The Toronto Argonauts are set to play their sixth consecutive road game to open the season on Saturday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.<\/p>\n
Head coach Mike Miller heard some of the frustrations shared by his team after the loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a week ago, but the first-year bench boss is looking to use the schedule as a building block for success rather than an excuse.<\/p>\n
Miller joined First Up on TSN1050 on Thursday morning to discuss the Argonauts\u2019 start to the season, his expectations for Saturday against Hamilton and the outlook for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdversity is always around us, all the time,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAnd building mental toughness is an important part of this business. So this gives us an ability to get very cohesive as a unit and work together quite a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Argonauts will play only six games at home compared to 12 on the road this season, due in part to the FIFA World Cup being hosted at BMO Field in Toronto. After the 30-21 loss to the Blue Bombers on Friday, Argos quarterback Chad Kelly aired his frustrations with the schedule to the media, calling the situation \u201cunprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo professional team has had to do what we\u2019re doing right now with five straight away games, back-to-back-to-back leaving the East to go West, and it\u2019s not easy,\u201d Kelly said after the loss. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not easy. I think we\u2019ve got to dig down. We\u2019ve got Hamilton next; that\u2019s close by. We have to just make it happen. We\u2019ve got to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller tried to rein in his quarterback\u2019s frustrations when talking to TSN1050. <\/p>\n
\u201cI understand, and sometimes there\u2019s frustration after the game,\u201d Miller said. \u201cBut we said going into this \u2018Hey, this is the situation,\u2019 and it\u2019s always about us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe say we\u2019re process driven, and that\u2019s it. We don\u2019t use anything as an excuse or another reason, it\u2019s all about executing, it\u2019s about getting better, it\u2019s about how we respond, and that\u2019s our mindset. We control the controllables. This week it\u2019s about our preparation and how we respond going into Hamilton.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Argonauts and Tiger-Cats enter their Week 7 showdown tied for second place in the East Division at 2-3. Toronto finished the 2025 campaign second-worst in the CFL at 5-13, but the team – and particularly the offence – has looked much stronger under Miller, who is in his first season at the helm.<\/p>\n
Part of that has been the return of Kelly, who missed the entire 2025 campaign while rehabbing from a leg injury suffered in the 2024 East Final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of questions about [how Chad Kelly would play in his return], and that\u2019s [to be expected],\u201d Miller said. \u201cHis preparation is second to none, he\u2019s a generous teammate, great communicator, and he goes out there and battles. Back to training camp, we\u2019ve always said – and I know it\u2019s [a cliche], but it\u2019s all about getting better for that next rep and Chad understands that as well as anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelly has thrown for a league-leading 1,804 passing yards, averaging over 360 per game, and is tied for the league lead with 14 touchdowns passes. On the other hand, he also has a league-leading eight interceptions thrown in an up-and-down start to the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done a great job, and in any season or any practice there are always throws you wish he had back, there\u2019s always things we continue to learn from and continue to grow,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe\u2019re certainly excited and happy that Chad\u2019s an Argo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tiger-Cats have dropped two games in a row since star QB Bo Levi Mitchell went down with a gruesome leg injury in the first half of their game against the Blue Bombers two weeks ago. They scored only seven points in a blowout loss against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Week 6 where the offence struggled with Jake Dolegala filling in under centre.<\/p>\n
Despite that, Miller isn\u2019t taking the challenge of playing the Tiger-Cats lightly. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have such great respect for [Tiger-Cats head coach] Scott Milanovich, [general manager] Orlando Steinauer, the rest of their management team,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThey do a great job there, with the free agency and the draft. They\u2019re always a formidable opponent and we have great respect for them. Playing in their building is always a challenge, they\u2019re very passionate and now how it shakes out with their quarterback, we\u2019ll just have to see.\u201d<\/p>\n