2009 Toronto Argonauts season

The 2009 Toronto Argonauts season was the 52nd season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 137th overall. The Argonauts attempted to win their 16th Grey Cup championship, but they failed to make the playoffs for the second straight year, finishing the season with a 3–15 record for the first time since 1993.

2009 Toronto Argonauts season
Head coachBart Andrus
General managerAdam Rita
Home fieldRogers Centre
Results
Record3–15
Division place4th, East
Playoff finishdid not qualify
Uniform

Training camp opened on June 7 and Toronto's first pre-season game was on June 17, 2009, at the Rogers Centre, hosting the Montreal Alouettes. The regular season kicked off on July 1 at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Ivor Wynne Stadium,[1][2] where the Argos defeated the Ti-Cats 30–17.

Off-season

On January 16, 2009, the Argonauts announced that Bart Andrus had been hired as the new head coach. He became the 40th head coach in the team's 136-year history and marked his first experience in Canadian football.[3]

CFL Draft

The 2009 CFL Draft took place on May 2, 2009. The Argonauts had the second overall pick and selected Laval tackle Étienne Légaré, immediately signing him to a three-year contract.[4]

Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team
12Étienne LégaréDTLaval
210Matt LambrosWRLiberty
318James GreenDBCalgary
426Zachary PollariOTWestern Ontario
534Gordon SawlerDLSt. Francis Xavier
642Anthony DesLauriersDBSimon Fraser
643Brad CrawfordDBGuelph

Notable transactions

The Toronto Argonauts were active on the opening day of free agency on February 16 signing tackle Rob Murphy, the most sought after offensive lineman available in the free-agent pool, centre Dominic Picard, and re-signing linebacker Willie Pile, who posted a team-high 75 tackles in 2008.[5][6][7]

Date Type Incoming Outgoing Team
Jan. 9 released n/a Kenny Wheaton
Jan. 13 signed Jordan Younger n/a
Jan. 27 deferred n/a P.K. Sam Buffalo Bills
Feb. 3 deferred n/a Byron Parker Philadelphia Eagles
Feb. 4 deferred n/a Dominique Dorsey Washington Redskins
Feb. 10 released n/a Keith Stokes
Feb. 16 free agency n/a Michael Fletcher
Feb. 16 free agency n/a Adrian Mayes
Feb. 16 signed Rob Murphy n/a (free agent) BC Lions
Feb. 17 signed Dominic Picard n/a (free agent) Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Feb. 19 trade[8] Zeke Moreno & sixth round 2009 CFL Draft pick Riall Johnson Winnipeg Blue Bombers
May 28 released[9] n/a Mike Vanderjagt
July 29 trade[10] Corey Mace & third round picks in 2010 & 2011 CFL Drafts Arland Bruce III Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Preseason
Montreal Alouettes playing the Toronto Argonauts in pre-season at the Rogers Centre on June 17.
WeekDateOpponentLocationFinal ScoreAttendanceRecord
A June 17 Alouettes Rogers Centre L 37 – 24[11] 18,241 0–1
B June 23 @ Tiger-Cats Ivor Wynne Stadium W 27 – 17[12] 16,225 1–1

[13]

Regular season

Season standings
East Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Montreal Alouettes18153060032430Details
Hamilton Tiger-Cats1899044942818Details
Winnipeg Blue Bombers18711038650814Details
Toronto Argonauts1831503285026Details

Season schedule

  Win   Loss   Tie

WeekDateOpponentLocationFinal ScoreAttendanceRecord
1 July 1 @ Tiger-Cats Ivor Wynne Stadium W 30 – 17 23,211 1–0
2 July 11 Roughriders Rogers Centre L 46 – 36 30,055 1–1
3 July 17 @ Stampeders McMahon Stadium L 44 – 9 33,109 1–2
4 July 24 @ Blue Bombers Canad Inns Stadium W 19 – 5 28,466 2–2
5 August 1 Blue Bombers Rogers Centre L 13 – 12 23,821 2–3
6 August 7 @ Alouettes Molson Stadium L 25 – 0 20,202 2–4
7 August 14 Lions Rogers Centre L 36 – 28 24,754 2–5
8 Bye
9 August 28 Stampeders Rogers Centre L 23 – 20 25,329 2–6
10 September 7 @ Tiger-Cats Ivor Wynne Stadium L 34 – 15 30,293 2–7
11 September 11 Tiger-Cats Rogers Centre W 25 – 22 (2OT) 26,421 3–7
12 September 19 @ Lions BC Place Stadium L 23 – 17 27,515 3–8
13 September 26 † @ Blue Bombers Canad Inns Stadium L 29 – 24 22,446 3–9
14 October 3 Alouettes Rogers Centre L 27 – 8 26,828 3–10
15 October 10 @ Roughriders Mosaic Stadium L 32 – 22 29,361 3–11
16 October 16 Eskimos Rogers Centre L 22 – 19 26,515 3–12
17 October 23 Tiger-Cats Rogers Centre L 26 – 17 25,352 3–13
18 October 30 @ Eskimos Commonwealth Stadium L 36 – 10 30,012 3–14
19 November 7 Alouettes Rogers Centre L 42 – 17 28,293 3–15

[13]

Roster
2009 Toronto Argonauts roster
Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Slotbacks

 Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive Backs

Special Teams

 Inactive List

Practice Roster

Italics indicates Import player
Roster updated 2010-01-31
Depth Chart
Transactions (argonauts.ca)
Transactions (cfl.ca)
45 Active, 7 Inactive, 6 PR

→ More rosters

Week 1: at Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1 2 3 4 Total
Argonauts 20 3 7 0 30
Tiger-Cats 0 10 0 7 17

at Ivor Wynne Stadium, Hamilton, Ontario

  • Game time: 7:00 PM EDT
  • Game weather: 18 °C (Rainy)
  • Game attendance: 23,211
  • Referee: Kim Murphy
  • TV announcers: (TSN): Rod Black & Duane Forde

The Argonauts began the season on Canada Day at the Ti-Cats' home stadium and it didn't take long for the traditional rivalry to heat up.[15][16]

Argonauts Jamal Robertson and Adriano Belli both received players of the week honours for their play in the game. Running back Jamal Robertson's career-high single-game 200 combined yards (134 rushing yards, 53 receiving yards, 13 kickoff return yards) and 1 touchdown earned him the CFL Offensive Player of the Week award while Belli was awarded the Canadian Player of the Week for giving Hamilton quarterback Quinton Porter trouble with two sacks and three tackles in the game.[17][18]

Week 2: vs Saskatchewan Roughriders
Kerry Joseph (4) drops back to throw a touchdown pass to Mike Bradwell late in the 4th quarter. (Rogers Centre, July 11)
1 2 3 4 Total
Roughriders 7 30 0 9 46
Argonauts 13 0 10 13 36

at Rogers Centre, Toronto

  • Game time: 1:00 PM EDT
  • Game weather: 23 °C (1st half: Roof closed/2nd half: Partly cloudy)
  • Game attendance: 30,055
  • Referee: Glen Johnson
  • TV announcers: (TSN): Gord Miller, Matt Dunigan, & Claude Feig

Toronto lost their home opener July 11 versus Saskatchewan by a score of 46–36. The Argonauts committed 12 penalties for 124 yards, 109 yards of which were in the first half. The Argonauts opened the game strongly by scoring a touchdown on their opening drive and scoring a field goal after blocking a Luca Congi field goal try to take an early 10–0 lead. Toronto penalties assisted a Saskatchewan drive for a touchdown to make it 10–7. Then, Toronto kicker Justin Medlock made another field goal to end the first quarter with a 13–7 lead. In the second quarter, Toronto allowed Saskatchewan to score thirty unanswered points. Toronto came back in the second half scoring three touchdowns and a field goal and holding Saskatchewan to three field goals but ended up losing by 10.[19][20] After the game, an angry coach Andrus said that players needed to control the penalties. Adriano Belli in particular, who took 4 penalties for 44 yards in the first half including a head butt that continued the Roughriders first drive for a touchdown, took some criticism: "If he wants to be a WWE wrestler, then he can go do that, but he is not going to do on my football team", said Andrus.[21][22]

Week 3: at Calgary Stampeders
1 2 3 4 Total
Argonauts 3 6 0 0 9
Stampeders 7 6 14 17 44

at McMahon Stadium, Calgary

Toronto lost their second game in a row and again a series of errors in a short period of time helped the opponents to score but this time it was the offence and turnovers that gave the Stampeders a big win. The Argonauts gave up the ball five times in all but the game broke open with two turnovers within 75 seconds in the second half. On the final play of the third quarter, Stampeders linebacker Dwaine Carpenter stripped the ball from quarterback Kerry Joseph and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown and on the next Argos drive, Calgary defensive back Dwight Anderson intercepted a Joseph pass and ran it back 52 yards for another touchdown to make the score 34 to 9. Yet another interception later in the fourth quarter by cornerback Brandon Browner gave the Stampeders three defensive touchdowns and a commanding 44 to 9 victory.[23][24][25]

Week 4: at Winnipeg Blue Bombers
1 2 3 4 Total
Argonauts 3 13 3 0 19
Blue Bombers 3 0 0 2 5

at Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg

[26][27][28]

Week 5: vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Winnipeg lines up for Alexis Serna's game-winning field goal late in 4th quarter
1 2 3 4 Total
Blue Bombers 10 0 0 3 13
Argonauts 0 7 2 3 12

at Rogers Centre, Toronto

  • Game time: 1:00 PM EDT
  • Game weather: 27 °C (Sunny, Wind 11 km/h)
  • Game attendance: 23,821
  • Referee: Glen Johnson
  • TV announcers: (TSN): Rod Black, Duane Forde, & John Lu

This game marked an anniversary of losing at the Rogers Centre, as it officially marked one year without a home victory for the Argonauts. Kerry Joseph had one touchdown throw (to Chad Lucas) but was intercepted four times while the Argos coughed up two additional fumbles (one by Joseph on a sack).

[29][30][31]

Week 6: at Montreal Alouettes
1 2 3 4 Total
Argonauts 0 0 0 0 0
Alouettes 1 15 0 9 25

at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, Montreal

  • Game time: 7:30 PM EDT
  • Game weather: 19 °C (clear, wind 17 km/h)
  • Game attendance: 20,202
  • Referee: Andre Proulx
  • TV announcers: (TSN): Rod Black, Duane Forde, and Brent Wallace

The Argos suffered a 25–0 blanking at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes. It was the first time the Argos had been shut out in seventeen years, and the first time a CFL team was shut out in seventeen years.[32][33][34]

Week 7: vs BC Lions
Paris Jackson watches the videoboard as Sean Whyte kicks the go-ahead field goal late in the fourth quarter.
1 2 3 4 Total
Lions 0 7 7 22 36
Argonauts 6 13 6 3 28

at Rogers Centre, Toronto

  • Game time: 7:30 PM EDT
  • Game weather: 25 °C (Sunny, Wind 9 km/h)
  • Game attendance: 24,754
  • Referee: Andre Proulx
  • TV announcers: (TSN): Rod Black, Duane Forde, & Claude Feig

After a humiliating shutout loss the past week, Cody Pickett was given the job of starting quarterback. The game started off with Zeke Moreno intercepting a pass from BC Lions quarterback Buck Pierce. Toronto was leading 9–0, but after Buck Pierce was taken out of the game as a result of concussion-like symptoms, BC's second-string quarterback Jarious Jackson came in and led the Lions to their first touchdown of the game. The Argos responded by delivering a touchdown pass to Reggie McNeal. Although the Argos had a lot of trouble finding the endzone throughout the game, kicker Justin Medlock helped them keep the lead by kicking field goals. Medlock would score seven field goals, tying Lance Chomyc's Argonauts team record and just short of the league record of eight shared by Dave Ridgway, Mark McLoughlin, and Paul Osbaldiston.[35]

Heading into the third quarter, BC head coach Wally Buono decided to switch to his third stringer Travis Lulay since Jackson wasn't getting them anywhere. However, Lulay got injured leaving Jarious Jackson as the Lions only quarterback left standing. When Jackson came back in, he instantly threw a touchdown pass to Paris Jackson to cut Toronto's lead 22–14. In response, Justin Medlock kicked another field goal to increase the Argos lead 25–14.

BC scored two more touchdowns but failed on both of the two point converts they attempted. With Toronto leading 28–26 with just nine seconds remaining on the game clock, BC's rookie kicker Sean Whyte kicked the game-winning field goal to give BC the lead at 29–28. On the final play of the game, Ryan Phillips intercepted Reggie McNeal's attempted lateral and returned it for a touchdown.

It was the Argo's ninth straight loss both at Rogers Centre and against the Lions.[36][37][38]

Week 8: BYE WEEK

The Argos headed into the bye week at 2–5.

Week 9: vs Calgary Stampeders
QB Cody Pickett (3) prepares to pass midway through the fourth quarter.
1 2 3 4 Total
Stampeders 3 0 7 13 23
Argonauts 3 0 7 10 20

at Rogers Centre, Toronto

  • Game time: 7:30 PM EDT
  • Game weather: Roof closed
  • Game attendance: 25,329
  • Referee: Kim Murphy
  • TV announcers: (TSN): Chris Cuthbert, Glen Suitor, Katherine Dolan

[39][40][41][42]

Statistics

Passing
Kerry Joseph
Player Att Comp % Yards TD INT Rating
Kerry Joseph19210956.8%130371068.1
Cody Pickett513262.7%4091094.3

[43]

Rushing
Joseph, Payton, and Robertson in the backfield
Player Att Yards Avg TD Fumbles
Jamal Robertson824555.533
Kerry Joseph281916.804
Bryan Crawford5234.600
Cody Pickett5204.000
Jarrett Payton3103.300

[44]

Receiving
Player Catches Yards Avg Longest TD
Reggie McNeal2027914.0523
Jamal Robertson2325010.9370
Chad Lucas1524016.0381
Mike Bradwell1523315.5401
Arland Bruce1419914.2381
Cory Rodgers1213010.8350
Tyler Scott912814.2271

[45]

Postseason

After finishing last in the East division, the Argonauts failed to qualify for the 2009 CFL playoffs.

References
  1. "CFL to kick off on Canada Day". CFL.ca. 2009-02-03. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  2. "Tiger-Cats, Argonauts to kick off 2009 CFL season". CBC Sports. 2009-02-03. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  3. Canadian Press (2009-01-16). "Argos welcome Andrus aboard". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 21 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  4. Zelkovich, Chris (2009-05-03). "Argos land late-blooming lineman". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  5. The Canadian Press (2009-02-16). "Argonauts extremely busy on opening day of free agency". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  6. Koshan, Terry (2009-02-17). "Boatmen land prized lineman". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  7. Koshan, Terry (2009-06-30). "Starting fresh". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  8. The Canadian Press (2009-02-19). "Argonauts swing deal for Moreno". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  9. "Argonauts grant veteran kicker Vanderjagt his release". The Canadian Press. TSN.ca. May 28, 2009. Archived from the original on 21 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  10. "Argonauts trade receiver Bruce to Tiger-Cats". TSN. 2009-07-29. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
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  12. Fitz-Gerald, Sean (2009-06-23). "Argonauts defeat Tiger-Cats in final exhibition game". National Post. Archived from the original on 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  13. "2009 Toronto Argonauts". Retrieved 2010-11-07.
  14. Penton, Kirk (2009-09-28). "'Not what we're about'". Winnipeg Sun. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
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  16. "Boxscore". TSN.ca. 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  17. "Robertson, Belli, Baggs, Duval are CFL's players of the week". TSN.ca. 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  18. "Robertson & Belli earn weekly CFL honours". Toronto Argonauts Football Club. 2009-07-07. Archived from the original on 2009-09-04. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
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  23. "Boxcore". TSN.ca. 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  24. Zelkovich, Chris (2009-07-17). "Argos trampled by Stamps". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
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  26. "Boxcore". TSN.ca. 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  27. Zelkovich, Chris (2009-07-24). "Argos dominate punchless Bombers". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  28. The Canadian Press (2009-07-24). "Argos put tumultuous week behind them by beating Blue Bombers". TSN.ca. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  29. "Boxcore". TSN.ca. 2009-08-01. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
  30. Zelkovich, Chris (2009-08-02). "Argh-os fumble one away". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
  31. The Canadian Press (2009-08-01). "Late field goal lifts Blue Bombers past Argonauts". TSN.ca. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
  32. "Boxcore". TSN.ca. 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  33. Zelkovich, Chris (2009-08-07). "Argos lose 25–0 to the Alouettes". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  34. The Canadian Press (2009-08-07). "Wilson and Cobourne score TDs as Alouettes shut out Argos". TSN.ca. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  35. "Lions overcome Medlock's magnificent 7". CBC Sports. 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
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  37. Zelkovich, Chris (2009-08-15). "New QB, new life, old ending for Argos". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
  38. The Canadian Press (2009-08-15). "Jackson rallies Lions for stunning victory over Argonauts". TSN.ca. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  39. "Boxcore". TSN.ca. 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  40. Girard, Daniel (2009-08-29). "Argos' drought continues". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  41. The Canadian Press (2009-08-29). "Stamps rally late to hand Argos 10th straight home loss". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  42. Girard, Daniel (2009-08-30). "It's my fault, Argos' Andrus admits". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
  43. "Year makes sizable change to run game". cfl.ca. August 1, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  44. "Year makes sizable change to run game". cfl.ca. August 1, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  45. "Year makes sizable change to run game". cfl.ca. August 1, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2017.

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