Toronto Argonauts: Next man up important against the Calgary Stampeders

With the injuries starting to pile up for the Toronto Argonauts, it will be vital for the team’s “next man up” mentality to come through against the Calgary Stampeders.

It is never an easy task going into McMahon Stadium and coming away with a victory, in fact no team has been able to beat the Calgary Stampeders at home since the 2015 season a streak that has lasted 13 games. The Toronto Argonauts know all too well how tough it is to beat Calgary, but now they get another chance albeit with tough injuries to overcome. This is how the depth chart will look with the Double Blue on the road.

Anthony Coombs will be a tough loss on the offensive side of the ball as he was a safety blanket for Ricky Ray. The 24-year old was 60 yards shy of matching a career high in receiving yards as he sits at 426 yards on 47 receptions in nine games along with 33 yards on seven carries. That type of production will be tough to replace with Alberta native, Jimmy Ralph starting in Coombs’ place with roughly 40 family members expected to be in attendance.

“I’m going in and starting at home,” said Ralph to the media after practice. “It’s cool how it worked out but I’m excited. I’m excited for the opportunity to be able to do it at home in front of my family. That obviously makes it more fun.”

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On defence, the team has lost more than half of their starters to injuries including defensive back Akwasi Owusu-Ansah who left with a knee injury during the Argos win over the Montreal Alouettes. He joins Victor Butler, Cleyon Laing, Jermaine Gabriel, Johhny Sears Jr., Alan-Michael Cash, Daryl Waud, Ken Bishop, and Josh Mitchell on the injured list.

Alden Darby will get the start at corner back in his first CFL game along with Quadarius Ford. “It’s not just us, but it’s been that way throughout the league,’’ said Argos head coach Marc Trestman speaking to Frank Ziccarelli of the Toronto Sun about his new-look secondary. “It’s next man up. We work in getting these guys ready, we have to develop them as coaches and gets us to find out more about our team. This is nothing new because it’s been going on with the other eight teams as well.”

The Stampeders are definitely a better offence than the Alouettes who the Argos held in check. It will be up to the defensive line to get pressure on Bo Levi Mitchell and win the battle in the trenches against Jerome Messam.

While losing Coombs is a tough loss they did receive some good news this week as DeVier Posey showed no ailments from a leg injury that had him go on the six-game injury reserve. With him back in the fold and SJ Green continuing to dominate, the Argos offence will be able to take advantage of match-ups.

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What will be important is the play of the offensive line and establishing the run game. It was the Calgary defence that injured Ray’s should which forced him to miss a game. If the Argos run game can wear down the Calgary defence it should give the receivers a chance to make plays.