Toronto Argonauts frustrated by Tiger-Cats defence in Labour Day Classic

The Toronto Argonauts struggled to get anything going offensively as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats earn another convincing win in the Labour Day Classic.

Coming into the Labour Day Classic, the Toronto Argonauts knew they were in for a tough game as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats gave them exactly that in a 32-19 win at Tim Hortons Field.

Hamilton made the most of a couple of big plays that led to touchdowns and a punt return for a touchdown by Frankie Williams. As for Toronto, there were frustrating moments on offence and discipline issues as the team took 93 yards in penalties.

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“Bottom line is lost our composure and we didn’t play our football,” Henoc Muamba said after the game. “You can’t play against yourself as well as your opponents. It’s never going to work out. So we got to go back and look ourselves in the mirror and allow ourselves to play football and give ourselves a chance.

“All the veterans on the team, we got to take accountability for that. We are going to out at practice this week and that’s what we’re going to preach.”

This is the seventh straight year that the Argos came out on the losing side of the Labour Day Classic as the Tiger-Cats continued their dominance at home. They will need to regroup quickly as they have a rematch set for Friday evening at BMO Field.

“It gives us a chance to kind of bounce back. We don’t have to wait too long as well,” Muamba said about the short turnaround. “We know, we’re a good team, it has nothing to do with, you know, what the scoreboard says or anything, but we didn’t put it on film. We have a chance to do that again on Friday and we’re very confident that we can win on Friday.”

What should be encouraging is how the Argos didn’t play to their capabilities and beat themselves at times. Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie made it a point in saying that some of the undisciplined plays will be looked at by the coaching staff.

“I have to see who all the calls were on, but that was selfish. And we might be losing some guys,” Dinwiddie said after the game.

Toronto Argonauts offence needs to regroup after rough outing

There weren’t many positives from the Argos on offence as the team struggled to generate anything with the running game and Nick Arbuckle didn’t have much time to throw the ball. The quarterback took the blame for missing some of his reads and finding better completions on the field.

“I think the second down execution, especially in that first half is really what kind of what got us in a hole,” Arbuckle explained. “I think that was the biggest difference between this game and how our offence played last time. We still had a little bit of that first down production, we just weren’t executing as an offence.”

Arbuckle said the team struggled with Hamilton’s defensive line as they have some quality players that were disruptive the entire game. He expects the team to be better prepared for what the Tiger-Cats throw at them especially with their ability to communicate at the line of scrimmage.

While McLeod Bethel-Thompson was able to make some plays in the fourth quarter (albeit in the late stages of the game), there’s no reason why Arbuckle wouldn’t be starting on Friday.

What are your thoughts on the loss? Can the Argos rebound in the rematch on Friday? Let us know in the comments below.