Turnovers, missed tackles sink Argos in loss to Saskatchewan (& 11 other thoughts)

On Thursday night, the Toronto Argonauts dropped their second straight game, this one to the undefeated Saskatchewan Roughriders by a score of 30-23.

This was a game the Argonauts had no business losing, with both quarterback Trevor Harris and receiver Shawn Bane Jr. out of the lineup. The Argos’ defence did their job, holding A.J. Ouellette to under four yards per carry and quarterback Shea Patterson to under 200 yards passing, but the team lost the turnover battle 5-0, which led directly to 20 Saskatchewan points.

Here are my thoughts on the game.

Too picky

After protecting the ball extremely well through the first two games of the season, Cam Dukes has thrown five interceptions in the past two contests without registering a touchdown pass.

Dukes’ four interceptions were the primary reason Toronto lost the game. One wasn’t his fault, two were the result of off-target throws, and one was a poor decision.

His first pick looked initially like a sensational play. Dukes spun out of a sack from an unblocked defender, stepped up, and then as he was getting hit executed a pop pass to Damonte Coxie on a drag route. The pass went through Coxie’s hands right to Deontai Williams, who was in coverage on the play.

His second interception was also on a pass intended for Coxie, but should never have been thrown. Rolling hard to his right, he saw Coxie break open on an over route from the other side of the field, but in throwing across his body he couldn’t get enough pace on the ball, allowing Rolan Milligan to come from behind and intercept the pass.

His third interception was an off-target throw, but it was also a bit of bad luck. He tried once again to connect with Coxie, this time on a dig route at the sticks. Dukes fired the ball high and behind his receiver, who just managed to get a fingertip on it, deflecting the ball directly to Marcus Sayles, who took it back for a pick-six. I’m still not sure exactly why Sayles was standing where he was.

Dukes’ fourth and final interception was another ball off-target on a tough throw. He was looking to drop it into Tommy Nield behind linebacker C.J. Avery, and in front of halfback Rolan Milligan, but the ball sailed out of his hand and went directly to Milligan.

QB2 be or not QB2 be

In his post-game press conference, Ryan Dinwiddie wasn’t ready to move on from Cam Dukes just yet, saying “he’s just got to be a little bit cleaner, but I believe in Cam. He’s going to be our quarterback.”

He also praised the play of Nick Arbuckle, who came in late and led the Argos to a field goal. Dinwiddie stressed a few times that he needed to watch the film before making any major decisions and mused about the idea of playing both quarterbacks.

Scott free

Last week against Montreal, Bryan Scott was brought in at quarterback in relief of Dukes, but it was Arbuckle who got the call in Saskatchewan. Dinwiddie explained that he viewed the Montreal game as being out of reach at that point and wanted to get Scott some live reps. Conversely, in this situation, he felt it was still a winnable game, and so looked to his veteran quarterback to bring the Argos back from a 10-point deficit.

D is for dilemma

As far as I could tell, Jake Ceresna was the only Argonaut to sustain an injury from which he was unable to return. Ceresna injured his shoulder early in the game and was seen on the sideline with an ice pack shortly thereafter. But there was a series where multiple defenders were briefly sidelined which resulted in a Saskatchewan score.

With Ceresna already out, linebacker Wynton McManis, and defensive linemen Jordan Williams and Derek Parish were all forced to exit the game, leaving the Argos with a skeleton crew of defenders. Out of an awkward 3-4 set given the second-and-four situation, Toronto felt compelled to send the house, leaving the back end in cover zero, which Samuel Emilus took full advantage of, scoring a touchdown from 34 yards out.

Timing is everything

The injury to Ceresna is exacerbated by the fact that Flo Orimolade is already on the six-game injured list. Dinwiddie didn’t seem to feel Ceresna’s injury would be long-term, but further assessment will need to be done back in Toronto.

The injury is poorly time because it comes on the heels of the Argos losing defensive lineman Deionte Knight to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who plucked the 2022 second-round draft pick from Toronto’s practice roster. Also, former Argo Shawn Oakman just signed in Edmonton, so he’s unavailable should the team have wanted to renew ties with the former all-star.

Tackling

Wynton McManis and Fraser Sopik were all over the field for the Argonauts and were largely responsible for holding A.J. Ouellette in check. Both linebackers missed a tackle on Ouellette in the game’s early stages but rebounded beautifully showing great heart and determination against the league’s most physical runner.

The defensive secondary may need to spend some time in the linebacker room this week, as their own tackling efforts fell short of expectations. There were several missed tackles from defensive backs throughout the game, but none more embarrassing than the three failed attempts on Emilus’ touchdown catch-and-run. Mason Pierce took a bad angle and not only missed a diving tackle but impeded his teammate in the process as Royce Metchie fell short of tackling the big receiver. Benji Franklin completed the trifecta, falling awkwardly to the ground as Emilus spun to the outside and ran the final 23 yards untouched.

Mosaic magic

Sometimes as a player, there are certain stadiums that, for whatever reason, bring out your best. For Janarion Grant, Mosaic Stadium seems to be one of those places.

In 2022, he scored a record-setting punt return touchdown in the Grey Cup against the Argos in that stadium. In 2023, he scored another punt return touchdown there, this time against the Roughriders, in what is considered by many, including myself, to be among the greatest individual plays in CFL history.

On Thursday night, Grant opened the scoring with yet another punt return touchdown at Mosaic, this one from 84 yards out. After fielding the ball, he calmly juked around would-be tacklers, setting up his blocks, broke one tackle, then burst straight up the middle, strolling past Saskatchewan punter Adam Korsak on his way to the end zone.

Two to tango

Following Janarion Grant’s touchdown return, Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie curiously elected to go for a two-point conversion instead of kicking the PAT. I appreciate aggressive coaching, so I have no issues with the decision, but it’s something I’ve never seen Dinwiddie do before.

Ka’Deem Carey walked in untouched but a holding penalty on fullback Albert Awachie negated the score, forcing the Argos to execute another two-point attempt, this one from the 13-yard-line. I saw some questions pop up immediately on social media as to why Dinwiddie didn’t elect to kick the extra point following the penalty, and the answer is simply that he’s not allowed to. According to Rule 3, Article 5 of the CFL rule book, “When a convert is re-tried due to a penalty, a team that initially elected to attempt a two-point convert from the three-yard line cannot change their election to now attempt a one-point convert on the re-try. They must continue to attempt a two-point convert.”

Flag on the play

Seven penalties for 70 yards is an improvement from last week’s 11 penalties for 120 yards, but it’s still an unacceptable number. Some of this week’s infractions either took points off the board or led to the Argos punting the football away. Dinwiddie acknowledged after the game that despite being a point of focus, this is an area the Argos need to continue to clean up if they’re to be successful.

The Long and Winding Road

In one of many unusual scheduling quirks in the CFL, the Argos opened the season with a three-game homestand before embarking on a three-game road trip.

Historically speaking, teams haven’t fared well on either their second or third straight road game, so with that in mind, winning their first game away from home was crucial for Toronto. The loss not only drops their record to .500, it puts a lot of pressure on them heading into Montreal to play the consensus best team in the league so far this season.

We’re going streaking!

Toronto’s loss snapped a four-game winning streak against the Roughriders. Oddly, Saskatchewan had won their previous eight matchups. The Argos have to hope this loss isn’t the beginning of another streak.

This was the Argos’ fifth time playing at Mosaic Stadium since the cancelled 2020 season, including their 2022 Grey Cup win, but the Riders haven’t played at BMO Field since 2019. Both of Toronto’s home games against Saskatchewan post-pandemic were played on the East Coast as part of the CFL’s Touchdown Atlantic series.

The Roughriders are scheduled to play at BMO Field on August 22, which is not only during the Canadian National Exhibition, it’s also Toronto’s 10th game. That means quarterback Chad Kelly could be eligible to return from his nine-game suspension, potentially making the game environment both literally and figuratively a circus.

Our balls are bigger

This is an Argos-focused recap but I want to acknowledge the fearless play-calling of Roughriders rookie offensive coordinator Marc Mueller.

With under two minutes remaining in the game and the Argos out of timeouts, I thought for sure the Riders would run A.J. Ouellette to keep the ball out of harm’s way and let the clock continue to run. Instead, Mueller, with a first-time starter at the helm, went to the air, not once, but twice, sealing the win for Saskatchewan.

I praised Mueller earlier in the season for his daring play-calling against the Elks in the team’s opener, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but so few offensive coaches would have made that call. He should definitely seek out one of those 1990s slogan t-shirts with that famous marketing line and wear it proudly around town.

Next up

The Toronto Argonauts (2-2) travel to Montreal (4-0) to continue their season series with the Alouettes next Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Montreal won the first game between the two teams last week at BMO Field 30-20.