2008 Toronto Argonauts season

2008 Toronto Argonauts season
General managerAdam Rita
Head coachRich Stubler (to Sept. 9)
Don Matthews (Sept. 9 to Oct. 31)
Home fieldRogers Centre
Results
Record4–14
Division place3rd, East
Playoff finishdid not qualify
Uniform

The 2008 Toronto Argonauts season was the 51st season for the team in the Canadian Football League and 136th season overall. The Argonauts attempted to win their 16th Grey Cup, but they failed to make the playoffs ending the season on a nine-game losing streak.

Offseason

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CFL draft

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In the 2008 CFL Draft, 48 players were chosen from among 752 eligible players[1] from Canadian universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. The first two rounds were broadcast on TSN.ca with host Rod Black.

Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team
2 13 Mike Bradwell WR McMaster
3 21 Jean-Nicolas Carriere LB McGill
4 29 Delroy Clarke DB Ottawa
5 37 Richard Zulys OL Western Ontario
6 42 (via Edmonton) Mark Dewit OL Calgary
6 44 (via Montreal) Tyler Scott REC Western Ontario
6 45 Matt Black DB Saginaw Valley

Notable transactions

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Quarterback Kerry Joseph jogs offs the Rogers Centre field
Date Type Incoming Outgoing Team
March 5, 2008 Trade
  • Kerry Joseph, Quarterback American
  • Riders third round pick in the 2010 CFL Draft
  • Glenn January, Offensive Tackle American
  • Ronald Flemons, Defensive Lineman American
  • Argonauts first round selection in the 2008 CFL Draft
  • Argonauts second round selection in the 2010 CFL Draft
 Saskatchewan Roughriders

[2]

  • The Toronto Argonauts signed former National Football League receiver/kick-returner Bethel Johnson on May 26. Johnson is a two-time Super Bowl champion, who posted a league-best 28.2-yard kickoff return average as a rookie in 2003 with the New England Patriots. Johnson signed with the Argos on Monday, May 26.[3]
  • Damon Allen, 44, announced his retirement from the CFL on May 28. Allen had maintained during the offseason that he intended to attend training camp and compete for the starter's job. Allen would have gone into camp third on the depth chart behind newly acquired Kerry Joseph and veteran Michael Bishop, both of whom signed new deals with the Argos in the off-season.
Allen retires as pro football's career passing leader with 72,381 yards. He played on four Grey Cup-winning teams and in 2005, he captured the league's outstanding player award.[4]
  • June 5, 2008: The Argos acquired running back Jamal Robertson from the Saskatchewan Roughriders for Canadian cornerback Leron Mitchell. He was a former University of Western Ontario Mustangs star who this off-season had a workout with the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

Rosters

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Preseason roster

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As of June 10, 2008

2008 Toronto Argonauts preseason roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Receivers

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Injured Reserve

Suspended list

Practice Roster

Italics indicates Import player
Roster updated 2008-06-10
Depth Chart • Transactions
69 Active, 3 Inactive

End of season roster

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2008 Toronto Argonauts final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Receivers

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Practice Roster

Italics indicates Import player
Roster updated 2008-10-31
Depth Chart • Transactions
55 Active, 4 PR

Schedule

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Preseason

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Week Date Opponent Location Final score Attendance Record
A June 12 @ Alouettes Molson Stadium T 34 – 34 20,202 0–0–1
B June 19 Tiger-Cats Rogers Centre L 28 – 21 21,422 0–1–1

[5]

Regular season

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Week Date Opponent Location Final score Attendance Record
1 June 27 @ Blue Bombers Canad Inns Stadium W 23 – 16 26,155 1–0
2 July 3 Tiger-Cats Rogers Centre L 32 – 13 30,822 1–1
3 July 10 @ Eskimos Commonwealth Stadium L 47 – 28 31,707 1–2
4 July 20 Eskimos Rogers Centre W 35 – 31 28,522 2–2
5 July 27 @ Roughriders Mosaic Stadium L 28 – 22 28,800 2–3
6 August 1 Blue Bombers Rogers Centre W 19 – 11 28,523 3–3
7 August 7 @ Tiger-Cats Ivor Wynne Stadium L 45 – 21 19,423 3–4
8 August 15 Alouettes Rogers Centre L 32 – 14 30,521 3–5
9 Bye
10 September 1 @ Tiger-Cats Ivor Wynne Stadium W 34 – 31 25,911 4–5
11 September 7 @ Alouettes Molson Stadium L 45 – 19 20,202 4–6
12 September 12 Blue Bombers Rogers Centre L 39 – 9 28,453 4–7
13 September 20 @ Stampeders McMahon Stadium L 34 – 4 33,135 4–8
14 September 27 Stampeders Rogers Centre L 44 – 16 28,672 4–9
15 October 3 Lions Rogers Centre L 24 – 20 28,273 4–10
16 October 10 @ Blue Bombers Canad Inns Stadium L 25 – 16 27,268 4–11
17 October 18 Alouettes Rogers Centre L 43 – 34 30,262 4–12
18 October 25 @ Lions BC Place Stadium L 55 – 32 35,994 4–13
19 October 30 Roughriders Rogers Centre L 45 – 38 28,654 4–14

[5]

Regular season

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Toronto started the season off well, winning against the Blue Bombers 23–16, but after that they compiled a 2–5 record the next 7 games. After the Bye week, everything went downhill, they won only one game and lost 9 start to finish the season 4–14 and missed the playoffs.

A raucous Labour Day crowd of 25,911 at Ivor Wynne Stadium witnessed a game that ended with a 34–31 Argo victory, the team's first win against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the season. Argo head coach Rich Stubler's job was rumoured to be on the line.[6] Argos receiver Arland Bruce III found time for a little theatrics, celebrating an 11-yard TD catch by donning a Spider-Man mask produced from his pants.[6] Several days later, the Canadian Football League fined the Argonauts receiver an undisclosed amount for his touchdown celebration.[7] Game officials had handed Bruce an objectionable conduct penalty after the incident. Bruce went on to have his best game of the season, catching 10 passes for a game-high 149 yards.[7]

On September 9, Stubler was released as head coach of the Argonauts after posting a 4–6 record. There was the belief he could not get along with those he worked with.[8] The Argos hired Don Matthews, the head coach with the most wins in CFL history and head coach during Toronto's back-to-back Grey Cup victories in 1996 and 1997, to return to the club as head coach for the third time in his coaching career.[9]

During the team's next game on September 12 at Rogers Centre, Winnipeg Blue Bombers slotback Milt Stegall became the most prolific receiver in the history of the CFL.[10] The slotback caught a 92-yard pass at 9:02 in the second quarter to raise his career total to 14,983, breaking the mark of 14,891 yards previously held by former Stampeders receiver Allen Pitts.[10] Stegall took a pass from Kevin Glenn and scored a touchdown, his second of the game. It put the Bombers ahead 28–3.[10]

On October 31, Matthews resigned from the Argonauts a day after the conclusion of the Argonauts 2008 regular season, which saw the Argos fail to win a game in the eight games under his leadership and finishing out of the playoffs for the first time since the 2001 CFL season.[11]

Season standings

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East Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Montreal Alouettes 18 11 7 0 610 443 22 Details
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 18 8 10 0 435 490 16 Details
Toronto Argonauts 18 4 14 0 397 627 8 Details
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 18 3 15 0 441 593 6 Details

Statistics

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Offence

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Passing

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Player Att Comp % Yards TD INT Rating
Kerry Joseph 536 307 57.3 4174 17 14 82.0
Cody Pickett 104 63 60.6 610 1 2 72.2
Reggie McNeal 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 2.1

[12]

Rushing

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Player Att Yards Avg, TD Fumbles
Jamal Robertson 117 645 5.5 6 2
Kerry Joseph 78 493 6.3 4 7
Dominique Dorsey 64 41 0 6.4 2 2
Jeff Johnson 8 31 3.9 1 0

[12]

Receiving

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[13]

Player Receptions Yards Touchdowns
Arland Bruce 92 1210 9
Andre Talbot 76 915 4
Reggie McNeal 43 606 2
P. K. Sam 36 499 3
James Robinson 25 381 1
Tyler Scott 19 309 0
Dominique Dorsey 15 286 0

Defence

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Postseason

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The Argos finished third in the East Division with a record of 4 wins and 14 losses. The Edmonton Eskimos, who finished fourth in the West, had a better record of 10 and 8, and under the cross-over rule eliminated Toronto from the playoffs and play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the East semi-final.

Awards and records

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Milestones

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References

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  1. ^ "Draft List for Year 2008" (PDF). Canadian Football League. 2008-01-28. Retrieved 6 May 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ McCormick, Murray (March 5, 2008). "Dealt to Argos". Archived from the original on 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2008-04-12 – via Canada.com.
  3. ^ "Argonauts add former NFLer Bethel Johnson". CBC News. May 26, 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  4. ^ "CFL legend calling it quits". Canoe. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ a b "2008 Toronto Argonauts". Retrieved 2010-11-07.
  6. ^ a b Zelkovich, Chris (September 2, 2008). "Argos hang on to beat Ticats". The Star. Toronto. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  7. ^ a b "Posted Sports". network.nationalpost.com.
  8. ^ Simmons, Steve (2009-09-10). "Stubler just didn't fit". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved 2008-09-10.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ^ "Argos fire Stubler, bring back Matthews". CBC Sports. 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  10. ^ a b c "CFL on Yahoo Canada Sports – News, Scores, Standings, Rumours, Fantasy Games". Yahoo Sports.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Matthews quits as Argos coach". CBC Sports. 2008-10-31. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  12. ^ a b "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  13. ^ "2008 Receiving Statistics". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  14. ^ "CFL.ca - 2008 East & West Division All-Stars". Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2017-08-23.

Further reading

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On training camp
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