On Saturday, the Toronto Argonauts got their revenge for last season’s home defeat to Montreal in the East Final, this time downing the top-seeded Alouettes 30-28 at Percival Molson Stadium to advance to the Grey Cup.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
The ups and downs of Chad Kelly
I knew I’d be writing a segment about Chad Kelly regardless of the outcome, but I never imagined it would have to range so dramatically. One of the biggest stories of Grey Cup week will be Kelly’s injury, and rightfully so – the Argonauts will be going into the championship with their backup quarterback at the helm. But I found everything that happened prior to his injury highly intriguing.
Kelly did not look himself for all but 15 seconds of the first half. The Alouettes were generating immediate pressure against a line that simply hasn’t allowed much since Kelly returned to the lineup, Montreal linebacker Darnell Sankey had clearly put in hours of film study on Kelly and was anticipating his hot reads, and the corners did a good job – at least initially — of locking down the outside receivers.
With 15 seconds remaining in the first half, Kelly had completed four of 11 passes for 35 yards with two interceptions. It was then that the player we’ve come to know over these past two seasons showed up. On a second-and-10 from the Toronto 46-yard-line, Kelly threw a 50/50 ball deep downfield to Damonte Coxie, who took to the sky and hauled in the pass over cornerback Lorenzo Burns for a 44-yard gain. Then, with time ticking down, Kelly went again to Coxie in the endzone, who fought off Burns once more for the 15-yard touchdown as time expired in the first half.
The injury
With under a minute to play in the third quarter and Toronto leading 24-16, Chad Kelly scrambled for a nine-yard gain and everything changed. Because it occurred in a crowd of people, I didn’t see the hit and I still haven’t but unfortunately through a few decades of coaching, I’ve seen more injuries than I care to remember and I knew immediately what was wrong. He popped up looking at his leg with an unusual expression. It wasn’t pain, it wasn’t fear — it was curiosity. Likely he couldn’t move his foot and he didn’t understand why as the shock probably prevented him initially from feeling the extent of what is a very painful injury. And then, confirming my initial assessment, as he went to the ground, his leg appeared to bend in a place where legs don’t generally bend. Kelly had an air cast put on his lower right leg and was lifted onto a stretcher and taken to the hospital.
Those who were on the field with him surrounded him and took a knee. Every non-injured player on the sideline jogged onto the field to do the same. While backup Nick Arbuckle later criticized the fan reaction to the injury, I thought there was an emotional, very human moment as people rose to their feet and gave Kelly an ovation as he was wheeled off the field.
The gamble
Let’s go back a little bit to the final play of the half. With eight seconds left, the Argos found themselves at the Alouettes 15-yard-line thanks to the bomb from Kelly to Coxie. At that time, Toronto was trailing 16-14 and the clock would start running as soon as the play was blown in. In real time, I was assessing Toronto’s options and none of them included lofting a deep ball down the sideline –- at least not without calling a timeout first.
Timeouts are highly valuable in the CF, and head coach Ryan Dinwiddie didn’t want to spend one there. With the clock at six seconds when the ball was snapped, the only option I saw was to fire a bullet to a slot receiver at the goal line. Instead, Kelly went back to Coxie and the big receiver made one of the best catches of the season as time expired.
Had that ball fallen incomplete – and it easily could have — the Argos would have jogged to the locker room trailing by two. Instead, thanks to a gutsy call from both Dinwiddie and Kelly, and a sensation play by Coxie, the Argos found themselves up 21-16. Think about how big that seven-point swing was. In a half dominated by Montreal, the home team was heading to the locker room down by five points. For all intents and purposes, that was the ballgame.
The ghost of Damonte Coxie
A hundred years from now, the ghost of Damonte Coxie will continue to haunt the East endzone of Percival Molson Stadium. Getting the big outside target back for this game would have been big news regardless of the opposition or stadium the Argos were playing in, but Coxie has tormented Montreal in the most unusual way. He has caught a touchdown pass in each of the four games he’s played in Montreal –- three of which were spectacular, highlight-reel catches that came in clutch situations like the one on Saturday night. One in particular was named the CFL’s best play of the 2023 season by TSN.
Coxie injured his knee on a scary-looking play against Edmonton in the final week of the regular season. He was a long shot to play last week, initially listed as a game-time decision but then scratched a day before the game, and he was limited in practice leading up to this game. The Argos did make use of American receivers Janarion Grant and Jake Herslow, but Coxie played the majority of the snaps at the boundary wide receiver position. He finished the game with five catches on five targets for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Hu you gonna call?
If there’s another guy on the Argonauts the Alouettes will be cursing as they clean out their lockers, it’s kicker Lirim Hajrullahu. His accuracy, range, consistency, and coolness under pressure came into play in just about every one of the four meetings between these two teams this season.
Hajrullahu was an absurd 18-of-18 on field goals against the Alouettes. His three converted field goal attempts on Saturday actually brought down his season average against the team as he was pacing at five field goals per game through the first three meetings. They were also all the scoring the Argos could muster in the second half but in a two-point victory, they were just enough.
Into the fire
It’s never ideal to have to turn to your backup quarterback in the playoffs but all things considered, Toronto was in as positive a situation as any. Not only were the Argos leading at the time through almost three quarters but Nick Arbuckle was used extensively just two weeks ago in what was his best game as a member of the Argonauts. Instead of checking everything down like we saw him do earlier this season — and instead of turning the ball over repeatedly as we saw him do during his time in Ottawa — Arbuckle was making smart decisions, accurate throws, and attacking downfield.
On Saturday in relief, with a lead to protect and a clock to kill, Dinwiddie showed full faith in the veteran quarterback by dialling up passing plays and Arbuckle rewarded his confidence. He completed five of eight passes for 73 yards, including a 20-yard dime to Dave Ungerer III over the middle of the field on second-and-long. Then, with the game hanging in the balance, Arbuckle spotted a matchup he liked with linebacker Tyrice Beverette on receiver Dejon Brissett. He threw a great ball on a corner route and Beverette made early contact as he struggled to close ground, which drew flags from the three officials closest to the play.
Arbuckle is playing as well right now as I’ve ever seen him play, so if there was ever a time for Toronto to have their backup quarterback take the helm heading into the Grey Cup game, this is it. Not only that, of every CFL coach, none is better suited for getting Arbuckle ready for the game. Dinwiddie himself made his first CFL start at quarterback in the 2007 Grey Cup after Winnipeg’s starter, Kevin Glenn, went down with an injury in the fourth quarter of the East Final.
Giving ground
One shocking number that jumps off the stats page is how well Montreal ran the ball against the Argos. It’s been tough for just about everyone to run versus the Boatmen, and Montreal had failed in that regard in their earlier matchups.
Toronto was allowing an average of 85.1 rushing yards per game, which the Alouettes blew past early in the first half. By halftime, they had accumulated 117 rushing yards, and the finished the game with 156. Their use of heavy personnel seemed to catch the Argos off guard early on. Montreal ran out of a lot of tight end and double tight end sets and often had multiple backs in the backfield. The advantage of wrapping up the division as early as Montreal did was that it afforded them time to create and work on new plays that they never had to show anyone.
The Argos made adjustments as the game went on, and due to them trailing, the Alouettes relied less on the running game in the second half. Though there were some broken tackles, I don’t view this as a huge concern heading into the Grey Cup against the best rushing team in the league as Toronto’s problems against the run appeared to stem more from the formation used and play design than it did an inability to tackle the ball-carrier.
Points from elsewhere
Through the first nine games of the season, the Argonauts found ways to generate non-offensive points. With Cam Dukes and Nick Arbuckle at quarterback, it seemed as though just about every game featured their defensive stars returning an interception for a touchdown or Janarion Grant running back a kick or punt return.
Since Chad Kelly’s return, the points were exclusively generated by the offence – until last week when the defence reappeared with two pick-sixes. Against the Alouettes, Benjie Franklin notched his second pick-six in as many weeks and the team’s third over that span. Linebacker Isaac Darkangelo deserves credit for the ball popping up into the air but Franklin was in good position to pick off the deflected ball and certainly has the speed to outrun anyone to the endzone.
Add Grant to the list
Franklin’s interception opened the scoring for the Argonauts and it was their special teams unit that followed it up. Down 16-7, Janarion Grant fielded a short punt that took an awkward bounce and drew the coverage team in tight. Grant sprinted to the outside and no Alouettes were able to get close to him as he flew down the sideline for a 71-yard touchdown. It was his second at Percival Molson this season, so we may have to add him to the list of players Montreal never wants to see again.
That was Grant’s fifth special teams touchdown this season with four coming on punt returns and one on a kickoff return. He also had his longest pass reception of the season on a 47-yard go-ball from Chad Kelly which took the Argos out of the shadow of their goalpost.
Poutine, smoked meat, and turnovers
It’s cliché to talk about a game coming down to turnovers but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. With two good teams –- and I think it’s fair to say Toronto and Montreal both qualify there –- the team with fewer turnovers generally wins.
On Saturday, turnovers were one of the major differences in the game. The Argos forced five turnovers –- two of which were picks by Benjie Franklin — and the Alouettes forced only two, both interceptions off Chad Kelly. The first of those was immediately erased when receiver Makai Polk raced back to punch the ball out of Najee Murray’s hands and give it back to Toronto. The Alouettes had given up the second-fewest turnovers in the league heading into this contest — three more than Saskatchewan’s 23 — but they will rue this slip-up all offseason.
Red flag
Ryan Dinwiddie coached an outstanding game, which isn’t new for him, and he really should have been in more conversations for Coach of the Year recognition. Look at how he once again handled coaching winning football without his number-one quarterback.
When trying to find flaws in Dinwiddie’s coaching, often the only place to go is challenges. For as good a coach as he is, he remains terrible at knowing when to throw the challenge flag. In this game, he challenged a play where he felt Cody Fajardo had crossed the line of scrimmage when he threw the ball. I certainly didn’t see it that way watching live and the replay confirmed that he was a full yard behind the line of scrimmage when he let the ball go. If there’s an area for him to work on in the offseason, it’s reexamining the Argos system for challenging plays.
Up next
The Toronto Argonauts head to Vancouver to take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 111th Grey Cup game on November 17 at 6:30 p.m. EST. The Argonauts have won 18 Grey Cups in their history, the most of any CFL team, including wins in each of their last seven appearances.
