Products You May Like
The Toronto Argonauts can bring the pressure.
CFL teams are constantly in search of players that can rush the quarterback, one of the most important aspects in winning football games. It’s safe to say that the Argos organization is pretty darn sucessful in that quest.
In no particular order, Jake Ceresna, Robbie Smith, Folarin Orimolade, Ralph Holley, Derek Parish are all among the best pass rushers in the league.
The numbers back it up. All five of those finished among the top 21 players in total pressures (sacks, hits and hurries) according to Pro Football Focus.
Here are three ways this group can impact the 111th Grey Cup.
111th GREY CUP
» Landry: Co-defensive coordinators offer Argos collective strength
» Costabile: 3 ways Benjie Franklin will impact the 111th Grey Cup
» Prediction Time: CFL.ca writers’ 111th Grey Cup picks
» Buy tickets to the 111th Grey Cup!
RACE TO THE QUARTERBACK
Let’s start with the obvious. A quick click onto our stats tab will show you five Argonauts among the top 18 players in total sacks. Ceresna and Holley lead the way with eight, followed by Smith, Parish and Orimolade all with six sacks each.
“When we get on the field (it’s) like a race to the quarterback,” said Holley, the youngest in the group. “Beat you there first. It’s always a big thing of us really wanting to be great, not just for our coaches, but for ourselves and for the team.”
(Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca)
Toronto lapped all teams in sacks in 2024, finishing the season with 48 quarterback takedowns, nine more than second-place Ottawa. The Argos also added six more post-season sacks, including four against the Montreal Alouettes in the Eastern Final.
These numbers reflect highly on a defensive coaching staff led by co-defensive coordinators Kevin Eiben and Will Fields, but it goes way beyond that.
“It’s a testament to our D-line coach (Demetrious) Maxie, who does a great job preparing our guys each and every week,” said Eiben. “We’ve got some young guys to the CFL, other than Flo (Orimolade), Robbie (Smith) and really Jake (Ceresna). A lot of the guys on that line are really coming to the CFL for a first or second year, so to get them ready each and every week’s a testament to Maxie.”
As for the result of the race?
Holley paused.
“Yeah, somebody owes somebody a steak,” laughed the d-lineman.
EFFORT AND PHYSICALITY
For as important as sacks are, they are not as common as you might imagine, even for a defensive front as fierce as Toronto’s. The Double Blue defence played 976 snaps in the regular season, registering a sack in 48 of them, good for a total of roughly 4.9 per cent of the plays. What happens in the other 95.1 per cent then?
For the Argos, pressure. A lot of pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, Toronto finished second in total pressures with 292 and first in pressure percentage with 32.4.
“It’s effort and physicality,” said Fields about his team’s relentless pursuit of the quarterback. “They never stop, and that’s what we asked the D-line to do, time in and time out. Just give maximum effort play with maximum physicality, and that’s what coach Maxie brings out of them, and nobody does it better than those guys.”
Ceresna says a reason for the Argos defensive line success is intense film study (Thomas Skrlj/CFL.ca)
Effort and physicality are crucial aspects of playing defensive lineman, but you’d be wrong if you thought that’s all it takes to succeed at the highest level.
“We just put in a lot of work together and we study film like crazy,” said Ceresna about their preparation as a group. “We all have this knack for wanting to get to the quarterback and be competitive. We all want to get the sack, and it kind of drives us. If I see Flo (Orimolade), or Robbie (Smith), get extra work at practice, I’m running over there because I want the extra work as well. I think that’s what really makes us great, is we all have that same mindset that we want to get to the quarterback and we want to be the guy that gets the sack. We feed off each other, and that’s why we’ve been great.”
PRESSURE CREATES POWER
Total stats are only part of the picture. They can often times be a product of volume, not efficiency.
It’s not the case of the 2024 Toronto Argonauts defensive lineman, however. The Argos also led the league in win percentage at the line of scrimmage with 51.5 according to PFF. That’s nine per cent higher than the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (42.5), who finished second in that same category. That means the Boatmen were winning their pass rushing assignments in over half of their snaps, making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks and putting them under almost constant pressure.
How is it that the Argos can win so much during games, you ask? It all starts with the battles at home with the group on the other side of the ball.
“Honestly, they’re one of the reasons why we are so good,” said Holley about his offensive line. The Argos feature players like 2024 Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Ryan Hunter and 2023 Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Dejon Allen among their group. As a unit, Toronto finished third in pass-blocking grade (70.1) while also allowing the fewest wins to opposing pass rushers.
“We go against the best O-line every day in practice ,” said Holley. “Going out into a game is just like practice, we have to dominate. And those guys are a tough offensive line. They give us such an amazing look. It’s competitive. We challenge each other every day we’re at practice.”
“Even when I was in Edmonton, it was always a pain in the butt playing Toronto,” added Ceresna. “These guys, they’re good. All five of them, and they play well together. So anytime you get to go up against them in practice, every single day, it’s going to make you better.”