A Word on the Argos. Or in the words of Billy Madison: YOU BLEW IT!

Toronto sports teams are at it again. They’ve blown leads in hockey, in baseball, and now in Canadian Football. Jokes aside, could the outcome of the Argonauts recent game bear significance on how the team does down the line?

(Image Credit to The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov)

You cannot lose a game like that. You just can’t.

Sitting at 1-4 heading into this game, Toronto needed a win against Montreal to get themselves back into the East Division playoff race. 

In the first half against Montreal, they did play like a team desperate to turn their season around.  Despite being stuck in a 4-4 deadlock, the Argonauts quickly blew that up off a touchdown throw by Nick Arbuckle to Damonte Coxie; this was immediately followed up by a turnover and then another touchdown, this time a 2-yard score from running back Deonta McMahon. All that together put Toronto up 18-7 at the half. 

Their success did continue into the first part of the second half. After forcing a punt, the Argos quickly drove down the field and scored another touchdown to extend the lead to 25-7. And after another forced punt, that’s when the game started to seem like it was all but decided. 

Unfortunately for Toronto, that’s also exactly where things began to take a turn for the worst. 

You see, before I continue, I have to remind my readers that Toronto is a wonky sports city of sorts. On one hand, the MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays will put together a strong win streak to take the lead in their division. On the other hand, the Toronto Maple Leafs will lose two straight home playoff games by a score of 6-1, with one of those being a Game 7. Recent sports history aside, the wonkiness definitely would not favour Toronto. And Nick Arbuckle’s decision-making? Often wonky. 

Despite the run game helping Toronto survive big situations throughout the game, Nick Arbuckle opted away from it, instead throwing two straight incompletions. What followed after the punt was an Alouettes touchdown drive. 

25-14. 

No matter. A little punch in the gut but the Argos are still in control. With 15 minutes of football left and with the Alouettes kicking the ball back, Toronto can taste their second victory of the season.

Nick Arbuckle immediately proceeds to throw two more incompletions and hand the ball right back to Montreal. The Alouettes respond by punting the ball back, giving Toronto a little sigh of relief. 

Nick Arbuckle did well to ensure that the sigh of relief was followed up by a big punch to the guts. This came in the form of another incompletion (when the run was a better option), and a big sack. The Argonauts punt the ball right back and the Alouettes quickly score another touchdown. 

25-20. The Alouettes miss the two-point try. 

The Argos respond by actually picking up a first down, and then actually running the ball on first down when they have a lead late in the game. Who would’ve thought. 

Nothing surprises me yet again as Nick Arbuckle holds onto the ball too long and gets sacked. You know what else didn’t surprise me at this point in the game? Another long Alouettes drive. The good news for Toronto is that they actually stopped the Alouettes from scoring by forcing a turnover. With the Argos getting possession back with just under 3 minutes to play, a few first downs will seal it. Which backup quarterback will finish the job for Toronto?

Oh wait, Nick Arbuckle is back on the field. And he gave up the ball. And that immediately was turned around for a touchdown. 

26-25 Montreal. The Alouettes miss the two-point try again.

While Nick Arbuckle finally looked functional once again on the Argos’ last drive, he threw an interception on the verge of field-goal range. Game, set, and match all in one. 

Though Nick Arbuckle did lose Toronto the game, he did earn a special reward. He earned the honour of being a trending topic on Canadian Twitter at 11:00 PM EST. 

As for the Argos as a whole, where do they go from here? At 1-5, it seems like only a miracle will get them back on track with the likes of Hamilton and Montreal (for the sake of the crossover, let’s throw BC into this conversation). And with a home-and-home series against Winnipeg taking place over the next two weeks, there is a good chance that Toronto is 1-7 by the time August 2nd rolls around, which could all but see them well outside of playoff proceedings. 

Even when Chad Kelly comes back, this hole might become too big to recover from. When a team is up 25-7 in the third quarter, that’s now a game they have to win. No excuses. 

And it seems like the Argos now have no more excuses. Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie may have one of the more impressive win-loss records to his name out of the current CFL head coaches, but he and his coaching staff need to get things back on track fast. Whether it's a change in quarterback should Chad Kelly not be ready to go against Winnipeg or even a change in game planning, the Argonauts need a spark heading into their final twelve games. That spark isn’t going to come if the team sits on their hands and waits for their star quarterback to be ready to play. 

Trust me, this situation would be far different had the Argos not blown that lead. 

But how that game ended proves they have to make a change. And fast.

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Article written by Noah Guttman