On Friday night, the Toronto Argonauts exacted revenge on the Calgary Stampeders, exploding for 32 points in the second half to win 39-25 and claim the second half of the home-and-home series.
Despite their struggles on offence at times this season, the Argonauts lead the CFL in points scored, thanks in large part to contributions from their defence and special teams, both of which were factors again in this one.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Full circle
Nick Arbuckle made his first start at quarterback for the Argonauts since September 17, 2021. Coming into that season, he was seen as the future of the organization but was unceremoniously pulled from the lineup after four starts and replaced by McLeod Bethel-Thompson. Arbuckle would be traded to Edmonton a month later for a draft pick and the rights to quarterback Chad Kelly, who incidentally could be taking the starting role back from Arbuckle in Toronto’s next game, having served nine games of his “minimum nine-game suspension.”
Arbuckle wasn’t dominant, but he played well enough to win. He led the Boatmen on 68-yard and 70-yard touchdown drives and had three other drives end in field goals. He had a gorgeous touchdown pass to rookie Makai Polk from 22 yards out where, facing an all-out blitz, he convincingly pump-faked to the young receiver on a slant-and-go before lofting the ball into the endzone for the game’s first touchdown.
Arbuckle’s decision-making was sound all evening. His only mistake on the night was an unlucky interception that linebacker Micah Awe tipped from a fully outstretched position right into the hands of cornerback Demerio Houston.
Carey-ing the mail
Ka’Deem Carey’s 13 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown puts him in the league lead among running backs in rushing touchdowns with five and ties him for the league lead for total touchdowns among all players with six. His 611 rushing yards also ties for the top spot with Winnipeg’s Brady Oliveira. Carey did have a fumble in the game that was initially ruled down by contact before being overturned by the command centre. The Argos as a team have the most rushing yards per game in the league with 123.9, over 16 yards per game more than second-place Winnipeg.
There was nothing sneaky about Toronto’s running Friday night against Calgary. The Argos repeatedly ran out of run-heavy sets, often using six offensive linemen with guard Ryan Hunter on the end of the line as a tight end. On Toronto’s first touchdown drive, the Boatmen ran six straight running plays, sucking in the defence, which allowed Arbuckle to launch a touchdown to Makai Polk in man coverage. Their final touchdown drive saw Ryan Dinwiddie dial-up five runs in six plays, culminating in a 10-yard touchdown run for Carey against his former team.
Filling in fine
Toronto’s offensive line, which has managed to remain relatively healthy all season, is finally beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Right guard Gregor MacKellar was put on the six-game injured list this week, so rookie Anthony Vandal filled in for him Friday night.
Then, in the third quarter, left tackle Isiah Cage went down with what appeared to be a neck injury. Dylan Giffen, freshly activated from the six-game injured list himself filled in at left guard allowing Ryan Hunter to slide over to the left tackle spot.
These moves allowed to Argos to show off their depth along the line. The Argos averaged over seven yards per carry, not including quarterback sneaks, and held the Stampeders to just a single sack, a week after allowing six in Calgary.
Famous Amos
DaShaun Amos only has 10 total tackles through nine games this season but that low number is a testament to how well he’s been doing his job. In an interview this week with my broadcast partner Mike Hogan and in-game host Sean Bowen, Amos said, “[tackles] aren’t a number DBs like to count ‘cause that means a lot of balls have been caught on you.”
It’s true that quarterbacks have been avoiding throwing his way in 2024. On Friday night, Jake Maier paid the price for looking in Amos’ direction as the veteran halfback notched his third pick of the season, taking this one 55 yards for a touchdown which put Toronto on top in the fourth quarter.
Man down
The Argos were very banged up coming into this game with 12 players on the six-game injured list — half of whom are starters — and three players listed as game-time decisions in quarterback Cameron Dukes, running back Dan Adeboboye, and linebacker Fraser Sopik.
All three were able to dress and while Dukes never took the field and Adeboboye contributed but one carry, Sopik was all over the place defensively. He tied for the team lead with seven tackles and generated pressure as a blitzer on a number of occasions. In their second game without all-star linebacker Wynton McManis, Sopik dressing allowed the Argos to play Jonathan Jones at middle linebacker in his place.
The king has returned
After being bottled up in back-to-back weeks, Toronto return specialist Janarion Grant exploded in the second half of this game, taking a kickoff back 39 yards and a punt return 86 yards to the house.
The most impressive part of his punt return touchdown was how calmly he seemed to direct traffic on the way to the endzone. With only punter Cody Grace left to beat, Grant got Tyshon Blackburn, his last remaining blocker, turned around and pointed in the direction of Grace. Blackburn connected on the block and Grant continued untouched into the endzone.
This was the third punt return touchdown for Grant this season to go along with a kickoff return touchdown, and this was the 10th punt return touchdown of Grant’s career, one shy of Earl Winfield’s 11 for second most in CFL history.
Two cannons
The Argonauts fire a cannon prior to the opening kickoff but there’s been a second Argos cannon this season in the form of John Haggerty’s leg.
Last week, Haggerty set a club record averaging 58.9 yards on 8 punts, surpassing a mark set by Hank Ilesic over 38 years ago. The Australian punter had a big game Friday night as well, averaging 56.5 yards on four punts, but it’s what he’s been able to do all season long that is most impressive.
He’s on pace to set a single-season team record with an average of 52.4 yards per punt through nine games. Haggerty already holds the Toronto record for career punting average with over 49 yards per punt, significantly higher than second-place Swayze Waters’ 46.8.
Admiral of adjustments
In his three and a half seasons as head coach, Ryan Dinwiddie’s Argonauts have dominated the second half of back-to-back games against the same opponent. With this win, Dinwiddie’s record is now 7-2 in these situations and one of those two losses came in the last week of the 2022 regular season when the coach rested most of his starters before heading into the playoffs.
He’s proven himself to be a great tactician and the development of this week’s game plan seemed already to have started brewing last week in Calgary when he was critical of his own pass-heavy play-calling. Toronto leaned heavily on the ground game Friday night and it paid off.
Home sweet home
With this win over Calgary, Toronto now boasts a 24-6 home record throughout Ryan Dinwiddie’s tenure as head coach. Most teams play better at home than on the road — including the Stampeders, who have yet to win on the road or lose at home this season — but the Argos’ extreme differential over a period of years suggests their coach has found a way to motivate his players to defend their turf.
Speaking of turf, I’ve often wondered what kind of home-field advantage being the only team to play on natural grass affords the Argos. BMO Field’s playing surface is state of the art, so it drains extremely well, never gets muddy, and is rarely even slippery. Still, there’s always an adjustment for players between turf and grass, so this notion can’t be dismissed as a potential home-field advantage for the Argos.
Next Up
The Toronto Argonauts (5-4) head into their second bye week of the season, with their next game coming Thursday, August 19, at home against the Saskatchewan Roughriders (5-3-1).
