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Win one, lose one, the Argos have yet to record back-to-back wins, while they don’t lose two games in a row.
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Eventually, they will have to find a way to run away before they can be described as legitimate contenders.
For now, Argos can best be summed up as a good team capable of playing well.
Being good is not enough with the Argos playing in an Eastern Division that features the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
As the Argos enter their bye week, they sit at 4-3 following Friday night’s 30-27 win over visiting Montreal.
The Als will be at the Hammer next Saturday afternoon.
Montreal is at 2-4 and will be underdog in Hamilton.
The Argos won’t play next until Ottawa comes to town on October 6.
When the Redblacks leave town, the Argos are 5-3.
Toronto will be in Montreal on October 22.
The Argos have two games left against the Ticats, who beat Toronto on Labor Day only to lose by one point in the second leg at BMO Field five nights later.
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Slowly but surely, the outlook in the East is clearing up.
Clearly, the Redblacks are the sad sacks of the CFL, a team that may not win another game.
Montreal plays Ottawa three more times, while Toronto plays Ottawa twice.
The Argos will be on the hunt, but how they manage their roster going forward will determine a lot about this team and what potential rewards await.
The Argos are undefeated at home and will play four of their last seven games at BMO, including two against Western opponents in BC, who shot himself in the foot Friday night in a home loss to Saskatchewan and Edmonton.
The Argos close out the regular season by hosting the Elks on Nov. 16, a game originally scheduled for Aug. 26 until a COVID outbreak among Edmonton players forced a postponement.
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Toronto would have had a break in the final week of play.
The team’s current bye week will be its end unless Argos can finish first in the East and secure home field.
A trip back to Toronto by the Als in the Eastern semi-final remains a possibility.
Either way, the Argos have positioned themselves very well going into the second half of the season.
Following Friday’s victory, head coach Ryan Dinwiddie emphasized how he will fare with the best quarterback playing at the time.
For now, that quarterback is McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
Depending on the health of Nick Arbuckle, who had started the team’s four previous games, Dinwiddie knows he can trust Antonio Pipkin.
Against his former Als team, Pipkin got his first reps during a game as Argo, running the team’s short-yard offense and making the occasional shotgun toss.
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MBT completed just two second-half passes on Friday night.
Once again, it was clean.
REMARKABLE
Perhaps Chandler Worthy will finally have the opportunity to be present full time.
Since joining Argos in 2017, Worthy has been on the list only to be replaced by someone else.
He has been released and then re-signed, a roving existence that continued this season when Worthy was cut off only to be asked to return.
His relationship with MBT is undeniable, the two first met when they both joined Argos four years ago.
When the season began, Worthy made the team his starter in the comeback game.
He would get hurt.
Injuries aren’t supposed to cost a player a job, but Worthy fell victim to the cruel nature of professional football.
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He has persevered and on Friday night against visiting Montreal, Worthy overcame a fumble on a kickoff return to score a momentum receiving touchdown late in the first half as Toronto took a 21-10 lead in the intermediate.
“That’s my brother,” Worthy of MBT said. “Even when they released me and I wasn’t here, we were in a park pitching together.
“Love extends beyond that field. Being able to go to war with him and score a touchdown for him meant a lot to me. “
MBT is the best team player.
“We went to a soccer field in downtown Toronto where he lived alone in an apartment,” he said of Worthy.
“He stayed up here after they released him. He stayed here to keep an opportunity alive and we pitched on a soccer field in the middle of downtown Toronto on a day off. That’s how dedicated he is to this. His success is unquestionable because he put the work in the dark, he put the work when no one was looking ”.
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It will be interesting to see what the Argos do at receiver.
When veteran Eric Rogers was a late scratch against the Als due to a hamstring setback, the Argos started Damion Jeanpiere.
In his second game of the season, Jeanpiere averaged 22.8 yards per reception.
Combined, Jeanpiere and Worthy caught eight balls for 176 yards.
As a team, the Argos produced 244 yards in the air.
“Very excited for that kid,” Dinwiddie said of Worthy. “He’s been on and off the roster and he’s been home and no one was calling him.
“We just have to find a way to use it properly.”
Reference-torontosun.com