Minas Panagiotakis/CFL.ca
In 2017, Ryan Dinwiddie was the quarterbacks coach for the Calgary Stampeders. The defensive players weren’t his to coach up, but Wynton McManis quickly caught his eye.
McManis joined the Stamps late in training camp that year, after the team had played its two preseason games. By Week 3, he had made his way onto the active roster.
“His leadership was infectious,” Dinwiddie said this week, as he, McManis and the Toronto Argonauts head to the Eastern Final to face the Montreal Alouettes. “Those guys really count on him in the locker with his leadership.”
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He saw McManis battle through what the team thought would be a season-ending knee injury. In seven games as a rookie, McManis had two tackles on defence, seven on special teams and a pair of sacks. Dinwiddie didn’t see McManis growing into the game-altering star player that he is today, but he’s also not surprised.
“Hard worker,” the coach said of what’s allowed him to establish himself as one of the league’s top defenders.
“He’s got his in-laws over here, He’s with his wife, so they’ve got the whole family here. His parents come in town, they were at the last game. So I think he’s got a comfort level here. He really feels good as far as what we’re asking him to do,” Dinwiddie said.
“Also, he’s a guy that fires up everybody else and elevates everybody else’s game as well.”
McManis’ impact was on full display in the Argos’ 58-38 Eastern Semi-Final win over the Ottawa REDBLACKS. He had a game-high 10 tackles and provided the defensive highlight of the game, intercepting Dru Brown then getting the ball to Tarvarus McFadden on a lateral, allowing McFadden to make a run to the end zone that helped put the game out of reach.
As the Argos head into Saturday’s game determined to exact revenge for how the 2023 Eastern Final played out, here are three ways that McManis can make his presence felt and help get his team to the 111th Grey Cup game in Vancouver.
“SCARED MONEY DON’T MAKE ANY MONEY”
McManis’ interception and lateral last week made all of the highlight reels, but it also had Dinwiddie nervously watching from the sideline. There was risk involved — a fumble and touchdown the other way in a 44-32 game could have seen the REDBLACKS make it a one-score game — but as McManis put it in his own way, there isn’t reward without a little risk.
“Scared money don’t make any money,” he said of his decision-making in the moment.
“I was just trying to make a play for the team. Any chance we get, if it’s the right time, right decision, let’s just make a play for the team.”
McManis has a habit of being that playmaker, with an ability to sense those pivotal moments in a game and finding a way to let his team make a statement. He got the Als with one in in the Argos’ Week 6 win, when Caleb Evans replaced an injured Cody Fajardo. McManis read Evans’ first pass perfectly, grabbed the ball and ran it in for a nine-yard score.
MIND GAMES
Last week, McManis told CFL.ca’s Vicki Hall that there’s an element of mind control to defending well against a team.
“I do know what you want to do,” he told Hall, referencing the study he puts in of opposing quarterbacks. “In that way, I can manipulate you and control you. I want to lock eyes with you at all times. I want you looking at me. I want your attention. That way, you know you’re not comfortable. And it’s a great feeling just being able to control and play great defence.”
In the 2022 edition of Touchdown Atlantic, McManis had a game-winning pick six on Fajardo, when he played for Saskatchewan. He doesn’t think things like that will linger; not for a player like Fajardo, anyway.
“(I) just try to get in his head and as much as I can,” McManis said. “He’s a seasoned quarterback, so it’s not as easy. He does a good job of keeping his head level and things like that. But you know, it doesn’t hurt to try.
“He’s a mobile quarterback, he can hurt you with his legs in times where they need a first down. Linebackers got to be ready to come down and make plays and DBs have to be ready to tackle.”
CHIPPING AWAY
The Argos fell behind 13-3 in the first half of their game last week against the REDBLACKS and watched as Brown and the Ottawa offence made long, time-consuming drives. McManis and the Argos’ defence perhaps bent more than they’d like to, but ultimately didn’t break. They’ll take that patient, on-the-ropes approach if they need to on Saturday, too, knowing that it’s a long game and that opportunities will present themselves.
The defence’s pair of pick sixes — Benjie Franklin ran the second one back 71 yards for the score — came 45 seconds apart in the fourth quarter, after Brown had piled up record-setting numbers through the day.
“It’s a four-quarter game. It’s a long game,” McManis said. “No matter what happens, man, we stay level. We never get too high. We never get too low. We have a job as a defence and as a team to go out and execute no matter the situation.”
The Argos have waited a year to play for a chance to get back to the Grey Cup. Facing the team that took that chance from them in 2023, on their turf this time, promises to be one of the best games of the season on one of its biggest stages.
