Sep
Rough start to much for Argos in BC Place
Courtesy Toronto Star:
The Argonauts arrived here an extra day early in hopes of beating both the B.C. Lions and jet lag.
Based on the way the Argos played in the first quarter last night, they could have saved themselves the extra hotel costs.
The Argos couldn’t overcome a disastrous start and fell 23-17 to the B.C. Lions before 27,515 at B.C. Place. The loss dropped the Argos to 3-8 and temporarily put them in last place in the CFL’s East Division.
The defeat extended the Argos’ winless streak in Vancouver to seven seasons. It also means they’ll soon have to go on a winning streak if they’re to have any hopes of making the playoffs.
With former coach Don Matthews in the building to witness B.C. head coach Wally Buono’s record-breaking 232nd career victory, the Argos failed to show the guy who resigned at the end of last year that he had made the wrong decision.
While they battled valiantly after digging themselves an early hole, they simply didn’t have enough offensive thrust to pull out a victory.
Argo quarterback Cody Pickett had the toughest night of his 2009 season, coughing up his second and third interceptions of the season and getting sacked six times. Most of those were coverage sacks as Pickett struggled to find open receivers all night.
Three of them were courtesy of York University grad Ricky Foley.
Pickett failed to complete 50 per cent of his passes.
The Argos got a strong game from their defence, which kept things close in the first quarter when the Argo offence seemed determined to give the game away.
The defence came through big in the fourth quarter when B.C.’s Ryan Grice-Mullen returned consecutive punts a total of 99 yards with the game tied 17-17.
But the defence held and all B.C. could manage was a 32-yard field goal by Sean Whyte to give the Lions a 20-17 lead.
The Argo offence went back into sputter mode after that and couldn’t make up the difference.
A third-and-seven effort came up two yards short at their own 47 in the final two minutes to kill any hopes of a miracle comeback.
While much of the pre-game talk focused on B.C. quarterback Buck Pierce’s concussion problems, the Argos started the game as if they were the ones with concussion issues.
Pickett was sacked for an 11-yard loss on second down on the game’s opening series, setting the stage for a punt from the Argo 19. But long snapper Steve Schmidt hit upback Bryan Crawford with the snap and Jason Arakgi recovered for the Lions at the Argo eight.
A Kevin Huntley sack forced the Lions to settle for a 15-yard Whyte field goal.
Things didn’t get much better on the next series as Lion defensive back Korey Banks intercepted a Pickett pass and returned it to the Argo 34.
Five plays and one roughing-the-passer penalty later, Martell Mallett ran in from the one for a touchdown and a 10-0 Lions lead barely seven minutes into the game.
