The Lions sleep tonight indeed, as the Argos build a lead and hang on to it for a 40-23 win
Heading into Friday night's game against B.C., the Toronto Argonauts looked to be in tough. They were just 3-8 on the year, they were playing in a hostile environment where they'd struggled historically, they were facing the 7-4 Lions and they were coming off a disastrous second-half collapse against Calgary. The CFL's never predictable, though, and the Argonauts built another dominant first-half lead, then managed to hang on to it for a 40-23 win. That gave them their first victory in B.C. since 2002, and an excuse to troll the Lions on social media:
.@BCLions #Meow #ArgosLive #Argos #CFL http://t.co/cXigHR1wDX
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) September 20, 2014
That's a pretty funny move by Toronto, and the perfect culmination to a great night for them on most fronts. Quarterback Ricky Ray completed 24 of his 33 passes (72.7 per cent) for 284 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, passing Ron Lancaster for fifth place all-time in CFL passing yardage in the process,. Running backs Curtis Steele and Steve Slaton combined for 125 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries. Chad Owens made his return to the lineup in style, grabbing eight passes for 117 yards and a touchdown, while LaVon Brazill had four catches for 64 yards and a touchdown and Andre Durie chipped in with four more for 48 yards. Argos' punter/kicker Swayze Waters had a terrific night, hitting all three of his field-goal attempts (unlike the Lions' Paul McCallum, who was 0-for-2) and averaging 47.4 yards on seven punts. The special teams' cover units forced a fumble and contained Tim Brown and Stefan Logan on returns, and the defence also stepped up in a big way.
With the victory, the Argos improve to 4-8 and take (momentarily, at least) sole possession of first place in the (L)East Division. Perhaps even more importantly, though, they proved that last week's catastrophic collapse didn't break them, and that they can be a pretty impressive football team when everything's clicking. Having Owens back is a big boost there, but this offence was still impressive even while he was injured; they've fallen behind their 2013 pace, but so has just about everyone else in this league, and they lead the CFL in passing yards this year. If they can put together a consistent performance like this more often, they might be a team to fear down the road and in the playoffs. There's a long way to go yet, but this showing was a good sign for the Boatmen.