Ok, so tell me if any of this sounds familiar…
The Argonauts scored 17 points in the first half.
They entered halftime with the lead.
They effectively did nothing on the offensive side of the ball in the second half outside of small flashes and a few missed opportunities to capitalize on mistakes.
They fumbled the ball repeatedly and lost the game late.
26-25 Edmonton Eskimos
I really could have just copied and pasted from the Winnipeg game last week and outside of a few details it would have been tough to differentiate between the two posts.
For the sake of keeping some interest in the season, let’s breakdown some of what went on here.
The Good: (And yes, there was some)
- Chad Kackert rushed for 139 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
- The Defensive line caused Ricky Ray some fits and held down what had been a fairly potent Edmonton offence.
- Dalton Bell had bursts where he seemed able to move the Argonauts down the field.
- Matt Black had an 81 yard punt return for a touchdown which gave the Argonauts a 9 point lead in the 4th quarter.
The Bad:
- Chad Kackert unofficially fumbling 3 times. One counted officially, one would have counted but a replay confirmed that he had gotten his knee down just before releasing the football, and one he recovered himself because the ball barely left his hands, so it didn’t count.
- Chad Owens (another Chad), adding a pair of fumbles himself to the tally.
- A pair of truly horrible punts from temporary (one would hope) fill in Grant Shaw. These punts would contribute to 14 points for Edmonton.
- Dalton Bell, not to be left out, threw 2 interceptions including one in the endzone when Toronto was within field goal range.
- And… a final scoring drive that ended with Jim Barker not attempting a 3rd and 4, but rather electing to have the kicker, who above shanked two punts, attempt a 57 (57!) yard field goal. Which, not surprisingly fell about 9 yards short, ending the last chance for Toronto.
Overall, there was a lot of bad here. That’s 5 turnovers and that doesn’t count the Durie fumble which I didn’t include above because if I included every poor individual performance I would have be at in mini-essay territory just from bullet points alone.
There is little doubt that no one can make these many errors (I counted 6 turnovers and another 2 unofficial ones) and expect to win. The trouble here was that in this instance Edmonton had been effectively stymied for the majority of the game and was ripe for the upset despite the ineptitude.
The inability of this team to close has now cost them 3 games, and there is a world of difference between 4-1 with some definite room for improvement and 1-4 with a desperate need to find something, anything resembling consistent offence.
Or at least some offence that continues to work beyond the 30 minute mark.
Now, I have no interest in making any excuses for the team, but there is one sequence that I feel was notable enough that it warrants separate mention. It is a sequence that I shall dub:
The Magic Clock
Few know that the good people of Edmonton, in addition to having a large mall, a hockey team that was good in the 80′s and early 90′s, and a football team whose colors are remarkably Packer-like, also have a magical clock which can rise to the occasion and do it’s part for the team.
Case in point: Last night’s game.
After failing to kill enough time off the clock late in the second quarter, a shanked punt which gave Edmonton the ball at the 33 yard line and a stupidly timed penalty which further drove them to the 1 yard line, the Eskimos had the ball feet away from 7 points with 5.4 seconds remaining. Here is the sequence that follows:
- Kerry Joseph takes the ball on the sneak, fumbles the ball, Edmonton recovers. The Argonauts get another penalty, still first down.
- Joseph again, stuffed again. The referee waves the flag, indicating the quarter is over. Review shows that there was 1.5 seconds left on the clock and there was time to run another play. Now the Argonauts, many of whom were already most of the way to the locker room turn back, the third try works and Kerry Joseph scores the touchdown with no time remaining.
The score at that point was 17-15 Toronto instead of 17-8.
Alright, so they managed to run 3 running plays within 5.4 seconds.
How is that possible?
Glad you asked. It’s not.
But just to make sure, I took the liberty of firing up the replay and timing it myself. So here’s what I came up with:
- First attempt: The time between the snap of the ball and the referees whistle blowing the play dead: 3.96 seconds
- Second attempt: Again the time between snap and whistle: 2.4 seconds.
Total time for the first two attempts: 6.36 seconds.
Time left: 5.4 seconds.
So to summarize, Edmonton ran a play with minus 0.96 seconds on the clock. Behold the power of The Magic Clock.
I considered going into more depth about the final offensive series for Toronto, but in all honestly, between the turnovers and the Magic Clock, there is more than enough bad to mull over in one sitting.
Up Next: (The Montreal Alouettes)
After their struggles the last two games, I will say with certainty that I have no idea how this is going to turnout, but I will be present. Now if anyone needs me, I’ll be working on my cringing muscles in preparation.
