The Toronto Argonauts hope the energy surrounding their belated home opener on Thursday will provide a spark against the surging Calgary Stampeders.
Due to this summer’s World Cup, the Argonauts (3-4) played their first seven games away from BMO Field — including a 58-36 drubbing at Calgary on July 2.
Toronto should be rested after a bye week, having been idle since a 26-12 win against the B.C. Lions in Vancouver on July 25 that snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Argonauts even practiced outside of the city for the season’s first two months, making their home base in Guelph, Ontario.
“Everyone is looking at it, thinking it’s all bad, but it really hasn’t been. Being here in Guelph, kind of isolated, living as a team, we got to know the character of our team, we faced some adversity so we’re battle-tested early in the season,” Toronto defensive back DaShaun Amos told TSN1050 this week.
“It’s brought us a lot closer than I’ve been used to as far as bringing new teams, new staff, bringing teams together like that this early in the season. I think honestly in hindsight we’ll probably look back at this moment and say this is exactly what we needed to bring us together, bring us closer and to be ready for the back half of the season.”
The visiting Stampeders (4-4) have won two in a row in convincing fashion, outscoring Winnipeg and Hamilton 96-50 in a pair of road routs. Calgary has the CFL’s top-scoring offense at 40.2 points per game, putting at least 30 on the board in seven straight contests.
The Calgary defense came through with two turnovers returned for touchdowns in last weekend’s 44-20 defeat of the Tiger-Cats.
“We’re getting better at the end of the day,” defensive lineman Folarin Orimolade said. “It would be terrible for us to peak early in the season and suck at the end. So I think we’re building momentum each week and that’s the recipe.”
In the first meeting against Toronto, Vernon Adams Jr. passed for 405 yards and six touchdowns and also rushed for a touchdown. Adams leads the CFL in passer rating (127.1) and TD passes (21).
Chad Kelly threw for 294 yards and three scores and ran for a TD in the setback at Calgary but also threw two picks. The Argos and Stamps combined for a whopping 962 total yards of offense.
–Field Level Media
