It’s one of the great traditions in football. After a win, the team gathers in the locker room and hands out game balls, symbolic of a player making huge contribution to the victory. Offensive, defensive, and special teams captains make positive speeches, then toss a ball to the worthy recipient.
When the Toronto Argonauts defeated Ottawa last Saturday at BMO Field, the post-game ritual was going as planned. Offensive captain Chad Kelly tossed the game ball to Dave Ungerer III for his 7 catch, 175-yard, 1 touchdown performance, who in turn paid respect to the offensive line.
Defensive captain DaShaun Amos was up next, flipping the game ball to Ralph Holley, who gave praise to every defensive group.
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Then came special teams captain Brian Harelimana, who didn’t exactly have the pom-poms out when he addressed his teammates.
“On my name, this will never happen again,” he said to his teammates. “You want to thank the offence and the defence for saving us today because we made a lot of mistakes and y’all was there to help us out. But regardless, good teams find a way to win and that’s what we did today.”
He’d then flip the game ball to long snapper Adam Guillemette, highlighting how he’s been a consistent, unsung hero. But Harelimana’s message was heard, the special teams overall performance wasn’t good enough.
The Argos allowed just one big return on Saturday, when Kalil Pimpleton took a fourth quarter punt back 88 yards to set up a field goal that tied the game 23-23. The game was eventually won on, yes, a special teams play by the Argos, a 29-yard walk-off field goal by Lirim Hajrullahu.
So why was Harelimana so upset with the overall play of his unit?
“We just didn’t play to our standards,” the Kenyan-born, Laval-raised linebacker told Argonauts.ca. “Too many penalties. Ottawa had a step on us. It wasn’t us; it wasn’t what we had done the previous weeks. We take pride in what we do. We try our best to help this team out, we know special teams are a big part of the game. We weren’t to our standards, and we’ll be better this weekend and the rest of the season.”
The big Pimpleton return knocked the Argos out of first place in the league in terms of average yards allowed per punt return, now at 12.0, still third best in the CFL. The punt team and punt return teams have set the league standard for most of the season – the 14.8 yards-per-return still lead the league – so it’s understandable that members of the group aren’t happy when an opponent breaks a big return.
Harelimana leads the team with a dozen special teams tackles, one more than Adarius Pickett and Derek Slywka. The latter has been as versatile as any Argo in recent memory. He spent his first couple of months as a receiver, then was flipped to safety, where he started last year. He spent most of this year’s training camp as a backup to Pickett at SAM linebacker, has played most of his snaps as the fourth man in four linebacker sets, then has moved to WILL, where he’s started the last two games.
All the while he’s remained a constant on teams. On the big Pimpleton return he had the outside lane to the boundary and helped force the returner to the middle. When he saw Pimpleton was headed wide and may have the corner on the far side, Slywka picked his angle of pursuit, racing on a 45-degree angle to where he thought he could catch him if he got by other defenders.
He sprinted from the 15-yard line on the Argos sideline, blowing past teammates, and was able to force Pimpleton to slow down by beating him to the sideline at the 35-yard line on the Ottawa side, where the Redblack was forced to slow down and was caught from behind by Isaiah Smith and brought down by Smith, Slywka, and Harelimana.
It was a rare blip in coverage, but Sylwka’s hustle – and apparent skill in trigonometry – prevented a touchdown. His effort summed up the pride his group has taken in their work. But why has it worked so well? Is it the game plans devised by coordinator Mickey Donovan? Is it the level of talent in the group?
“I think it’s a combination of both,” Slywka told Argonauts.ca. “We’re all very focused throughout the week. When we’re doing walkthroughs we’re getting a lot of reps in, guys are really communicating at a high level. We’ve had some turnover (in personnel) and the next guy has stepped up. I think that’s what’s allowed the talent to show; we’ve got some really fast guys who are able to get down there (even) the guys that are playing on the line, they’re able to shed blocks and run down there with speed. When everyone’s playing fast it creates fewer levels and I think that’s allowed us to have a lot of success.”
The Argos have a chance for redemption this week, but it won’t be easy. The 10-3 Edmonton Elks are in town for a 3:00 kickoff, but Harelimana says his groups won’t be more fired up than usual.
“I don’t think the fire changes,” he said. “I just think the focus changes a bit; just getting back to the basics. We know we can’t let this team down. I promised the guys, and the guys have my back, that this won’t happen again.”