Inside the CFL: Argos won the battle of the trenches against Bombers

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 21, 2024.

sports@medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

I should have known better.

You never put your money on Goliath. David will do it to you every time.

When that happens, it is usually seen as an upset. That wasn’t the case thousands of years ago when the giant got stoned, nor was it the case last Sunday at B.C. Place, when the Good Ship Argonaut with Jason aka Nick Arbuckle sailed into English Bay and shot down the Bombers 41-24.

The late great Blue Bomber boss Cal Murphy once told me when the underdog wins big, it was because they were really the over-dog.

(Cal would agree with me on something else. You can’t be considered a dynasty when you lose three Grey Cups in a row.)

Yet the day after the big game, the TSN talking heads, except for the most knowledgeable Jim Barker, were still calling it an upset.

During the regular season the Argos’ great strength was defence. Toronto won both games against Winnipeg during the regular season, 16-14 and 14-11, holding the vaunted Bomber offence to a total of 25 points.

Going into the last minute of the 111th Grey Cup game, the Westerners had only scored 16 points. The Toronto front four made life miserable for Zach Collaros all year long.

Montreal did the same in last year’s Grey Cup and Toronto the year before.

The Argos won the battle of the trenches. They didn’t beat Winnipeg with trick plays. They played smash-mouth football, pressuring Collaros who threw four interceptions, three after cutting his hand.

The Bombers’ big guns going in were Kenny Lawler and Nic Demski. Lawler caught two passes for 27 yards, Demski, two for 18. Ontaria Wilson had five for 99 yards.

The front seven held Most Outstanding Player and Canadian award winner Brady Oliveira to 84 yards on the ground on 11 carries, two of which accounted for 52 yards. Toronto’s KaDeem Carey ran for only five yards fewer.

The entire Argo offence played well. Time of possession was telling about both sides. It favoured Toronto 36:18 to 23:42.

It also annoys me that the “experts” for the third year in a row have pinned the blame for the Grey Cup losses on quarterback Zach Collaros.

Bomber offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce is considered the best in the game but for three straight seasons, he has had no answers when the league title was on the line.

He calls the plays, not the quarterback. Coaching strategy was poor. When Collaros hurt his hand, backup Terry Wilson went in and threw four straight incompletions.

When Collaros came back, he couldn’t grip the ball and threw three interceptions. In both cases, why didn’t they go with one of the best running backs in CFL history, Brady Oliveiera?

After, he wondered that, too. (The exception is third-down gambles, head coach Mike O’Shea’s department. You can blame him for the decision on 3rd and 3, trailing by 11, to throw rather than call Oliveiera’s number.)

Zach doesn’t play well in big games, the pundits say.

They used to say that about Ron Lancaster in Saskatchewan, who replied, “You’ve got to win a lot of big games, to get to the big game.”

Arbuckle was terrific. He spread the ball around to nine receivers. He showed the poise of a seasoned veteran.

The Argos scored 24 points in the last quarter, equalling the team’s total in the 1938 Cup when Red Storey came off the bench and scored three touchdowns. They beat Winnpeg that day 30-7.

The spotlight is usually on the offence. But defensive end Willie Jefferson was magnificent for Winnipeg while Wynton McManus and Benjie Franklin were game changers for Toronto.

Nick Arbuckle was the big winner. He not only won the Grey Cup and the Grey Cup MVP award, he also established himself as a legitimate starter. He will never be a backup in the CFL again.

They say good things come to those who wait. He bided his time for seven years. When opportunity knocked, he kicked the door down.

In my many years covering Grey Cups, 45 in person, I have never seen such a wonderful, heart warming story.

Why did I pick Winnipeg?

I thought their great veterans, realizing the window of Grey Cup opportunity was closing, would come up with one last heroic effort.

Graham Kelly has covered the CFL for the Medicine Hat News for 52 years. Feedback for this column can be emailed to sports@medicinehatnews.com.