TORONTO– The hometown Argonauts were a desperate team coming into this one. And they sure played like it. Nick Arbuckle threw for 430 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Boatmen past the BC Lions 52-34 on Saturday afternoon at BMO Field. The win for Toronto improves them to 3-8 and snaps the Lions’ two-game winning streak in the process. The 5-6 Leos remain fourth in the West and now just two points up on Edmonton for the final playoff spot with seven games to play. Now for some Game Takes.
Roller Coaster Affair Goes Sideways
It’s fitting that this contest was being played next to the CNE Fair. It had more ups and downs than your fastest roller coaster. Nathan Rourke and the offence came out firing on all cylinders, as he hit Jevon Cottoy for a touchdown to cap off their first series and then engineered a second scoring drive culminating with James Butler’s touchdown run. The visitors led 14-3 after the opening quarter with Rourke starting 7/8 for 113 yards. Then the wheels came off.
The Argos got a big jolt when Rourke threw an interception to Benjie Franklin that was returned 57 yards for a major. It was part of a 25-point second quarter for the Argos that staked them to a 28-21 halftime lead. Arbuckle was on fire after the break, connecting on touchdown passes of 57 and 70 yards, while the Lions stalled twice in the red zone and settled for field goals. The final dagger was a strip sack of Rourke by Wynton McManis that thwarted any attempts at a comeback. Big-time opportunities missed in The Big Smoke.
“We’re certainly not putting blame on anything over there offensively,” Rourke said.
“We know that there are some points we left out there, some plays that they made and that’s a good defence. Hats off to them.”
It was the polar opposite of how this inconsistent squad has clutched up and closed out games lately, particularly on the road. These are the things that need to be figured out after the upcoming bye with a long stretch of games against teams that are right there with them in this race. The offence showed flashes of brilliance in this defeat, but it wasn’t good enough. They all own it.
“I mean, it’s hard. That’s what we’re trying to figure out, right? We say every week of trying to start fast, we did that,” the quarterback added.
We just have to figure out where to finish it. So teams like this, when we play good teams like Toronto, it’s going to take all four quarters and we just weren’t well-rounded enough for us to come out on top.”
Rourke finished his night 20/31 for 326 yards, two touchdowns and the costly interception. He also added a 47-yard scramble with the Lions facing a second and long early in the fourth quarter. That play led to three points.
The defence will certainly wear the brunt of this one after allowing Arbuckle too much time to operate. The 70-yard touchdown strike to Jake Herslow came immediately after the Lions settled on a 14-yard field goal from Sean Whyte. The lack of finish is what will come back to haunt them in their final outing of August.
“You look at, overall, that’s a good offence. They’ve done a good job,” Buck Pierce said of the Argos.
“Arbuckle’s playing at an extremely hard level. Credit them, first. Continue to look at what we’re doing and how we can balance that out a bit.”
Key Numbers
529- net offence for Arbuckle and the Toronto attack on a night where they didn’t blink after falling behind early.
49-20-the scoreline after the opening quarter in favour of the defending Grey Cup champs.
113- the Argos’ rushing yard total after entering this week at the bottom of the league in that category.
1,009– CFL receiving yards leader Keon Hatcher eclipsed the 1,000 mark in the losing effort. He hauled in a team-high 131 yards.
Quotable
“We have a week to think about this. Let’s not forget that Toronto is a good team and we’re going to be playing good teams for the rest of the season. If we don’t look at that film and actually take it honestly and just control what we, each individual, can control, then we won’t get better. But as long as we focus on controlling what we can control, we’ll get better. And I’m not worried about this game, because I know we have the talent and we have the characters in there to make it work in the long run.”- linebacker and defensive leader Micah Awe on how his side of the ball will move on from this one.
Next Up
The squad heads into their second bye week of 2025 ahead of a visit to the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Friday, September 5. Kickoff is 4:30 pm Pacific Time.