Argonauts prove they are CFL’s best team: 10 thoughts on Toronto’s big win over B.C. Lions

By
Ben Grant
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Photo: Matt Johnson/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Toronto Argonauts are the best team in the CFL. Things can change in a hurry in this league and being the best at the beginning of July counts for very little, but right now they’re playing better football than anyone else.

Here are my thoughts on the club’s 45-24 victory over the B.C. Lions on Monday night.

Practice makes perfect

I picked Toronto to win, but I didn’t feel confident in that pick until Friday’s practice. Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie exploded on the defence for jumping offside, stressing the importance of this game and the impact mental mistakes would have on determining its outcome. It wasn’t Dinwiddie, however, that convinced me the Argos would win, it was the way the team responded. No one said a word. Not a single player. From that moment through cooldown, until every player had left the facility, it was silent. Message received.

Thief in the night

In Toronto’s first game of the season, football analytics firm Pro Football Focus had Robertson Daniel rated as the best defensive back in the league. In their second game, Daniel had two fumble recoveries. No one could have expected his third game of the season to be his best yet, but this performance was one for the ages. Not only did Daniel intercept Vernon Adams Jr. three times, he compiled 170 interception return yards in the process, including a 62-yard pick-six.

Directing traffic

This was Chad Kelly’s best game as a pro. Yes, he helped Toronto win last year’s Grey Cup, but he only played a quarter. This was a complete game from start to finish and he looked in control throughout. Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly was in attendance to see his nephew complete 79 percent of his passes for 249 yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over. He was changing plays at the line of scrimmage in the fourth quarter and directing traffic downfield when he was forced to scramble.

One of Kelly’s most underrated gifts is his willingness to throw to the open man, regardless of who he is. So often, quarterbacks lock on to their star receiver and flood them with targets whether they’re open or not. That’s exactly what Adams did with Dominique Rhymes, connecting only three times on 10 targets. Kurleigh Gittens Jr. and Damonte Coxie led the team in targets in Toronto’s opener. Last week it was Dejon Brissett and this week it was Cam Phillips and DaVaris Daniels.

Kelly’s most impressive play of the night was a pass every coach tells their quarterback not to make, a throw across his body on a full sprint in the opposite direction. From 17 yards out, the Argos were expecting the Lions to be in man coverage, so DaVaris Daniels’ hitch-and-go never opened up. Kelly took off to his right, in part to buy time, but mostly to change the launch point, knowing all along Daniels would be his target. Daniels sat down in space, defensive back T.J. Lee lost the angle, and Kelly ripped it in there for the touchdown.

Live by the film, die by the film

I asked Ryan Dinwiddie if last week’s game in Winnipeg served as a blueprint for what to expect from B.C. He acknowledged he felt the Lions would probably try to come out with a similar game-plan, taking away the run at all cost.

By my numbers, in the first half of last week’s game, the Lions stacked the box with a four-four personnel grouping on 38 percent of the snaps. They also played some variation of man coverage on 58 percent of first-half snaps, daring Winnipeg’s receivers to beat them. With this in mind, Dinwiddie only called three running plays in the first half in favour of high-percentage man-beating pass concepts, which allowed Kelly to complete 15-of-19 passes for 161 yards.

While film study helped the offence and certainly contributed to the team’s six interceptions on defence, there are times when it had the opposite effect. Two of the defence’s busts came off fake quick screens the Argos were clearly waiting for. The first caught one DaShaun Amos charging in, leaving Keon Hatcher open on a hook route for a 20-yard gain. On the second, both Amos and McFadden charged in which resulted in McInnis being left all alone for a 61-yard gain. In both instances, B.C. scored a touchdown on the very next play.

Run runaway

With B.C. shutting down middle runs, Dinwiddie was forced to get creative when they went to the ground game in the second half. He employed a number of different pitches and stretch-style plays as well as a few Chad Kelly pulls, which opened up the defence. After rushing for only seven yards in the opening half, the Argos finished with 106.

The most interesting play for me was A.J. Ouellette’s touchdown run. It’s a design that looks initially like a middle run, but then the back re-routes and the quarterback pitches it to the outside. I believe the Argos took this play from Winnipeg after their meeting early last season. They used it down the stretch and in the Grey Cup against the Blue Bombers. I noticed the Lions running a variation of the play last week against Winnipeg, so I found it amusing when Toronto used it against B.C. this week.

Hey, Mickey!

The happiest man at BMO Field on Monday night had to be special teams coordinator Mickey Donovan. His units have been heavily criticized over the first two games, but they all earned laurels this time.

Bolstered by the additions of Qwan’tez Stiggers, Brandon Calver, Daniel Kwamou, and Javon Leake, the coverage units held the Lions in check all night, and Leake scored the first points of the game for Toronto on a well-blocked 91-yard punt return touchdown. Leake was so close to breaking one several times last season, so this was almost as much a relief for him as it was for Donovan.

The devil is in the details

With under two minutes remaining in the first half, the Lions went for it on third-and-four from Toronto’s 48 yard-line, a decision I applauded even though it resulted in a downfield Tarvarus McFadden interception. The issue I had with this play is that McFadden should have knocked it down and taken the turnover on downs. Those 22 yards would have come in handy at the end of the first half, which leads me to the next miscue.

With eight seconds left in the half and Toronto at B.C.’s 53-yard line, the Argos elected to run one more play to get into field goal range. Kelly connected with Cam Phillips on a quick hook, but instead of going to the ground immediately at B.C.’s 46-yard line and setting up a 53-yard Boris Bede field goal attempt, Phillips tried to get more yardage and the clock expired in the process.

Let Bede kick

Boris Bede has connected on all six of his field goal attempts this season and has arguably the best range in the CFL. In pregame warmup, he was hitting field goals from 55 yards out that would have been good from 65. I find it frustrating that the Argos elected to punt instead of attempting a 53-yard field goal in the second quarter and a 55-yard field goal in the fourth, both with the wind.

Dinwiddie has been gun shy on long field goal attempts since Mario Alford took a missed 62-yarder all the way back for a touchdown last year in Saskatchewan.

The replacements

It was a savvy move from Dinwiddie in the second half when he replaced injured right guard Dylan Giffen with Gregor MacKellar. The logical choice would have been to move Peter Nicastro from centre to right guard and bring in Darius Ciraco off the bench to play centre, however the quarterback-centre relationship isn’t one that exists on paper.

If you can avoid it, you don’t want to change centres in the middle of a drive. If Giffen’s injury keeps him out, expect Ciraco to be lined up as the centre when the Argos next take the field.

Mac the Knife

When Grey Cup MVP Henoc Muamba started the season on the six-game injured list, Argos fans didn’t panic because his backup, Jordan Williams, is one of the best linebackers in the league. When Williams went down last week, there was panicking, but it seems to have been unwarranted.

Jonathan Jones started at middle linebacker against B.C. and played well. Jones doesn’t have Williams’ versatility and he complicates the ratio a bit as an American, but he’s done everything that’s been asked of him and more. He had a crucial pick in Toronto’s division-clinching game in Montreal and he led the team in tackles in the Grey Cup. On Monday night, Jones led the team in tackles, while adding an interception and a sack.

Next up

The Argos (3-0) are now on a bye, so their record will remain perfect for at least one more week. The club will next see the field when they visit the Montreal Alouettes (2-1) on Friday, July 14.

Ben Grant
Ben Grant is the radio colour analyst for the Toronto Argonauts. He has been coaching high school and semi-pro football for 20 years.
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