[IMPORTANT: Make this 4 times longer with much more detail]
CFL.ca Staff TORONTO — For the Toronto Argonauts, the goal would seem simple: do exactly what was done last season, and lift the Grey Cup once again. Yet for this team, it’s about the commitment to each other, the journey rather than the destination, and each individual to better themselves to improve the overall team chemistry and with that will come results. Argos middle linebacker Wynton McManis put it simply – the work doesn’t stop with a win, it only gets the next goal started. “Keep pursuing greatness,” McManis told CFL.ca last week during an off-season media day in Hamilton. “Everybody loves to win at the end in the Grey Cup. That’s the ultimate goal. But, if we’re just able to continue to be a team and continue to keep striving, no matter what happens in each game. “Once you have a lot of success, you could kind of get away from those little things and I think that’s what, well, in my mind, what I want us to keep chasing. The ability to stay a team and the ability to keep bouncing back, the rest will take care of itself. The victories, the Grey Cups and everything I feel like, those will take care of itself. If we can do those little things, day in and day out each year.” RELATED » Top of the Depth Chart: Toronto Argonauts » Who has the best hands in the CFL? » 5 comeback stories waiting to be written in 2025 » Subscribe to the CFL’s official YouTube channel » Subscribe to the CFL’s newsletter for exclusive offers and league updates Damonte Coxie is heading into his fourth season with the Toronto Argonauts in 2025 (CFL.ca) His personal goals are just as important – personal accolades are great, reaching milestones and being seen as a staple in the lineup, but being able to simply be there when called upon is what McManis is looking forward to for 2025. “I haven’t touched 100 tackles yet in my career. So that’s kind of something that I do want to be able to scratch off my list,” said McManis. “You know, every defensive player wants to be Most Outstanding Defensive Player, obviously, but, [to] play all 18 games, small little goals like that, small things.” The same goes for wide receiver Damonte Coxie , who isn’t hyper fixated on a certain milestone or achievement, but to be better in mechanics, details, and small changes that make a big impact. “My goal is to be more detailed. It’s not really any specific number. I feel like if I hit it, whatever number I feel like I said, I’m still putting together specific details with the goal. But my goal is mostly just details, cleaning up the small things,” said Coxie, who was also at the off-season media day in Hamilton. Coming out on top in 2024, the Argos know they have to be anything but complacent. Eight other teams are looking to them as the team to beat, and the pressure is higher than ever, but players know they can’t let that impact their game. “You have to stay grounded. You have to get by what happened last year and act like it didn’t,” said Coxie. “Once you kind of put that in your mindset, like we didn’t win last year, it rebuilds that hunger and you understand that last year was great, this year needs to be great too.” That hunger, passion and drive to be an even better version of their champion selves is exactly what drives the Argos to set the gold standard. “You don’t get comfortable because everybody wants to beat us,” said Coxie. “So [we] have to keep that in mind.” Get all the top stories from across the league delivered to your inbox.
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