It's time someone threw Argos coach Bart Andrus a life jacket, who's clearly having trouble adjusting to the CFL game.
To his credit, Argo head coach Bart Andrus admitted the day after the team's 23-20 loss to Calgary that he blew it by trying a desperate Hail Mary pass instead of a field goal.
But it says here, Andrus continues to cost his team games.
One week it's the offence, the next it's the defence, the week after special teams.
All of these areas are the head coach's responsibility because the loss still goes on his ledger.
Consider the loss to Calgary. The defence creates a turnover late in the game and the player who does it, Ronald Flemons, is overheard telling his teammates to finish it off. In other words, hold the lead. But the offence goes two-and-out, Calgary scores a touchdown on its next series and the Argos blow it at the end. Collectively, that's all three phases of the game contributing to the loss.
Elevating Cody Pickett to starting quarterback has helped kickstart the offence, but it's as much, if not more, the work of the offensive line to give him proper pass protection. That said, Pickett is also making plays with his feet.
So, the Argos ownership and management can stick with Andrus or fire him. The chances of Andrus getting canned is unlikely because it would mean eating more contract when the team is already paying a fired head coach, Rich Stubler. He had a record of 4-6 and was sitting in second in the East when the organization decided he had become too much of a me player instead of a we player and had lost the respect of his players and co-workers in football operations and needed to be pushed out the door. At best, Andrus will have a 4-6 record after 10 games, but he could be either 3-7 or 2-8. Back-to-back games against Hamilton will be the telling point of where this team is going and whether Andrus is capable of doing the job.
If I were the Argos I'd immediately have general manager Adam Rita on the sidelines helping Andrus with on-field advice. Clearly, Andrus is taking on far too much of a load in his first season in the Canadian Football League. He does not have the mental makeup at this point anyway to suggest he is on par with Montreal's Marc Trestman, with whom he has somewhat of a similar career in the U.S. And Andrus' coaching staff is terribly thin on CFL wisdom. The one coach with long-term CFL experience is Steve Buratto, who was retained because the team didn't want to eat his contract. So the onetime embattled offensive co-ordinator is now the running backs and special teams coach. He could be providing more input in the game than he appears to be.
So put someone on the field that Andrus can lean on for advice. Remember when team president Pinball Clemons suddenly appeared on the sidelines when Stubler, his hand-picked choice to succeed him, was going through some rough times? Yeah, Clemons said then he had nothing to do with calling plays or providing strategy, but his sudden presence on the sidelines suggested otherwise. With that in mind, someone needs to be on the sidelines helping Andrus beyond his present coaching staff.
HELLACIOUS HIT: New nickname for Calgary receiver Nik Lewis: The Hitman. The hit he delivered on Argo linebacker Zeke Moreno was awesome. You might say Moreno went from Zeke And Destroy to Zeke And Destroyed.
It's interesting that eight games into the season, Lewis still doesn't have a touchdown. But he's becoming a bigger force on the team in the absence of fellow receiver Ken-Yon Rambo, who is done for the season with an injury.
QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE: How ironic that in Toronto, the veteran quarterback has been replaced by the youngster, while in Hamilton it's the exact opposite. Yes, an injury kept Quinton Porter on the sidelines for the last game, but Kevin Glenn has done nothing to suggest he should be relegated back to backup. We remember a caller on the Ticats' post-game radio show earlier this month criticizing Porter despite the fact the team won and that Glenn should be the starter. His thoughts seemed to be completely out of place, but we wonder what he thinks now.
HANDS UP EVERYBODY: Credit Edmonton's defensive line for using its hands to bat down two passes by Glenn on his team's final drive. Glenn is only 5-foot-11, and the Edmonton d-line used their long paws to make some key plays. The defence also created some key turnovers deep in their red zone.
PRE'S THE MAN: Did anyone notice the reception Edmonton kicker Noel Prefontaine received from his teammates after booting what would be the winning field goal against Hamilton? Clearly he has settled into being an Eskimo in his second year with the team. We suspect he is long over the Argos.
BRUCE IS DA MAN: The Ticats are plugging their Labour Day game with commercials highlighting Arland Bruce, who will be facing his former Toronto team for the first time since he was traded. Let's just say the marketing department is pulling out all the stops for this Labour Day clash. Given that the rivalry between Toronto and Hamilton is always played up and this year the Ticats are better than the Argos, anything short of a sell-out would have to be a major disappointment.
