Toronto rookie head coach Rich Stubler may have been happy using two quarterbacks in a 23-16 win over the Blue Bombers Friday night, but one of those QBs wasn't in a good mood after the victory.
''A great win,'' starting QB Kerry Joseph said in a brusque voice following the game. ''That's all I've got to say.'' When asked if he was OK, he said he was fine, healthy and repeated it was a great win.
Joseph, acquired in an off-season trade after winning the CFL most outstanding player award and the Grey Cup with Saskatchewan last year, started the teams' CFL regular-season opener.
However, Joseph was pulled in favour of Michael Bishop in the second quarter after he fumbled the ball while being sacked and it led to a Bomber field goal.
Joseph went back into the game in the third quarter, but was pulled again with five minutes left in the game and Toronto ahead 17-16.
''You make decisions based on what's happening in the football game,'' said Stubler, who was elevated to the head coaching job after five seasons as the Argos' defensive co-ordinator and assistant head coach.
''I have two really good quarterbacks. It's just not rocket science. Everybody seems to think that we have to have one player run out there every snap.''
Other teams over the years have done well with two QBs, he added. ''You just have to have no animosity between people that are playing,'' said Stubler, whose team plays Winnipeg four times this season.
''If we can do that, we can be very, very successful.''
Joseph completed 9-of-17 pass attempts for 73 yards. Bishop was 6-of-14 for 111 yards and one TD.
Toronto rookie running back Jamal Robertson scored a pair of touchdowns on a 52-yard catch-and-run play from Bishop and the other a four-yard run after one of Winnipeg's four turnovers to give the Argos a 15-9 lead midway through the third quarter.
The turnover happened when rookie Winnipeg kicker Alexis Serna dropped the ball on a punt, picked it up and had his attempt to kick it blocked by defensive back Wayne Shaw.
Serna was replacing punter Duncan O'Mahony, who was out with a broken toe he suffered after stubbing his kicking foot on a closet door last weekend. O'Mahony was going to the bathroom in the middle of the night with no lights on.
Serna did tally field goals from 15, 22 and 34 yards, but also gave up a safety midway through the fourth quarter that handed Toronto a 17-16 lead.
Toronto kicker Mike Vanderjagt, making his return to the CFL and Argos after nine years in the NFL, didn't have a great night.
The veteran missed three field goals, going wide left on a 32-yard attempt, wide right on a 39-yarder and short and left on a 51-yard try. He got a single off the first miss.
He did redeem himself late in the fourth quarter when he finished the game's scoring by connecting on attempts from 49 and 44 yards, the last one after Winnipeg QB Kevin Glenn's second of three interceptions.
''This is not characteristic of us at all,'' said Glenn, who finished 32-of-48 for 321 yards.
''Myself, either. I typically take care of the ball. It just wasn't a Winnipeg football team tonight.''
Bombers running back Charles Roberts scored his team's only TD, a one-yard run at 1:30 of the fourth quarter.
Notes: There were 26,155 in attendance at Canad Inns Stadium ... Argo LB Mike O'Shea moved past Alondra Johnson into second place on the CFL's career tackles list ... Bombers LB Barrin Simpson moved past Calvin Tiggle into fifth place on the same list ... Winnipeg centre Dominic Picard left the game late in the first quarter with an ankle injury.
