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Toronto and Hamilton meet in pivotal Eastern Division matchup

Wed 1st, September 2010

Hamilton, ON (Sports Network) - The only matchup of the week that pits two teams that are at least .500 so far this season against each other has the Hamilton Tiger-Cats entertaining the Toronto Argonauts at Ivor Wynne Stadium on Monday afternoon.

Toronto is a surprising 5-3 after eight games, even though the team was taken down by this same Ti-Cats squad on August 20 by a score of 16-12. With the victory Hamilton moved to an even 4-4 overall, using a 13-point fourth-quarter explosion to capture its third win in a row after losing four of the first five games of the campaign.

Hamilton kicker Sandro DeAngelis played a crucial role in putting his team over the top in the last game, booting a pair of field goals in the final period and three successful conversions overall. But in fact, it was a six- yard TD run by DeAndra Cobb late in the meeting that actually put the visitors over the top. Cobb finished with a game-high 99 yards on 20 carries, while quarterback Kevin Glenn converted 25-of-36 passes for 247 yards and an interception. Receiver Arland Bruce continued to be a tough matchup as he reeled in eight balls for 68 yards.

Over on the Toronto side, Cleo Lemon made good on 18-of-31 passes for 208 yards, but he failed to throw a TD pass and was sacked four times. Instead, it was kicker Grant Shaw who had a hand in most of the scoring for the Argos, converting three field goals and adding a single through the third quarter.

As someone who has been thrown into the starting lineup this year, Lemon has made it work for the Argonauts with his 60.2 percent completion rate and just seven touchdowns against five interceptions thus far. Nevertheless, the Toronto passing attack is far from feared throughout the rest of the league, given that it ranks last in yardage (1,761) and second-to-last in TD passes with just those seven tossed by Lemon. What Toronto needs more than anything is for Boyd to continue to roll up yards on the ground so at least the Argos can at times threaten to put the ball in the air. Boyd is currently first in the league in rushing with 792 yards, yet after a league-high 133 carries he still has just four touchdowns to his credit.

As for the Toronto defense, there is no team in the league that is even close to how porous the Argos have become in 2010. The squad is giving up a staggering 439.3 ypg, the only team in the league permitting more than 393 ypg at the moment. But as poorly as the unit has played at times this season, the fact remains that Toronto is allowing 26.9 ppg which is right in the middle of the pack, and is actually tied with Hamilton at the moment in that department.

Glenn has seen plenty of action over the years against the Argonauts, throwing for almost 4,000 yards to go along with his 17 TDs. Most importantly, at least in the last four meetings, Glenn has tossed just a single interception and that has allowed his team to remain competitive in the series. One of five players in the league with at least 100 carries thus far, Cobb (104) has had his ups and downs with just 434 yards and three touchdowns. With an average of just 4.2 yards per attempt, Cobb has the lowest average of any of the top 30 ball carriers in the league right now and it is only a matter of time before all of those hits begin to take their toll.

Perhaps having Bruce out on the wing will help to take some of the attention off of Cobb, especially considering the receiver leads the CFL in receptions (53) and receiving yards (812) at this stage. Perhaps the only knock on the star is that he has just five touchdowns to show for all the times he has accepted a pass and taken the hit for the Ti-Cats.

Dating back to the 1950 season, Hamilton owns a 118-86-2 advantage in the all- time series with the Argonauts, winning two straight and three of the last four encounters between the clubs. They are due to meet one more time this season in Toronto on October 15.