Ryan Dinwiddie may run hotter than any head coach in the CFL, but it was cold fury that radiated from his podium after the Toronto Argonauts’ 46-42 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday night.
With a clenched jaw and icy stare, the defending Grey Cup champion did not attempt to hide his disdain for certain elements of his own locker room.
“I don’t think those guys quit on us, but I think we’ve got some pretenders in the building that like to talk a big game and don’t show up on game day,” Dinwiddie told the media. “We just don’t have enough dogs, man.”
Toronto had a chance to secure the season series against Ottawa in Week 10, bringing extra importance to the battle of two-win teams. They led by 21 points at the end of the first quarter, but let it all slip away in a shootout that saw them surrender six touchdowns and allow 373 yards through the air.
The Redblacks scored two touchdowns in the late stages of the fourth quarter with the game on the line. The first came on a Dustin Crum QB sneak after Toronto defensive tackle Anthony Lanier set the opponent up at the one-yard line with an objectionable conduct penalty. After the Argos mustered a field goal in response, Dru Brown capped the back-and-forth affair with a nine-play, 72-yard drive that ended in a touchdown pass to Justin Hardy.
“You score 40 points, you should win. You go up 22-1, you should win. I just think as a football club right now, we don’t have enough courage and we don’t handle adversity very well when things don’t go our way,” Dinwiddie stressed.
“You can see we’re like deer in the headlights. (Everyone’s) waiting for someone else to make a play. Let’s have some accountability there, fellas. This is professional football. You get paid to do this. It’s a great sport, great living. It’s fun to do it, but it’s still a job. It’s performance-based, and judged by wins and losses.”
The Argos got a chance to answer with a final drive, but Nick Arbuckle committed the team’s only turnover on a desperate heave deep to Damonte Coxie. Nevertheless, the quarterback had arguably his best game of the season, completing 84.2 percent of his passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns.
Much of that was a credit to improved protection, as Toronto’s beleaguered offensive line posted a clean sheet by not allowing a single sack and kept their charge virtually untouched. However, Dinwiddie gave no credit for the statistical improvement and elected to take a shot directly at the unit when asked about the timeline for the return of franchise QB Chad Kelly, who remains on the six-game injured list with a broken leg suffered last year.
“I think he’s close, but I don’t know if I’d put him in front of that O-line,” he said. “I thought Nick did a good job playing in the pocket, and had some scrambles and those things, but on a run play, we got crossed face every time on second-and-medium. There’s no excuse. We’re home, there’s no crowd noise, none of that stuff. We’re growing with the young O-line, but there’s gotta be some accountability there.”
This isn’t the first time that Dinwiddie has harshly criticized his team this season. After a Week 3 loss to Saskatchewan, he threatened to cut players the following day and publicly called out one of his linemen for subpar offseason training. The coach never followed through on his threat, in part due to injury limitations, but the rant spurred Toronto to their first victory the next week.
Unfortunately, the boost in motivation was only temporary and many of the problems highlighted in that first tirade have persisted. Among them, a porous special-teams coverage unit that allowed a pair of touchdowns last week and followed it up by letting Ottawa return two kicks inside the 10-yard line in this one.
“I got a little upset with (special teams coordinator Mickey Donovan) at times, that’s his unit, but those guys have some onus too. We’ve got some stars on special teams now, we’re trying to make it a big priority. But, as you can see, another week where our special teams let us down,” Diniwiddie said, going so far as to suggest a drastic solution to the team’s difficulty tackling on both defence and special teams.
“I don’t know if we have to have a live scrimmage on Day 1 this week and go from there. Obviously, that’s not very smart with how we’re beat up, but we’ve got to find ways to tackle better and finish games.”
At 2-7 and sitting alone at the bottom of the East Division, there are no bad ideas anymore. While not unprecedented, the road from two victories at the mid-way point to the postseason is a tightrope walk that few survive, especially if the locker room isn’t united.
Despite providing ample fodder for the media and being liberal with his own second digit, Dinwiddie is urging his players to ignore the headlines and avoid assigning blame for the poor start.
“Can’t bicker and point fingers — offence, defence, special teams, whatever. Each guy’s just got to look in the mirror and find a way to do their individual self a benefit in playing better and having a better purpose walking in this building,” he said.
“Are we doing it for each other? First off, do it for yourself. Have some pride in it. We’re on to Edmonton. Six-day week, West travel — doesn’t matter. No one’s gonna feel sorry for us.”
No rousing cry of resilience can hide the frustration that echoed from every syllable of Dinwiddie’s address. This is a level of struggle completely foreign to him in his dominant run as a head coach, complete with efforts that diminish the athletes put on the line when they leave their homes to play in Toronto.
“I sound like a broken record talking to them after games,” he acknowledged. “Guys sacrifice a lot to win football games, and if you don’t love it, let me know. I know I love it, and I ain’t gonna quit.”
The Argonauts (2-7) will return to action on Friday, August 15, when they visit the Edmonton Elks (2-6).
