Argo Game

It was excellent that the Cats were able to prevail fairly easily over the double blue 26 to 17 on Friday. Retaining the Ballard Cup was also a good thing, although with the Argos seemingly headed for a 3 and 15 season it isn't as satisfying as if the they were a 500 team. It was a little disappointing that the Cats were outscored in the second half 17 to 6, but they were well ahead and teams in that position tend to do that in the CFL.

Glenn pretty much cemented his starter status (although it was against a reeling Argo team) with an efficient 28 for 38 performance for 332 yards and a TD pass. Driving over to watch the game at a friend's house I heard the first play on the radio and almost snapped when I heard Moreno intercepted it for a TD, only to be called back on an Argo offside.

Bruce with five catches for 96 yards was again effective at burning his former team. McDaniel with five catches for 61 yards had a good game, as did James with five for 52. Arguably Bauman had the best game for the non-import receivers with just two catches for 46 yards. Cobb was decent with 17 rushes for 80 yards, albeit a mediocre 4.7 yards per rush. Cobb also had 7 catches for 32 yards, albeit an even more mediocre 4.6 yards average. Cobb is a decent back, but is probably one of those fungible import backs that has a good year or two and then fades away.
The line gave up no sacks against Toronto's defence, which is impressive.

On defence, Markeith Knowlton had seven tackles to lead the Cats. Hickman had four tackles and three sacks, but sadly Hamilton is still last in the CFL for sacks. Some people think sacks are an overrated stat, but I am not one of them. The Argos offensive line was so patched up, that their offense really wasn't much of a test. The Riders definitely will be.

Watching the game, I can't help but think that the biggest mistake of the Argos was signing Kerry Joseph. If the Argos had just went with Bishop, they could have saved Joseph's salary and put it towards a better offensive line, and combined with their strength on defence, they would have been a reasonable team the past two seasons. Now the Argos may get better next year, but I would not expect much of an improvement.