The Toronto Argonauts and Ottawa REDBLACKS only met twice this season and for seven of the eight combined quarters, essentially took turns running up the score.
The REDBLACKS feasted off of six turnovers in their 41-27 win over the Argos in Week 14, while the Argos dominated the REDBLACKS for three quarters of their 38-31 Week 20 win.
That Week 20 game sealed the home field deal for the surging Argos, who closed out the season winning four of their last six, resting players in an inconsequential game in their Week 21 finale in Edmonton. At 10-8, the Argos finished with the East Division’s second-best record, leapfrogging the slumping REDBLACKS, who lost five in a row after that Week 14 win over the Argos and finished with a 9-8-1 record.
Now, these two teams meet for a third and final time with their seasons on the line. The Argos are eager to get back to their winning November ways, while the REDBLACKS are back in the playoffs for the first time in six years. Here’s a look at three storylines to follow in the quickly approaching Eastern Semi-Final.
2024 CFL PLAYOFFS
» Matchups Set: Semi-Final Saturday heads to Toronto and Saskatchewan
» Buy Semi-Finals Tickets: Ottawa at Toronto
» Head To Head: Who has the edge in the Eastern Semi-Final?
DRU BROWN’S FIRST PLAYOFF START
Dru Brown‘s first season in Ottawa has been a success. After three seasons of working on his craft with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Brown signed with the REDBLACKS as a free agent and provided some stability at the most important position on the field. Brown finished third in the league in passing this year, with 3,959 yards on 312-464 passing, with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Translating your regular season play into the playoffs happens, but it’s no easy task. Looking at some of the established starters around the league tells you just how bright the lights get on quarterbacks once you get past Week 21 for the first time.
Dru Brown finds Bralon Addison for the REDBLACKS touchdown! 🎯#CFLGameday
📺: @ctv
📲: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/EM4Db86puF— CFL (@CFL) October 19, 2024
In 2014, Bo Levi Mitchell made 14-22 of his passes for 336 yards and had four touchdowns in a win over Edmonton in the 2014 Western Final, marking a successful playoff debut. The Stamps went on to win the Grey Cup in Vancouver a week later. In the same year in the Eastern Final, Zach Collaros made his playoff debut with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was 18-27 for 199 yards with zero touchdowns or interceptions, as the Ticats punched their ticket to meet the Stamps in the 102nd Grey Cup.
In 2019 Vernon Adams Jr. saw his Montreal Alouettes team fall to Edmonton in the Eastern Semi-Final. Adams’ playoff debut saw him go 14-27 for 226 yards with three interceptions and zero touchdowns.
Brown can look down the sideline at BMO Field on Saturday and see a reminder of just how difficult things can get in the playoffs for a first-year starter. Argos’ QB Chad Kelly threw four interceptions in last year’s Eastern Final as part of a 21-36 passing day for 246 yards, in the Argos’ loss to the eventual Grey Cup champion Alouettes.
Brown has played well against the Argos this year, throwing for a combined 749 yards and five touchdowns to one interception. The playoffs are a different beast, though. The REDBLACKS will go as their QB play goes on Saturday.
WILL WE SEE AN ARGOS’ OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION?
there goes that boy, Makai Polk! 💨#CFLGameDay
📺: @ctv
📷: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/abzayoXhgb— CFL (@CFL) October 19, 2024
The Argos have hit their stride late in the season, just when every team in the league wants to be playing well. In their Week 20 matchup against the REDBLACKS, we caught a glimpse of how dangerous the Argos can be. Their offence scored touchdowns on their first four possessions and the team opened up a 38-6 third quarter advantage.
That fourth quarter is worth a conversation of its own, but for our purposes let’s look at what we saw through 45 minutes in that game.
Kelly was 21-26 on the day for 331 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions, posting a perfect 158.3 QB efficiency rating; the only time he’s achieved that in the eight games he took to the field for this season. The Argos are 3-1 in Kelly’s last four starts for them, putting up 28.8 points in the process. We’ve seen the Argos’ defence (think back to incredible showings against Montreal in Week 17 and Winnipeg in Week 19; both wins) and special teams — see Janarion Grant‘s body of work, especially in the first half of the season — carry them at points this year. If the offence can be keyed in the way that it was through those three quarters in Week 20, a fully complete Argos team will be a big problem for the REDBLACKS on Saturday.
ABOUT THAT FOURTH QUARTER
It’s rare to look back at one quarter of a game that will be two full weeks old by the time we get to Saturday’s Eastern Semi-Final and wonder if it can have an impact on these two teams, but that’s how significant the final frame of that Week 20 encounter may have been.
The REDBLACKS trailed 38-6 before running off an incredible 25 points, with the majority of it coming inside the final three minutes of play. Brown connected on three touchdown passes and a pair of two-point converts, with Lewis Ward adding a 38-yard field goal — and successfully executing a pair of onside kicks — to put a big scare into the Argos, who held on for the 38-31 win.
The REDBLACKS went ALL IN with TWO onside kicks!😮#CFL pic.twitter.com/AIHDCxjd3l
— CFL (@CFL) October 20, 2024
For a REDBLACKS team that dropped five of its final six games to go into its first playoff round since 2018, there’s a lot that can be taken from that fourth quarter. Brown and the offence went into flamethrower mode, while the special teams unit forced a turnover off of star returner Janarion Grant and Ward and the recovery unit incredibly pulled in a pair of onside kicks to keep their run going.
On the Argos’ side, the fourth quarter was about accountability and a lesson learned. That flamethrower singed some hair and eyebrows but the Argos got the win and are hosting Saturday’s big game.
We’ll see in just four days’ time who can apply the lessons from that frantic finish.