On Friday night in Edmonton, the Toronto Argonauts wrapped up their regular season with a 31-30 overtime loss to the Elks in a game that appeared to mean far more for the home side than the playoff-bound visitors. This was Toronto’s first overtime loss since 2007 when they dropped a 29-27 decision to the Montreal Alouettes.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Canadian Shield
The Argonauts started an all-National offensive line against the Elks for the first time in recent memory. It was an opportunity to rest a few starters and see what younger players had to their games, but it also served to showcase Toronto’s drafting success over the past few seasons. Rookie John Bosse (2024) was at left tackle, Gregor MacKellar (2022) at left guard, Peter Nicastro (2021) at centre, Anthony Vandal (2023) at right guard, and Landon Rice at right tackle. Aside from Rice, who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats way back in 2013, the rest of the starting line was drafted by this Argos front office.
This being Bosse’s first CFL game, most of my attention was focused on him. A third-round pick in this year’s draft, I’ve always been impressed by Bosse’s reach and was glad to see him get a chance to play tackle. He didn’t play a flawless game by any means, allowing a few pressures and the quarterback hit that drove Cameron Dukes from the game, but he didn’t allow a sack. Playing left tackle for a Canadian rookie was a huge ask from the Argos coaching staff and all things considered, Bosse played well.
As a team, the Argos were built to feature two Americans, Isiah Cage and Dejon Allen, at tackle but since Cage’s injury against the Tiger-Cats on September 20, left guard Ryan Hunter (another Argos draft pick) has played the left tackle spot. Due to the plethora of talented Canadian interior linemen on the roster, the Argos have started four National linemen since then.
A brief return for the Duke
Chad Kelly dressed for this game, but something catastrophic would have had to happen for him to get any playing time. Cameron Dukes, who started the first eight games of the season for Toronto, got the call but he didn’t make it to the second quarter.
After completing five of his seven pass attempts for 40 yards, Dukes went down awkwardly without being touched and appeared to be in a lot of pain. He stayed in the game but was clearly favouring his lower body. On the next play, he took a low hit from former Argos defensive end Daniel Joseph, limped slowly to the sideline and never returned.
Arrrrrrrbuckle
Nick Arbuckle started the second quarter in place of the injured Cameron Dukes. This may have been Arbuckle’s best game as a Toronto Argonaut, covering both of his stints with the Double Blue. In three quarters of work, he completed 72 percent of his passes for 378 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception which appeared to be impacted by one of his receivers running the wrong route.
What made Arbuckle’s performance even more impressive is that he was taking on Edmonton’s defensive starters with a pieced-together offensive line and a collection of backup skill position players. Health and availability aside, if something were to happen to Chad Kelly in the playoffs, Arbuckle made a great case for coming off the bench to replace him.
A collective gasp
The entire city of Toronto gasped a few plays into the second quarter when Damonte Coxie went spinning to the ground with an awkward-looking lower-body injury. The primary goal for this game was to escape Edmonton healthy and just a few plays after losing Cameron Dukes, one of Toronto’s best playmakers limped off the field and wouldn’t return.
Arbuckle found Coxie on a dig route, but linebacker Nick Anderson hit him low and hard as he caught the ball. The good news is, while Coxie was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game, he was able to walk back to the locker room at halftime without a noticeable limp. His availability at Argos practice this week will be monitored closely.
Next man up
Jake Herslow came in to play the X-receiver position after Coxie left the field and two plays later, he had his first CFL reception and his first CFL touchdown on a beautiful diving catch. Herslow spent parts of last season on the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ practice roster and was signed by the Argonauts in June. If Coxie is unable to play against Ottawa this coming week, Herslow will have to be considered as a potential replacement.
Cobra Kai
Rookie receiver Makai Polk, or Kai, as his teammates call him, had six catches on six targets for 122 yards in a single half of play. Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie seemed determined to have Polk reach the 1,000-yard mark before taking him out of the game, so Arbuckle fed him a steady diet of fastballs in the second quarter.
Polk finishes the regular season with the team lead in receptions with 61, yards with 1,024, yards-after-catch with 286, average yards-per-reception with 16.8, and receiving touchdowns with five. He wasn’t supposed to factor into the equation for Toronto this season, but his early success led to the team moving on from Rasheed Bailey in favour of the young receiver out of Mississippi State.
Putting up points
Barring a record-setting game in either Montreal or Saskatchewan on Saturday night, the Toronto Argonauts will end the season with the highest-scoring offence in the CFL. This is an impressive achievement considering they played 10 of their 18 games without the reining CFL MOP, Chad Kelly.
With 515 points, Toronto finishes ahead of Edmonton’s 504 points scored. This is the first time the Argos have led the league in scoring since 1997 when Doug Flutie’s Argonauts put up 660 points. Last season, Toronto was on track to end that streak, but with six meaningless games to end the year, Winnipeg was able to catch up and pass them by a measly three points.
I get knocked down
When a team gives up almost 600 yards, there isn’t generally a lot to celebrate defensively, but cornerback Benji Franklin had another impressive performance in coverage.
Franklin started the season as the field corner, briefly lost his starting job, then took over as the starting boundary corner and has never looked back. He is without question the most improved player on Toronto’s defence. With two knockdowns, he leads the league in that category with 13, two more than Saskatchewan’s Marcus Sayles, who is scheduled to play Saturday night against Calgary.
A specials player
Jack Cassar is doing something, um, special this season for Toronto, leading the league in special teams tackles.
As the starting middle linebacker on this day, Casar had an uncharacteristically quiet game on special teams, unable to add to his league-leading 22 special teams tackles, which is a career-high. Saskatchewan’s Rolan Milligan Jr. and AJ Allen are two behind with 20 heading into Saturday’s game.
I had the pleasure of coaching Cassar for a few seasons, and while he was an outstanding defensive player, he always generated the most oohs and ahhs on special teams with bone-crunching hits at high speed.
A quiet day on the Toronto Sack Exchange
With only one sack from Dererk Parish at the closing bell against the Elks, this wasn’t by any means a banner day for the Exchange, but they will end up with the most team sacks in the league for the second straight year. Sacks were down across the CFL in 2024 and so while Toronto’s 48 is first, it’s a distance from last year’s 68. Ottawa and B.C. are tied for second place with 39.
The Argonauts blitzed a lot on first down, but the focus in this game seemed to be less about getting to Tre Ford and more about containing him as best as possible. Even still, Ford managed to put up 81 yards on the ground.
It’s good!
It wasn’t Lirim Hajrullahu’s best game of the season and yet, the veteran kicker was still able to tie Toronto’s team record for field goals in a game with 55. Hajrullahu had an opportunity to establish a new record, but his 49-yard overtime field goal sailed to the left. He also missed a 40-yarder in the first quarter.
With 202 points on the season, Hajrullahu finishes third in Argos history behind Lance Chomyc’s 236 set in 1991, and his 207 points set in 1998.
Up Next
The Toronto Argonauts (10-8) host the Ottawa Redblacks (9-8-1) on Saturday, November 2 at 3:00 pm EDT in the East Division Semi-Final. It will be the first time the two teams have met in the postseason since 1990, and the first time the Argonauts have hosted a divisional semi-final since 2012.
Ben Grant has been the radio colour analyst for the Toronto Argonauts since 2023 on TSN 1050 (Toronto). He coached high school football at Lorne Park Secondary School 2003-2018 and semi-pro football for the Northern Football Conference's GTA All-Stars 2018-2023.
