Game Thread: Argos vs. TiCats Saturday Aug. 22 7:00 PM CNE Game - Carnies, Corn Dogs, and Canadian Football

[Scooter McCray]

The field conditions were incredible. It was Gorilla Monsoon rain coming down. I saw no ponding, pooling of water anywhere, even on the artificial turf in the endzones. Don't recall anyone loosing their footing. The field was pristine green at the end. No mud or bare patches. Amazing.

[ARGO57]

Loved the 24-3 second half beatdown and the professional response to last week's disappointment by the o-line. Their physical dominance over the Ticats D gave us an actual running game last night. Kelly was extremely efficient considering the weather. Only one interception, which was more great play by the DB than bad pass. Nice bounce back game by Coxie, and Kahmann has to be a serious rookie of the year candidate. D-line was great and Bolden was a beast again.

Hopefully we won't see another lightning delay any time soon.

The most enjoyable game I’ve attended in quite some time.
Argos have really improved the game day presentation this season!
Your assessment is dead on, great bounce back game from last weeks miserable showing.

[paulwoods13]

The field conditions were incredible. It was Gorilla Monsoon rain coming down. I saw no ponding, pooling of water anywhere, even on the artificial turf in the endzones. Don't recall anyone loosing their footing. The field was pristine green at the end. No mud or bare patches. Amazing.

This is a great point. Hats off to the groundskeepers.

[ArgoRavi]

Also -- Argos had ONE penalty, one night after Edmonton went through an entire game with ZERO penalties (first time that has happened since 1974!).

They only took two penalties - with one of those being a bad call by the officials - in their first home game. Only 3 penalties in 2 home games is remarkable!

[OV Argo]

A couple of pleasing stats from the game--1)145 yds rushing with Smith almost getting 100 (99). 2) Argos sacked Ford 4 times and kept Kelly clean the whole game. Lemon played another strong game. Who would have thought when Chatfield went down that 37 year old Lemon would play such a key role on the Argo D.

So why did it take an injury to Chatfield to bring Lemon in? - couldn't he have been a vet leader all thru TC and impact player from game 1 ?

[shayman]

If the game had not started and been postponed - as happened last year between Calgary and Saskatchewan - it likely would have taken place on Sunday instead. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Ah, good point. The CFL weather postponement procedures I found don't specifically mention what happens if the game hasn't started yet. Glad it all worked out.

Note: the first 10 rows or so on the west side are definitely not as under-the-roof as you might think! Wish I'd taken a picture, there was a pretty clear demarkation in the aisle of wet-vs-dry concrete steps.

[RichK]

It seemed to me that the run game got going after Kolankowski started playing on the offensive line. Perhaps he is familiar with the Hamilton defensive line sets, but for whatever reason the run game got better.

Surely part of the reason the run game was better is because the backs were better. Smith showed what many of us believed, that with more touches he could be an effective starting CFL RB. And maybe Jones is simply a better more versatile back than Hicks.

[RichK]

The field conditions were incredible. It was Gorilla Monsoon rain coming down. I saw no ponding, pooling of water anywhere, even on the artificial turf in the endzones. Don't recall anyone loosing their footing. The field was pristine green at the end. No mud or bare patches. Amazing.

This is a great point. Hats off to the groundskeepers.

This is a multi-million-dollar state of the art grass/synthetic hybrid field they installed for FIFA. I’m not sure how much the groundskeepers had to do with its excellent condition last night.

[paulwoods13]

If it has a grass component, it has a dirt component. And yet no mud, no slipping and not even any noticeable divots. Sure, the technology helps, but grass doesn’t get this pristine without careful tending.

[paulwoods13]

A couple of pleasing stats from the game--1)145 yds rushing with Smith almost getting 100 (99). 2) Argos sacked Ford 4 times and kept Kelly clean the whole game. Lemon played another strong game. Who would have thought when Chatfield went down that 37 year old Lemon would play such a key role on the Argo D.

So why did it take an injury to Chatfield to bring Lemon in? - couldn't he have been a vet leader all thru TC and impact player from game 1 ?

It's valid to ask whether some different personnel decisions could have been made along the way. Hendrix's release is another that in retrospect seems weird. On the other hand, who knows if Lemon would have been as motivated if he'd been here all along. He seems to be playing with a huge chip on his shoulder, albeit one based not on anger but on sheer determination to show the entire league he's far from finished at 38. And the org deserves credit for pouncing on Bolden as soon as he came loose. IMO he's playing better than Priester would have if the latter had stayed healthy.