence. We do that by playing the best we can play, getting quick two and outs and giving him opportunities so that we can score,” A.J. Jefferson said.
“So as long as we’re communicating, dominating up front, covering the back end and getting two and outs. Logan should have all the confidence he needs to help us win.”
Hall re-emphasized the role communication plays in the defence’s success.
“We’ve got twelve guys with twelve mouths and twelve minds. We’ve all got to be thinking the same way.”
Communication will be key in the game and there will certainly be a lot of communication on the boundary side of the field where Edmonton’s top receivers lineup. The prospect of facing the CFL’s top two receivers this week is a welcome challenge for Jefferson, Toronto’s boundary corner.
“For me the way I look at it every team has a couple big guys that they want to get the ball to, this week it’s (Adarius) Bowman and (Derel) Walker, I feel like we’ve got enough talent in the boundary to be able to shut these guys down.” Jefferson said.
As for Hall and the defensive line. They hope to be the ones applying pressure in the game.
“We’re a pressuring defensive line we want to get up field and cause havoc and then our linebackers play off of it. So my job is to get up field along with Bishop, Robertson, Waud and all those guys. We’re responsible for causing chaos and dominating up front and collapsing the pocket.”
Sizing up Their Opponent
Milanovich didn’t hide his feelings on how he feels about injuries affecting a team other than the Argos for once, when asked about whether or not the team is more hopeful going into a game because of Edmonton’s own injury woes – The loss of defensive end Marcus Howard.
“I wish they lost (Odell) Willis too, they have a lot of good players on defence. They’re the Grey Cup Champs for a reason. They’re getting comfortable with their scheme defensively, I think they’ve played their best two games in their last two defensively and everyone knows what they’ve got on offence with Mike (Reilly), Bowman and their whole crew. We’re going to have to be on our ‘A’ game.”
Playing during the Exhibition
The game at BMO Field Saturday will take place during the annual Canadian National Exhibition. Saturday also marks the 95th annual Warrior’s day parade, and in co-ordination with the CNE, the Argonauts are honouring the Canadian Armed Forces in the pre-game ceremonies which will include a flyover by a CF-18 following the national anthem.
Main Photo.
