Argos look to get back into form, clinch first place Thursday night against Bombers

While Thursday night's CFL clash between the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7:30 p.m. Eastern, TSN/NBCSN) is a rematch in the wake of last week's 26-20 Toronto victory, it's the team who won the last one that has more to prove. The Blue Bombers actually delivered one of their best showings of the season in the loss, while the Argonauts got the win, but underwhelmed in the process on both offence and defence. Thursday's game is not only a chance to clinch the top spot in the East Division and its vital accompanying first-round playoff bye, which the Argos can do with a win; it's also a chance to potentially fix some of the team's problems ahead of the postseason.

On offence, most of the issues have been recent, not season-long. The Argos' offence was clicking at an incredible pace early in the season, led by a passing game that saw quarterback Ricky Ray putting up record-breaking numbers before suffering a knee injury July 19, briefly returning and then suffering a shoulder tear August 23 that knocked him out for up to eight weeks. Zach Collaros proved to be more than a capable backup both times Ray went down, leading the team to a historic four straight road victories, establishing them at the top of the East and playing his way into the discussion as a potential starter for Winnipeg or Ottawa next season, and Ray's since come back, so the offence should be clicking along, especially in the passing game. It hasn't in the last few games, though, and that's troubling.

One ongoing issue on offence has been in the ground game. While Chad Kackert's been highly effective at times, he's rarely been healthy. Jerious Norwood has also looked good in some games, but the rushing totals on the whole have been dismal; heading into this week, Toronto was last in the league with just 81 rushing first downs and 82.6 rushing yards per game. Part of that is thanks to in-game factors (the Argos have often fallen behind early, causing them to throw morfie), part of it's thanks to strategy (the team likes Ray, Collaros and their receivers, so they throw more than an average team) and part of it's thanks to the playbook (head coach Scott Milanovich's offence carries several West Coast elements, focusing on short, high-efficiency passes and gains after the catch rather than a stream of rushing plays). The team's totals aren't as bad when you consider a per-play standpoint; they average 5.3 yards per rush, which isn't great, but is better than three other teams.

Still, they could use more production on the ground to keep defences honest. Teams are figuring out what the Argos are doing and are able to cheat towards the pass thanks to the lack of a rushing threat. That, along with understandable rust from being out for so long, is likely why Ray's passing totals haven't been as great lately. (It says something about how good he's been that even with interceptions in the last two weeks, he still has 18 touchdowns to two interceptions on the season; that's a 9:1 ratio, which according to CFL head statistician Steve Daniel's game notes, would be the best such ratio ever recorded over an entire year.) Kackert's back Thursday, and is taking inspiration from Kipling, so perhaps he can reinvigorate the ground game and thus the passing attack.

It's the defence that might really need to step up, though. Chris Jones' defensive unit was a huge part of the Argos' 2012 Grey Cup triumph, but they've been notably subpar in most categories this season, and that's a year-long issue, not a recent one. Through 17 weeks, Toronto's last in the league in yards of offence allowed per game (399.3), first downs allowed (350), gain per pass (8.8 yards) and passing yards conceded per game (305.6). It's not like the Argos are consistently gambling with blitzes and making big plays as well as taking big losses, either; their 37 sacks are the CFL's second-lowest total this year. Jones' defence has been better from a points-allowed perspective, giving up just 25.9 per game (third-best in the league), and they're tied for third with 20 interceptions, so the defensive unit isn't an out-and-out calamity, but giving up that many yards and those kinds of passing numbers may come back to bite them in the playoffs. The Toronto pass defence even looked extremely vulnerable against Winnipeg quarterback Max Hall last week; Hall hadn't shown much in his previous games, but threw for 385 yards against the Argos. Will the Toronto defence be able to get back on track and find last year's playoff form ahead of the postseason? Thursday's game might give them an excellent chance to start that turnaround, but we'll see if they can do it.