2008 Toronto Argonauts season

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.

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

Offseason

CFL Draft

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
213Mike BradwellWRMcMaster
321Jean-Nicolas CarriereLBMcGill
429Delroy ClarkeDBOttawa
537Richard ZulysOLWestern Ontario
642 (via Edmonton)Mark DewitOLCalgary
644 (via Montreal)Tyler ScottRECWestern Ontario
645Matt BlackDBSaginaw Valley

Notable transactions
Quarterback Kerry Joseph jogs offs the Rogers Centre field
Date Type Incoming Outgoing Team
March 5, 2008 Trade
  • Kerry Joseph, Quarterback
  • Riders third round pick in the 2010 CFL Draft
  • Glenn January, Offensive Tackle
  • Ronald Flemons, Defensive Lineman
  • 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.[5]

Rosters

Preseason roster

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
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

Preseason
WeekDateOpponentLocationFinal ScoreAttendanceRecord
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

[6]

Regular season
WeekDateOpponentLocationFinal ScoreAttendanceRecord
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

[6]

Regular season

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 Ti-cats of the season. Argo head coach Rich Stubler's job was rumoured to be on the line.[7] Argos receiver Arland Bruce III found time for a little theatrics, celebrating an 11-yard TD catch by donning a Spiderman mask produced from his pants.[7] Several days later, the Canadian Football League fined the Argonauts receiver an undisclosed amount for his touchdown celebration against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by donning a Spider-Man mask.[8] 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.[8]

On September 9, Rich Stubler was released as head coach of the Argonauts after posting a 4–6 record. There was the belief he couldn't get along with those he worked with.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11] 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.[11] Stegall took a pass from Kevin Glenn and scored a touchdown, his second of the game. It put the Bombers ahead 28–3.[11]

On October 31, Don 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.[12]

Season standings
East Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Montreal Alouettes18117061044322Details
Winnipeg Blue Bombers18810043549016Details
Toronto Argonauts1841403976278Details
Hamilton Tiger-Cats1831504415936Details

Statistics

Offence

Passing
Player Att Comp % Yards TD INT Rating
Kerry Joseph53630757.34174171482.0
Cody Pickett1046360.66101272.2
Reggie McNeal200.00002.1

[13]

Rushing
Player Att Yards Avg, TD Fumbles
Jamal Robertson1176455.562
Kerry Joseph784936.347
Dominique Dorsey6441 06.422
Jeff Johnson8313.910

[13]

Receiving

[14]

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

Postseason

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

Milestones
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References
  1. "Draft List for Year 2008" (PDF). Canadian Football League. 2008-01-28. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  2. "canada.com – Page Not Found". 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. "(no title)". Canoe.
  5. "(no title)". Canoe.
  6. "2008 Toronto Argonauts". Retrieved 2010-11-07.
  7. Zelkovich, Chris (September 2, 2008). "Argos hang on to beat Ticats". The Star. Toronto. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  8. "Posted Sports". network.nationalpost.com.
  9. Simmons, Steve (2009-09-10). "Stubler just didn't fit". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  10. "Argos fire Stubler, bring back Matthews". CBC Sports. 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  11. "CFL on Yahoo Canada Sports – News, Scores, Standings, Rumours, Fantasy Games". Yahoo Sports.
  12. "Matthews quits as Argos coach". CBC Sports. 2008-10-31. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2017-08-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "2008 Receiving Statistics". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2017-08-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Further reading
On training camp
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