John Sokolowski
Some games are bigger than others. You just feel it.
Some games can be mathematically proven to be bigger. That’s the case with this Sunday’s tilt between the Argos and the Montreal Alouettes.
“We can’t spend any effort looking ahead or doing any math. It’s definitely not my strong suit,” said Toronto centre Jeff Keeping, when told of the ramifications and numerical permutations of a win versus a loss.
It’s pretty simple. The Toronto Argonauts, up and down in 2012 and, now, shackled with an injury bug that infests pretty well each and every CFL team at some point in a season, simply must beat Montreal.
The Alouettes, with a win, would pull four points clear of the Argos and would hold the tie breaker between the two, with three games each to play.
Basically, that would mean Toronto would need to run the table, while Montreal did no better than a tie in their remaining three, to win the East. Or, if you rather, the Argos would need to win at least two and tie another, with the Alouettes losing all three.
“Not even worried about it, man,” was free safety Jordan Younger’s reply when confronted with the numbers. “We’ll worry about that when the game’s over. One way or the other. Right now, just get ready for Montreal, man.”
The ups, the downs, the bumps and the sharp turns of this Argo season – a season which has seen the team tantalizingly close to a breakthrough a number of times – make it a little unreasonable to assume that this is a crew poised for a three game winning streak, never mind having it coupled with a three game winless streak by Montreal.
That means Sunday’s game is a must, the most recent and certainly most important opportunity for the Toronto Argonauts to assert some football authority. Which means productive, clean play in all aspects of the game.
Younger believes the defence is close. He feels what was basically a decent showing against Saskatchewan, by the unit he captains, was marred by just a few, yet major, missteps.
“We blew about 7 plays on defence, you know, total plays,” he explained. “Other than that, we did really well against them. Knowing that it wasn’t crazy bad, that we had a letdown at a really bad time coming into the second half, we know that we’re really, really close to putting that game together.”
What more opportune time than Sunday to assemble that game? The Alouettes have have their challenges, themselves, losing two straight. Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo says he feels like they’ve played like a last place team, but Younger knows that doesn’t mean the Argo defence should be licking its collective chops, anticipating an easy meal.
“Calvillo’s going to be ready,” he nodded. “They’re going to have energy. They’re a talented football team and we’re excited about the opportunity to play against them at home.”
Over on the offensive side of the ball, Jeff Keeping is looking for a well-mixed batch of emotion and playmaking, as he looks both ahead to Montreal and back at Saskatchewan.
“Intensity has got to be at an all-time high,” he said, of Sunday’s game.
“We had an intense group in the locker room before our last game. The group was electric. But, as you see, intensity without execution is misplaced. So we’ve gotta try and put together a better effort in terms of being intense but coming out and executing and taking care of the fundamentals. Taking care of the ball and taking less penalties.”
The Argo offence will be down a wide receiver, this weekend, as Dontrelle Inman nurses a sore hamstring, causing head coach Scott Milanovich to do a little more roster juggling, as has become commonplace recently.
With Inman out, Jason Barnes will, perhaps, get a shot at redemption after being a scratch for the last six games. Quarterback Ricky Ray, is questionable, as is running back Chad Kackert. Whether it’s Ray and Kackert lining up in the backfield, or backups Jarious Jackson and Gerald Riggs Jr., a reasonably effective attack needs to be mounted, or the big game gets that much tougher to win.
Despite only 10 points in the Thanksgiving Day loss to the ‘Riders, Milanovich asserts that most of the mistakes have been detected and can be fixed.
“In a lot of cases they’re very easily corrected. So that, I think, gives coaches and players a sense of security, that, hey, you know it’s not major changes that need to be taking place. It’s just a step here, a leverage there, holding on to the football… those sort of things.”
Those sorts of things have been dogging the Argos all season long and now the little details have added up to them being in a position where a loss to the Alouettes will all but eliminate any chance of finishing in the East division penthouse.
But that’s just more math. Keeping’s aversion to it does make some football player sense. As he says:
“All we can do is focus on Montreal and take care of business and the math will take care of itself.”
