The 2008 Toronto Argonauts
The 2008 season was pretty much a disaster from beginning to end for the Toronto Argonauts. A series of misjudgments and the perception of a lack of direction were pervasive in many instances.
The off-season was dominated by stories of the Buffalo Bills-Toronto series of games. The arrival of the NFL cast a pall over the Argos. In this corner, the belief is that the two leagues can co-exist but the team’s reaction suggested otherwise. This may have contributed to the slide down a slippery slope.
The season began with a curious situation at the quarterback position. Within days of one another, the team signed returning pivot Michael Bishop to a long term contract and they acquired last year’s Most Outstanding Player Kerry Joseph, in a trade with Saskatchewan. That meat a sizeable chunk of the salary cap would be spent at one position, for a starter and a backup.
Then they signed a couple of receivers with some experience in the NFL. Bethel Johnson was the big-name pickup that was expected to step in and thrive as the primary target in the passing game. He failed miserably as he never did adjust to the subtleties of the Canadian game and never got in sync with Joseph.
The highly respected defense which carried the Argos to much of the team’s successes of the last few years saw the league catch up to them and a few players, Mike O’Shea and Michael Fletcher among them, seemed to lose a step.
Offensively, veteran Canadian linemen seemed to take a similar backward step and proved less capable of protecting the pocket and opening holes for the running game.
Injuries to Tyler Ebell, Dominick Dorsey and Andre Durie robbed the team of any semblance of a steady option at the running back position to make matters even more desperate.
Rich Stubler, a defensive co-coordinator for many years in the Toronto scheme, acknowledged as the architect of several exceptional defensive units failed to establish himself as a head coach and by mid season was replaced.
His successor, Don Matthews, the winningest coach in league history, was brought in to salvage the season. His 0-7 mark is all you need to know how unsuccessful he was in that attempt. A number of players came out and said they would not return if Mathews was retained.
To cap off the season, on the same day, Mathews received an endorsement from GM Adam Rita, while in a separate statement, the interim coach came out and said he would not be returning and resigned from the head coaching role.
From start to finish, a number of bad moves and a lack of clarity doomed this season.
Hopefully, the powers that be have learned from these experiences and history will not repeat next year.
Posted by, “The Statsman” Paul Bruno
Posted by thestatsman 
