Toronto Argoanuts: Struggles reach new level against Blue Bombers
After another loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Toronto Argonauts are still searching for answers.
The Toronto Argonauts would be the first to say that there’s no excuse for a 1-5 start to the season. Another disappointing loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in which James Franklin made some poor decisions has people questioning whether they should have gone after Johnny Manziel.
Before getting into the Manziel discussion, let’s look at Friday’s game in Winnipeg where the Argos offence once again failed to step up when the team needed it to. As Frank Zicarelli wrote in his postgame column, the finger pointing does start at the quarterback position and he was quick to take the blame.
"“It’s definitely tough, frustrating,” said Franklin after the game. “It does start with the quarterback position as far as the offence moving the ball down the field. It’s not necessarily doing anything special or impressive. It’s about being smart and executing the offence and that’s something I didn’t do a good job (Friday night).“It’s hard for the other guys to do stuff and make plays when the guy trying to execute the offence from his position isn’t doing so well.”"
At critical points in the game, the Argos took ill-timed penalties, failed to convert on second down, had a turnover or failed to execute. The way they’ve piled up on this team is something that’s tough to ignore because it has cost them especially the past two games.
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The first touchdown for Winnipeg shouldn’t have happened after a bad penalty call which gave the Blue Bombers a first down, Nic Demski would score a touchdown on the following play. While the call hurt the Argos,
It showed that once again that the Argos were going to be in for a long game and with it being a live mic game you got to hear the frustration from Marc Trestman.
When the Argos were able to make plays, something negative would turn up to take it back like Rodney Smith’s fumble after a big completion or the untimely interceptions from Franklin.
Simply put, the offence hasn’t been good enough to get the job done and something will need to change to get the team back on track.
Franklin can’t make it feel like he has to do it all himself, other parts of the offence have to bring more to the table. The running game was productive as James Wilder Jr. and Martese Jackson combining for over 100 yards but only managed 17 carries between the two of them (Wilder had 15).
A good running game can take the pressure off of a starting quarterback, that’s what has made top teams in the league successful along with elite quarterback play. Even those quarterbacks have receivers making plays for them which hasn’t happened enough for the Argos.
Next. Dexter McCluster talks about return to football. dark
Whether the team makes more moves to try and improve the team’s chances or subtract from the team like they did with Shawn Lemon still remains to be seen but Thursday’s game against Ottawa could provide some answers if they lose again.