Photo courtesy: Bob Butrym/RFB Sport Photography
Ryan Dinwiddie showed his fire following his team’s walk-off win against the Edmonton Elks, and he doesn’t appear to regret it.
The Toronto Argonauts’ head coach made his way down the sideline immediately after Lirim Hajrullahu hit a 48-yard field goal to secure a 31-30 victory on Saturday afternoon, wildly kicking at the air in celebration. The 44-year-old was captured on the TSN broadcast pointing and yelling at the opponent’s bench area along with several players, resulting in a minor altercation.
The incident culminated when Elks’ head coach Mark Kilam appeared to make an aggressive move towards Dinwiddie, only to be blocked when Toronto receiver Kevin Mital stepped between them and shoved him away. However, Dinwiddie said post-game that his beef was not with Kilam.
“It had nothing to do with Mark. There’s a pretender that’s not in our building anymore that was chirping all game, personally, to me. And then there’s a coach that was chirping very personable (sic), and I took offence to it,” Dinwiddie told 3DownNation contributor Griff Bordignon. “I knew that’s what my plan was once we put ’em away. Those guys can enjoy the offseason.”
Dinwiddie has infamously ripped his own team in post-game press conferences twice this season, with the second rant coming after a Week 10 loss to Ottawa. In that address, the two-time Grey Cup winner alleged that there were “pretenders” in his locker room that “like to talk a big game and don’t show up on game day.”
While the Argos’ bench boss did not name this week’s trash-talkers, it would appear that his ire was directed towards former Toronto defensive tackle Jordan Williams. The 26-year-old was benched in the weeks following Dinwiddie’s “pretender” allegations and released in late August, only to sign in Edmonton a week later. He recorded one tackle on Saturday.
Sideline reporting from TSN’s Matthew Scianitti during the broadcast indicated that the offending Elks’ coach was special teams coordinator and defensive assistant Demetrious Maxie, who worked under Dinwiddie as defensive line coach in 2024. The 51-year-old was letting this former team hear it after all three of Edmonton’s sacks and their four interceptions.
While Kilam clearly took issue with Dinwiddie’s response to his players and staff on the sideline, he declined to share his perspective on the incident post-game.
“My tension comes from us doing bad football. That’s all,” he stated.
The heated result, which came after Edmonton surrendered a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and Toronto lost their starting quarterback, Nick Arbuckle, to injury, could have serious ramifications in the playoff race. While the two teams have identical 5-8 records, the Argos’ win allows them to keep pace in their quest to prevent a crossover, and the Elks’ loss drops them a full game back of B.C. for that final playoff spot without the benefit of the tie-breaker.
The Argos will return to action on Friday, September 19, when they host Montreal in a game that could determine second place in the East, while the Elks visit Hamilton on Saturday, September 20.