Argos thumped 37-9 by Riders, leaving plenty of questions for them to address

The Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders both had plenty of concerns heading into Saturday's game, but the Riders' 37-9 home win led to the Argonauts exiting the night with even more worrisome issues. With the loss, Toronto fell to 1-4 on the season, and solutions don't appear easy to find. There's a ton of potential on this Argonauts' team, as has been evidenced by such games as their July 5 48-15 win over Saskatchewan in Toronto, but they haven't been able to consistently put it together. Unless they can more fully integrate their talent into their schemes and give quarterback Ricky Ray more support, it may be a long season for the Boatmen.

The Argonauts suffered plenty of personnel losses this offseason, with LB Marcus Ball and WR Dontrelle Inman in particular heading to the NFL, but the coaching losses may have been even more significant. Former defensive coordinator/assistant general manager Chris Jones left to become the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos, while former special-teams coordinator Mike O'Shea left to take over the head-coaching reins in Winnipeg. Both are doing well in their new surroundings, each posting 4-1 records to date, but they're clearly missed in Toronto; new defensive coordinator Tim Burke hasn't been able to elevate his unit above mediocre to date, and special teams coordinator Jim Daley hasn't done much better. Both of those guys are long-term CFL hands and former head coaches, so it's not that they don't know what they're doing, but there's usually an adjustment period to new coordinators. The Argos will have to hope that's all the problem is.

Oddly enough, given all the comments about how this is a quarterback-driven league, quarterback play really hasn't been the problem for Toronto thus far. Heading into this week, they led the league in offensive yards, passing yards, first downs, completion percentage and more thanks to the play of Ricky Ray; they hadn't just been able to convert that production into many touchdowns or wins. Ray wasn't as good as usual Saturday, throwing for just 193 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns, but he still completed 65.7 per cent of his passes, and much of his less-than-stellar night was thanks to the offensive line not giving him enough time, the receivers not getting open and the lack of production on the ground. Saskatchewan sacked Ray four times and hurried and hit him countless more, and the Argos only tallied 70 yards on the ground. Their rushing defence was also atrocious, allowing Will Ford (making his first start of the year, and his first in a Rider jersey) to rush for 113 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Ray could be better, to be sure, but even when he has played well, he hasn't received much support. On Saturday, things were even worse.

The Argos are now 1-4 on the season, but all hope isn't lost. The other three East Division teams are all 1-3, so Toronto well could still win this division. They've got a remarkable amount of talent on their roster despite the offseason losses, and their next game comes Friday against a Montreal team that also has been struggling. They'll have to integrate their players into their coaching schemes more, though, and they'll have to give Ray much more help. Having a great quarterback is the first piece of the puzzle, but this Argonauts' season shows it's far from the only one.