Argonauts defensive lineman Deionte Knight tried to keep things professional when talking about the team’s wild night when they won.
“I think the first night when we won the game we were just up the whole night and didn’t go to bed and in the city of Regina you can always find something so we went out and in the most professional way I can say it we had the time of our lives,” he said.
A week after the Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup, players on the team are telling tales of their celebrations and what the future holds for this team.
Knight said the key to the team’s success was performing to the best of their ability in all aspects of the game.
“The biggest thing is that we had to be sound in all three phases of the ball. We knew we were going to have to play our most physical game,” Knight said.
“We knew we had to establish and stop the run and that was going to be the key ingredient…to just create opportunities for both sides of the ball to get good field position and set up good scoring drives,” he said.
The Argos were successful in executing their game plan as they ran for 100 total team yards but found more success through the air with quarterbacks McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Chad Kelly combining for 246 passing yards.
Offensive lineman Justin Lawrence said his offence’s game plan was to make sure his guys didn’t turnover the ball.
“We really knew [what] we had to do was play sound and not turnover the ball, and that was the biggest thing, especially against a team like Winnipeg who is very sound,” he said.
Lawrence recalled the legendary final moments of this year’s Grey Cup, when Toronto came back with Kelly, the backup quarterback, leading them on a game-winning drive.
He said the team had utilized Kelly’s running ability throughout the season and when he came into the game and the team ran a quick no-huddle offence, he didn’t know Bethel-Thompson had dislocated his thumb on his throwing hand.
“I didn’t even realize till the second drive that Chad was in for sure,” Lawrence said. “He did such an unbelievable job [on] that second and 15 where he took off on the long run and burned it on that and it was probably one of the best plays of the game.
CHAD. KELLY. pic.twitter.com/T8mKbY6vXc
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) November 21, 2022
“For him to step up on the biggest stage and do what he did, I think that speaks to how well he prepares each week,” he said.
The Argos may lose Bethel-Thompson as he’s a free agent this offseason. Lawrence credits the fifth-year quarterback for being a big part of the team’s success and was responsible for keeping the team together.
“He is a very good leader so he played such a pivotal role in this whole season,” he said. “We were a team full of firecrackers with a lot of character in our room and he balanced us out cause he is so cool, calm and collected.”
The Argos are looking ahead to next season and linebacker Jonathon Jones credits management for the defensive additions near the end of the season and thinks they can build another championship team next season.
“Upper management knows how to pick guys and it’s crazy, almost anyone who steps through here is either, they are here and they’ve got nothing or [they’re] capitalizing and running on all cylinders,” he said.
The former Toledo Rocket looks to spend his offseason resting and cheering on his alma mater as they have their own championship game tomorrow night as they play Ohio University in the NCAA Mid-American Conference (MAC).
“I’m going to be there watching so hopefully they bring it out,” he said.
Lawrence and his teammates are already back in the weight room looking to hopefully win another Grey Cup as the team tries to continue to build a winning culture.
“The vibe I got from the locker room is guys were going into this offseason, obviously we spent the week celebrating after the Grey Cup, but guys we were thinking we’ll enjoy it while we can, lets look forward to next season as well and I took that same mantra going into this offseason,” he said.
“This season was great but let’s see what we can improve on to make it even better next season,” Lawrence said.