Toronto Argonauts defence ready for tough challenge against Roughriders
The Toronto Argonauts defence will look to get some retribution against the Saskatchewan Roughriders after getting burned earlier in the season.
Going into the season, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the Toronto Argonauts defence with Corey Chamblin back in charge. While there have been some strong performances from the defence, there have also been some letdowns too.
In the second game of the season, Toronto was looking to get over the sting from a blowout loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the home opener. Unfortunately, Cody Fajardo had other plans throwing for 430 and two touchdowns beating the Argos 32-7 at Mosaic Stadium.
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Since that tough loss in Regina, the Argos defence started to take some strides defensively but haven’t gotten the results they’ve been looking for. In that game specifically, Alden Darby took full responsibility for the big plays that went against the Argos defence.
"“At the end of the day, those couple of plays were my fault,” said Darby. “It’s an easy fix if you lock-in and don’t let it happen again.“The plays are set up for you to be in the right position so as long as you read your keys, read the quarterback or whatever your reads are.”"
This will be important against the Fajardo who isn’t afraid to extend the play with his legs in order to go for the big throw down the field. Part of what will help the defence is trying to keep Fajardo in the pocket and be ready for the moment he tries to elude the rush with his legs.
Keeping the Roughriders run game in check will also help especially if it puts their offence in more second and long situations.
"“It gives us more freedom to run different pressures and defence unlike on first down where the offence has the chance to run the ball,” said linebacker Ian Wild. “If we can stop the run we know they’re going to look to pass on second down which allows us to run different things.”"
Wild knows that the defence will have to be aware of playing a quarterback that likes to use his legs like Fajardo because it means the defence has to cover their zones and not allow a lot of room when playing man-to-man. Of course, taking away the quarterbacks mobility will also help as well.
Having a veteran like Bear Woods provided some stability considering he didn’t need a lot of time to come in and build chemistry with his teammates. Personally, he set higher goals this season for the team but has taken his role seriously as someone who the younger players come to for advice and hopefully he has taught some valuable lessons about being a professional both on and off the field.
Against Saskatchewan, they have another tough test against a team that has found a balance on both sides of the ball and looking to take advantage of Winnipeg leaving first place up for grabs in the West division.
Next. Zach Collaros glad to be back on the field. dark
Do you think the Argos have a chance to beat Saskatchewan? What are you interested in watching in this game? Let us know in the comments below.