Toronto Argonauts need to find right mindset following embarrassing loss

A helmet of the Toronto Argonauts. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
A helmet of the Toronto Argonauts. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images) /
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On a day where Ricky Ray made his return to BMO Field to celebrate his Hall of Fame career, the Toronto Argonauts got a big wakeup call from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

If there was one thing the Toronto Argonauts players were

It is hard to find an excuse for the way the team played and none of the players or head coach Corey Chamblin were offering any. At the same time, they are not going to fold on the season despite the embarrassing 64-14 defeat.

The Argos have been on the receiving end of blowout losses but not to this extent especially at their home opener with the fanbase looking to forget a disappointing season and instead they were left frustrated and given no reason to stay to the final whistle.

"“It starts with me. That’s me as the head coach’’ said Chamblin. “That means the guys as individuals when they look into the mirror. It’s not one person.“You can remove a coach after a coach after a coach. It ain’t going to change until all of us learn how to win day in and day out.”"

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One thing Chamblin wanted to make clear, the changes many were expecting to come this season weren’t going to happen overnight. The team needs to adopt the right mindset but t takes more than one person to get the team to adopt it.

Starting quarterback James Franklin understands that and while he couldn’t pull the Argos out of the hole they were digging themselves into, he isn’t ready to lose hope.

"“A lot of frustration, a lot of mistakes but you can’t lose faith after the first game,” Franklin said. “We just try to learn from it and just remember that we still have a chance”"

Armanti Edwards was pretty blunt about the way the game went saying he has never experienced a loss like this in his career. Despite being one of the few productive players scoring the lone touchdown while making some great catches downfield he knows he will have to do his part to ensure he is better and hopefully it translates to the rest of the team.

Shawn Lemon says the best way for the team to get over this loss is to own up to it.

"“You just have to learn from it, turn a loss into a lesson, that’s a team over there who’s been knocking on the door to get to the Grey Cup the past few years and they showed more urgency from us today,” Lemon said."

This will be the biggest question as the team prepares for its next game on Canada Day against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Can the team find the way to execute the fundamentals, find a way to make the breaks to go their way and avoid the major breakdowns that let the game get out of hand?

“It was all on us,” said Alden Darby Jr. “We have to attack it head on, we can’t hide from it, the scoreboard was what it was and it’s up to us to come back and get it right.”

Next. 3 keys to success during 2019 season. dark