In the final minutes of a 24-22 loss at home to the B.C. Lions, the Toronto Argonauts ran an inside draw run on a crucial second down. Gaining merely negligible yards and the team faced a desperate third-and-ten situation that the Argos could not convert.
Creativity plays a role in sport but should be limited to the proper time and place. The best time to experiment is often earlier rather than later as the breaks of the game provide several second chances. Toronto gambled was a gamble against daunting odds and lost. Perhaps if video analysis had shown a hole in the Lions’ defence, an imaginative play call might have succeeded but that did not appear to be the case.
Coach Mike Clemons’ decision to start Damon Allen at quarterback is another example of how nothing is ever final. Michael Bishop entered at the beginning of the fourth quarter and almost led the team to a comeback victory. A decision is a sunk cost, not a sinking ship. Clemons managed the game too passively, erring by waiting too long to change a choice made in the past. Regardless of the situation, there is always an opportunity to stop, reflect, and make things better.