Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca
Like many people who had watched the Toronto Argonauts’ 0-2 start, Marc Trestman was concerned with what he saw.
The Argos’ head coach watched his team’s offence sputter in a Week 1 loss to Saskatchewan. He watched a complete failure in all three phases in the Week 2 loss to Calgary. Bigger than that, there was the potentially season-ending neck injury that Ricky Ray suffered in that game, which set the stage for highly-touted but up until Saturday unproven backup QB, James Franklin.
After a bye that probably felt much longer than a week, the clouds finally parted for Trestman and everyone else watching.
“It wasn’t altogether pretty but there was a sign of life in our football team today,” Trestman said, after Franklin made 16 of 24 passes for 217 yards, a touchdown and an interception in a desperately needed 20-17 win over his former team, the Edmonton Eskimos.
The 26-year-old added 31 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while getting running back James Wilder Jr. the ball 21 times for a season-best 120 yards and a touchdown.
“He may not say it but as a competitor when you’re playing your old team in your first start and you get that win,” Wilder said of Franklin, “against a great team, a great coached team and a great quarterback…that’s a big win. That’s a confidence booster for him, for sure. If not (for him) it is for me, having him be my quarterback.”
Franklin looked like a vet from the second he got on the field on Saturday. He looked to Wilder six times in the Argos’ nine-play, 76-yard touchdown drive that opened the game.
Grey Cup hero Cassius Vaughn forced a fumble on the Esks’ ensuing drive, with defensive end Shawn Lemon falling on the loose ball at Edmonton’s 35-yard line. Franklin only needed two plays to get the Argos back in the end zone, finding Armanti Edwards for a 30-yard connection, then went back to Wilder for a five-yard handoff. The Argos led 12-0 5:48 into the game.
Trailing 17-12 in the fourth quarter, Franklin went back in and navigated the quarterbacking tightrope of a high-stakes drive, taking seven minutes off the clock with a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was capped with a five-yard toss to fullback Declan Cross. He then hit Edwards on the two-point convert to give the Argos an important three-point lead with three minutes to play.
“He had great poise today,” Trestman said of Franklin. “We got explosive plays because he pinpointed passes down the sideline to Llevi (Noel, who had a career-best 81 yards). He hit one to Armanti.
“He made some key plays. When we needed him to make throws, he made the throws and he took over the drive on the last series and got us some first downs and some touchdowns.”
After the loss to Calgary, the Argos sat at 0-2 and looked lost in every way imaginable. They’re in the middle of a difficult start to their season, with a game in Edmonton then a home-and-home with Winnipeg still in front of them. They couldn’t afford to spiral any deeper than they already had. Trestman spoke during the week of simply putting together a game they could be proud of. They got more than that on Saturday.
“It was very chaotic the first two games,” Trestman said.
“We didn’t start fast offensively. We saw a little bit of hope defensively in the first game and in the second game we just didn’t play well in all three phases, really.
“We were able to get some perspective on what it feels like to win and how hard it is to win. We do have a new team with new players, new coaches in there. Winning is a step in the right direction, but we can’t allow it to mask our deficiencies and things we can do better.”
Franklin didn’t see a notably different tone in practice this week. The only thing that was different was that he was at the controls this time.
“The guys were able to execute and they made the plays,” Franklin said. “I think that was the biggest difference, guys were making plays on offence this week and even on defence too. They did the great job of getting the interception, the turnovers and keeping Mike off the field at the crunch time moments. I think that was the biggest difference this game.”
Wilder said that as Franklin marched the team down the field in its decisive, fourth-quarter drive, veteran receiver S.J. Green continually told them that a field goal was not an option. The Argos knew that a moral victory, playing close to the way they’re capable of, wouldn’t allow them to gain ground on Hamilton or Ottawa, who have already won two games. Saturday’s win puts the Argos on even ground with Montreal and gets them on track when two weeks ago, it looked like they’d veered dangerously far off course.
“There’s a light, there’s a flicker there now,” Trestman said.
“There’s nothing like a win in a locker room and I think our guys really know how they got a win. We got it by working hard and investing in our football team on and off the field. We’ll see where this takes us.”
