Toronto Argonauts linebacker Rico Murray (20) looks on as Saskatchewan Roughriders wide receiver Bakari Grant (81) celebrates his touchdown during second half CFL football action in Toronto on Saturday, October 7, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
TORONTO — Someone will break out of a slump in the CFL’s East Division final.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts are to meet Sunday at BMO Field (noon, CKRM, TSN) to decide the division title, with the winner advancing to the Grey Cup game in Ottawa on Nov. 26.
It has been a while since either team has won a division championship and therefore qualified for the CFL final.
In 2013, Saskatchewan defeated the host Calgary Stampeders in the West final and went on to beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Grey Cup game.
The Roughriders lost in the West semifinal in 2014 and then missed the playoffs in each of the 2015 and ’16 seasons.
Toronto won its last division title in 2012, beating the Montreal Alouettes in the East final and then downing Calgary in the league final.
The following season, Toronto lost to the visiting Tiger-Cats with the East pennant on the line. The Argos missed the playoffs in both 2014 and 2016 and lost to Hamilton in the East semifinal in 2015.
Here’s a look at some aspects of Sunday’s game.
A look back: The Roughriders and Argos have met once before in a playoff game (excluding Grey Cup games).
In 2002, Saskatchewan crossed over into the East playoffs and lost 24-14 to Toronto in the division semifinal.
The teams also clashed in the 1997 Grey Cup game, with the Doug Flutie-led Argos downing the Roughriders 47-23.
Toronto hasn’t won a post-season game since 2012, when it defeated the Stampeders 35-22 in the Grey Cup game at Rogers Centre.
Saskatchewan is riding a one-game playoff winning streak, having beaten the Ottawa Redblacks 31-20 last Sunday in the East Division semifinal.
One for the history books: The Roughriders are trying to do something no other CFL team has done.
Since the league adopted the crossover playoff format in 1996, 10 teams from the West Division have appeared in the East Division playoffs.
None of the previous nine teams has reached the Grey Cup game. Six of them — including Saskatchewan teams in 2002 and ’05 — lost in the East semifinal and three fell in the division final.
“Initially, I think the guys talked about the crossover thing, but now it doesn’t matter,” Roughriders quarterback Kevin Glenn said. “We just want to go out, play well, win the game and get to the Cup.”
Leading the way: Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones has been a fixture in the playoffs during his CFL coaching career.
Jones has appeared in the post-season in 15 of his 16 seasons in the league. The only time he didn’t qualify for the playoffs was in 2016, his first season with the Roughriders.
This will be Jones’ 13th trip to a division final since he came to the league in 2001. He has coached in seven Grey Cup games in his career and is a four-time league champion.
“You can look back and see what you might have done in the past,” Jones said of using his experience in division finals to the Roughriders’ advantage on Sunday. “But this is a totally separate ball game, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re fully prepared and know them as good as they know themselves.”
Argos head coach Marc Trestman, meanwhile, is in the CFL playoffs for the sixth time in as many seasons.
He led the Alouettes to four East finals in five seasons (they also lost in the division semifinal once) and to three Grey Cup appearances (with wins over Saskatchewan in 2009 and 2010).
Jones and Trestman have squared off in one playoff game and in one Grey Cup contest.
In 2008, Jones was the Stampeders’ defensive co-ordinator when they beat Trestman’s Alouettes 22-14 in the league final. In 2012, Jones was the Argos’ defensive co-ordinator in their 27-20 East final victory over Montreal.
There’s another coaching tie in this game. Argos defensive co-ordinator Corey Chamblin worked under Jones in Calgary and considers the Roughriders’ bench boss to be his mentor.
One for the ages: Glenn and Toronto’s Ricky Ray will clash in a battle of 38-year-old quarterbacks.
Glenn started 17 games for the Roughriders in 2017 and posted a 9-8-0 record. Ray posted the same record for the Argos.
Glenn completed 318 of 468 pass attempts for 4,038 yards with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in the regular season. He went 18-for-28 for 252 yards and a touchdown in the Roughriders’ semifinal victory over Ottawa.
Ray led the CFL in pass attempts (668) and completions (474), tied for the league lead in completion percentage (71.0) and tied for third with 28 TD passes in the regular season.
If Glenn struggled or was being harassed by the opponent’s pass rush in regular-season games, he often was replaced quickly by Brandon Bridge. The Roughriders’ backup was 92-for-138 for 1,236 yards with 10 TDs and four interceptions in the regular season.
Ray’s backup, Cody Fajardo, threw just 30 passes in the regular season. He had 18 completions for 154 yards and two TDs.
Catching on: The Roughriders had three 1,000-yard receivers in the regular season: Duron Carter (1,043), Naaman Roosevelt (1,035) and Bakari Grant (1,033).
Toronto had only one player exceed that mark. S.J. Green finished second in the league in both receiving yards (1,462) and touchdown receptions (10) and he tied for second in catches (104).
The Argos’ receiving corps doesn’t appear to be as deep as Saskatchewan’s group, but that may be deceiving.
Armanti Edwards was second on the team with 962 yards on 83 catches in the regular season, while DeVier Posey was third with 744 yards (and seven TDs) on 52 receptions.
But Posey played in just 12 regular-season games. And Anthony Coombs (457 yards on 49 catches) appeared in only 10 regular-season games.
Both teams passed for more than 300 yards in each of the two regular-season meetings.
Carter led the Roughriders in the series with 14 receptions for 202 yards and two TDs, while Grant had 12 catches for 200 yards. Green snared 11 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Argos, who lost both games.
What a rush: A deciding factor in the teams’ success through the air Sunday could be their respective pass rushes.
Toronto tied for the league lead in the regular season with 50 sacks, nearly twice as many as the Roughriders (27).
But Saskatchewan did a better job of getting to Ray in the regular-season meetings than the Argos did of getting to Saskatchewan’s QBs.
The Roughriders sacked Ray five times (all in the game July 29) and pressured him 12 times (including 10 on Oct. 7). Toronto recorded four sacks (two in each game) and recorded nine QB pressures (including six on Oct. 7).
Victor Butler led the Argos with 10 sacks in the regular season. Willie Jefferson was the Roughriders’ top threat, posting eight sacks and a league-high 37 pressures.
Saskatchewan did a stellar job of protecting Glenn in the East semifinal, holding the Redblacks without a sack and limiting them to six pressures. The Roughriders had two sacks and 10 pressures on Ottawa QB Trevor Harris.
Running wild: Both teams have discovered their ground attacks in recent weeks.
After averaging 70 yards rushing per game through their first 15 games, the Roughriders have averaged 160 yards over their past four contests.
That includes a 212-yard eruption in the East semifinal, keyed by the 169 yards put up by Marcus Thigpen. The former NFL return man has more speed and is more of a slasher than teammates Cameron Marshall and Trent Richardson, which makes Thigpen more capable of going the distance when he finds a seam.
Argos tailback James Wilder Jr., helped Toronto’s ground game go from averaging 65 yards over its first 12 games to 129 yards over its past six outings.
After starting the regular season as the Argos’ backup, Wilder finished fifth in the CFL rushing derby with 872 yards on just 122 carries. He had a league-best 7.1-yard average and his longest run of 85 yards was 29 yards better than the next-longest by a tailback this season.
But the Roughriders contained Wilder in the regular season, holding him to 35 yards on 11 carries on July 29 and 72 yards on 13 rushes on Oct. 7. They’re the last team this season to keep him under the century mark in a game.
Toronto had the league’s stingiest run defence in the regular season (82.8 yards per game), while Saskatchewan was sixth (96.3 yards per game).
Kicking back: Roughriders kicker Tyler Crapigna and his Argos counterpart, Lirim Hajrullahu, are new to this whole thing.
Crapigna appeared in his first career playoff game last Sunday in Ottawa, while Hajrullahu is to make his post-season debut tomorrow.
Crapigna made his only field-goal try against the Redblacks and was 4-for-4 on convert attempts.
Both kickers were perfect in the regular-season matchups. Crapigna connected on all seven of his field-goal attempts and was 4-for-4 on converts, and Hajrullahu was 5-for-5 on three-pointers and hit all four of his convert attempts.
But Crapigna had the edge in the regular season, making 85.7 per cent of his field-goal attempts (36-for-42) compared to Hajrullahu’s 81.0 per cent (47-for-58). In terms of converts, the men tied for the league lead with 100-per-cent accuracy rates.
When it comes to punting, Hajrullahu and Saskatchewan’s Josh Bartel were nearly equal in the regular season.
Hajrullahu had an average of 44.0 yards per punt and a net average of 34.5, while Bartel posted a gross average of 43.9 and a net average of 34.9.
Both teams possess game-breaking return men.
Christion Jones averaged 14.3 yards and scored two touchdowns on punt returns for the Roughriders, while Toronto’s Martese Jackson had an 11.8-yard average and two punt-return TDs.
