Re: Game Thread: The CAL-GARY Stampeders at The Toronto Argonauts. The Hoedown in Hogtown!
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2026 8:03 am
It was great to be back watching football at BMO after 307 days.
There was plenty of good, some bad and a bit to worry about.
Kelly is what he is: a super-confident guy with a ridiculously strong arm and at times far too much self-belief in that arm. He is capable of making great throws when he's running and doesn't have his feet set, but also capable of making terrible throws when that happens. We're very fortunate to have won a game (for the second time this year, IIRC) in which our QB threw four INTs. That rarely happens. That said, his final pass to Coxie was superb.
Coxie is an absolute beast. He fought for extra yards on almost every reception he made.
Hicks seems to erupt for one huge play pretty well every game, and yet he goes massive stretches without a touch. Miller is sooner or later gonna need to make at least a mild commitment to the run. It hasn't bitten too bad yet, but giving the feature back eight touches a game is not a recipe that many successful teams have had.
The defence had its best game of the season, especially the front four and the secondary. Pickett has stepped into McManis's role as the team leader, and Bolden isn't far behind. Bolden was a tremendous early-season pickup, and bringing back Lemon and Hendrix looks genius. Still, I counted four passes that should have been intercepted (in addition to the two that were).
Special teams were also superb. Grant is Grant, Burnip is already the best punter in the league, and Lidster shook off two early misses to make some clutch kicks, including from 52. After the second miss, I saw Miller offer some (presumably comforting) words to the kid. Good thing since I think he's our kicker the rest of the season. While Haggerty was on the sideline, there was no sign of Hajrullahu.
The early challenge was a complete waste, and could have been costly. Annoyingly, fans in the stands never got to see the play, either before or after the ruling. Is this a new league policy? If so, it's wrongheaded. Fans who pay nothing to sit at home should not get more access to stuff that can affect the game than fans in the stands.
Polk was limping pretty badly for a while but re-entered the game. Ungerer seemed to have cramps but also got back in. Otherwise no obvious injuries.
I am worried that Mital seems frustrated about his diminished role. After one pass went incomplete to a mid-level receiver in the third quarter, he very loudly started yelling at the bench as he ran back to the huddle. It seemed he was complaining that he had gotten open deep. The next pass went to him and was (predictably, I thought) picked off. I don't know if Miller was trying an immediate make-good on that one. For some reason Mital has become an afterthought in the offence since about week 3. He also hangs out on his on the sideline, standing by the equipment crates rather than sitting with his fellow receivers. I think that's just a matter of personal comfort/style rather than indicative of displeasure. He was all smiles when he congratulated Hicks for his late TD.
The building itself: the new lights were gimmicky but fun, the new sound system is way too loud, and the rest of the problems with BMO remain unfixed: only three water fountains in the entire building, at least one bathroom that floods every game, unsafe lack of lighting on the external stairwells, video boards that have great picture quality but are oriented pretty stupidly. All the World Cup gave us in the end is a bunch of expensive suites that the org couldn't even sell out.
There was plenty of good, some bad and a bit to worry about.
Kelly is what he is: a super-confident guy with a ridiculously strong arm and at times far too much self-belief in that arm. He is capable of making great throws when he's running and doesn't have his feet set, but also capable of making terrible throws when that happens. We're very fortunate to have won a game (for the second time this year, IIRC) in which our QB threw four INTs. That rarely happens. That said, his final pass to Coxie was superb.
Coxie is an absolute beast. He fought for extra yards on almost every reception he made.
Hicks seems to erupt for one huge play pretty well every game, and yet he goes massive stretches without a touch. Miller is sooner or later gonna need to make at least a mild commitment to the run. It hasn't bitten too bad yet, but giving the feature back eight touches a game is not a recipe that many successful teams have had.
The defence had its best game of the season, especially the front four and the secondary. Pickett has stepped into McManis's role as the team leader, and Bolden isn't far behind. Bolden was a tremendous early-season pickup, and bringing back Lemon and Hendrix looks genius. Still, I counted four passes that should have been intercepted (in addition to the two that were).
Special teams were also superb. Grant is Grant, Burnip is already the best punter in the league, and Lidster shook off two early misses to make some clutch kicks, including from 52. After the second miss, I saw Miller offer some (presumably comforting) words to the kid. Good thing since I think he's our kicker the rest of the season. While Haggerty was on the sideline, there was no sign of Hajrullahu.
The early challenge was a complete waste, and could have been costly. Annoyingly, fans in the stands never got to see the play, either before or after the ruling. Is this a new league policy? If so, it's wrongheaded. Fans who pay nothing to sit at home should not get more access to stuff that can affect the game than fans in the stands.
Polk was limping pretty badly for a while but re-entered the game. Ungerer seemed to have cramps but also got back in. Otherwise no obvious injuries.
I am worried that Mital seems frustrated about his diminished role. After one pass went incomplete to a mid-level receiver in the third quarter, he very loudly started yelling at the bench as he ran back to the huddle. It seemed he was complaining that he had gotten open deep. The next pass went to him and was (predictably, I thought) picked off. I don't know if Miller was trying an immediate make-good on that one. For some reason Mital has become an afterthought in the offence since about week 3. He also hangs out on his on the sideline, standing by the equipment crates rather than sitting with his fellow receivers. I think that's just a matter of personal comfort/style rather than indicative of displeasure. He was all smiles when he congratulated Hicks for his late TD.
The building itself: the new lights were gimmicky but fun, the new sound system is way too loud, and the rest of the problems with BMO remain unfixed: only three water fountains in the entire building, at least one bathroom that floods every game, unsafe lack of lighting on the external stairwells, video boards that have great picture quality but are oriented pretty stupidly. All the World Cup gave us in the end is a bunch of expensive suites that the org couldn't even sell out.