The CFL’s only unbeaten team appears to have a really good chance to push its record to 6-0 on Saturday.
Coming off back-to-back divisional road wins at Montreal and Hamilton, the Toronto Argonauts take the road show to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the league’s yearly Touchdown Atlantic game against the injury-riddled Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Toronto matched its best start in 63 years last week with a 31-15 victory over Hamilton as quarterback Chad Kelly completed 20 of 27 passes for 306 yards, throwing for two touchdowns and running for a third. Kelly is piloting an offense that has scored at least 31 points in every game, averaging 37.2 for the season.
The Argos’ defense has allowed its share of points but has forced a lot of turnovers. They came up with six interceptions in a win over the B.C. Lions on July 3 and registered a pick last week in Hamilton.
“We have to make sure we come out and play our game and execute,” said linebacker Adarius Pickett. “When we do that, it’s very hard to play with us.”
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan (3-3) is fresh off a 19-9 loss last week at B.C., its second in a row. More importantly, the Roughriders are losing players at a concerning clip. Quarterback Trevor Harris (knee) is out for several weeks, while defensive lineman Bryan Cox Jr. (knee), center Peter Godber (hand) and defensive lineman Anthony Lanier II (foot) are among those who have been battling ailments.
Lanier and Godber are expected to start on Saturday, while Cox has been ruled out.
Running back Jamal Morrow said the Roughriders’ approach can’t change just because they’re dealing with numerous injuries or a tough opponent.
“We know obviously it’s a big game but we’re just going to go in and execute our game,” he said. “There’s nothing that we can really do. We have to control what we can control, but for us it is to go out there and play our best brand of football like we try to do every week.”
Mason Fine is hoping for more points in his second start at quarterback. Fine was 31 of 40 last week for 278 yards but tossed a pair of interceptions and couldn’t get his team in the end zone against the Lions.
–Field Level Media