Toronto Argonauts trusting the process as they look to end slump
With the Toronto Argonauts losing streak at three games, the team isn’t ready to call it quits as they look to get back on track against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
As the Toronto Argonauts return from a much-needed bye week they now face a tough task of making the playoffs after back-to-back losses to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
For the players, the week off gave them a chance to put football aside, unwind and be with family. Bear Woods went back home to Alabama and got to take his daughters to school every day while Duron Carter went back to Florida to see his girlfriend and dog.
During the break, Jim Popp swung a deal with the Edmonton Eskimos to send returner Martese Jackson and a conditional sixth-round pick to for a third-round pick in 2019.
Toronto currently sits third in the East but with the crossover rules, the B.C. Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers are ahead of them to make the playoffs. It is a tough situation when a team’s postseason hopes rely on how other teams perform but that’s the position they find themselves in.
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Their next three games are against the West Division including one on the road against the Lions and the Calgary Stampeders. This stretch is a good opportunity for the Argos to get back to the form from last season that saw them clinch the East and go on to win the Grey Cup.
There is a belief among the players especially those who were a part of the team last season because they experienced the success firsthand. This is why the team still has belief and Woods explains how the team will get the new players on board.
"“The process is proven therefore the process hasn’t changed,” Woods said after walkthrough on Monday.“You just need a majority of guys to buy in from a mental standpoint…if there is any sharpening, as far as the mental approach, from all the guys buying into that it’s because we have a lot of new guys here. This isn’t the same team we had from the start of training camp. With that being said there are philosophies and how we do things here that they missed out on when they were implemented so we rehashed those things so that guys can buy into the process.”"
When asked about the defence, Woods does not attribute any of the losses to the changes made to the coaching staff with Mike Archer taking over for Corey Chamblin. He believes it’s on the players executing plays at the right time considering nothing has changed schematically.
For the most part, the Argos defence has kept the team in games and now the offence needs to step up and start making plays. If that doesn’t happen, the Argos will go from being reigning champions to watching their season end prematurely.
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Knowing some of the veterans in the locker room, this team won’t go down easily but time is surely running out.