TORONTO — The Toronto Argonauts were haunted by some of the same inconsistencies in Friday night’s 29-12 loss to the Ottawa REDBLACKS, but Head Coach Scott Milanovich says he believes his team is on the right track.
After the offence put up points but the defence struggled last week, this time it was vice-versa at TD Place, the Boatmen generating only one offensive touchdown and 12 points while never leading against the division rival REDBLACKS.
Dan LeFevour was pulled at halftime while Drew Willy came in and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Elliott in the second half in his Argos debut, but in the end the Argos still find themselves looking to put together a strong performance in all three phases at the same time — something they’ve seldom done on the way to a 5-8 record thus far in 2016.
“We’ve had great nights defensively like I thought [we had tonight],” Milanovich told Argonauts.com following the game. “We’ve had great weeks offensively like we’ve had the last couple of weeks. And we’ve had great weeks on special teams.
“What we’ve got to do is put it all together.”
“I’m a believer. I think we’re going to come back and get hot.”
Scott Milanovich
Scott Milanovich looks for his team to heat up down the stretch (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
LeFevour earned his third straight start after playing well in back-to-back games vs. Hamilton and Winnipeg, but was pulled after the first 30 minutes vs. Ottawa after generating only three points while completing 13 of 19 passes for 72 yards and an interception.
While the real back-breaker was a 109-yard return for a touchdown by Jamill Smith off of Lirim Hajrullahu’s 52-yard missed field goal, Milanovich felt that his team, down 16-3 at halftime, needed the spark of a quarterback change.
Willy stepped in after receiving no first-team reps in his first two weeks as an Argo, shaking off some early cobwebs and ultimately putting up a productive night throwing the football.
“I thought Drew did a great job tonight with zero reps on our offence,” said Milanovich. “He’s been getting work on the side but he just hasn’t gotten any reps with our ones . . . I’ll have to see it on film but I thought he did a nice job.”
Willy, who was told at halftime he’d be getting the nod coming out, had a couple of misses he’d like back but overall was happy with his Argos debut.
“I felt good,” said Willy. “Any time you get to play it’s fun to be out there. I wish we could’ve gotten the win . I thought we did some good things in the second half but obviously it wasn’t enough.
“I haven’t thrown to a single one of those guys in practice. They’re very, very talented, so I just need to learn their body language and I think we’ll do some good things.”
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Milanovich said his team will get a couple of much-needed days off before preparing for the Montreal Alouettes, whom the Argos will take on next Sunday in la bell province.
With the team sitting outside of the playoff bubble looking in, that game starts a crucial five-game stretch during which the Boatmen will have to heat up in order to get into the post-season.
If you ask Milanovich, there’s a good chance of that happening based on what’s transpired the last couple of weeks.
“I’m a believer,” Milanovich said Friday night. “I think we’re going to come back and get hot.”
