The New D

[Argocister]

So with major changes to the defense this year, its interesting to read the occasional article about the players that Barker and the boys have brought into TC.

I posted in the competition thread the article about Horton possibly filling Balls shoes.

There has been an article about Gibson on D end in the Sun ....... http://www.torontosun.com/2014/06/04...on-looks-great

I love his last quote .... “The tempo is a lot faster than the football in the States, but I’m adjusting to it and I appreciate the chance they’ve given me to show what I can do.”

So any comments from those that were fortunate to have seen the white and blue game .... or some of training camp?

[D-Gap-Willie]

That quote was actually from Falemalu, who has at times looked very good at DE, and at times looked that the raw rookie that he is, but I do love that name. Gibson has looked quite solid at rush end, with good speed and footwork. Scott has looked OK at DT but time will tell if his 6"/310 lb stature is a plus or a negative. At this point Romeus has looked better IMO - very athletic. We could be good with Brown/Palemalu at one DE, Tripp/Romeus/Laing at DT and Gibson at the other DE. However, we need to wait until the fur starts to fly in the Peg to see what we've got.

[Rich]

So it looks like, what, 4 or 5 or 6 returning guys will be starting this year on D, the rest newcomers?

Laing, Horton, Gabriel, maybe Carter, maybe Black, maybe Robinson, and I haven't heard anybody mentioning Alonzo Lawrence, who I thought was really outstanding in a couple of games last year. I guess he got hurt and I sort of forgot about him, but he could be a big asset if he played like he did in those games last year.

[Wobbler]

We've rebooted the D, and it will almost certainly be rough in the first few games. It'll be fun to see if we've recruited well and can avoid the endless tinkering that hurt last year's secondary (IMHO).

[ArgoRavi]

We've rebooted the D, and it will almost certainly be rough in the first few games. It'll be fun to see if we've recruited well and can avoid the endless tinkering that hurt last year's secondary (IMHO).

You have alluded to the key IMO where the Argos have to find the 12 or so guys that they like coming out of training camp on defence and give them a chance to gel as a unit including going through whatever growing pains are necessary. There was simply far too much instability on defence last year. There was actually a fair bit of stability, by comparison, in 2012 and the defence played its best football during the final few games that year.

[jerrym]

You have alluded to the key IMO where the Argos have to find the 12 or so guys that they like coming out of training camp on defence and give them a chance to gel as a unit including going through whatever growing pains are necessary. There was simply far too much instability on defence last year. There was actually a fair bit of stability, by comparison, in 2012 and the defence played its best football during the final few games that year.

I agree that stability is key (assuming the talent level is reasonable at a given position). Even in 2012 there was a fair amount of jumbling of the lineup but it stabilized as the year wore on. Last year reminded of the old nightmare of the 1960s - the Argo airlift - the result was the worst years of Argos long history. While the number of players being brought in did not match the 60s', the lineup hardly ever seemed to be the same and the results showed it.

[mchesher03]

After reviewing our depth chart for tonight's game I'm more comfortable with our 2014 defense then I anticipated being. I think Emery - Horton - Robinson at LB will be fine and Hebert - Lawrence at the corners will be good too. Personally I'd like to see Jermaine Gabriel win that safety job but I'm guessing Black's experience wins out - i just love Gabriel's closing speed. If the D-Ends pan out we will be ok - with our offence we (forunately) don't need the D to hold our opposition to 16-17 pts like once upon a time....

[AngeloV]

After reviewing our depth chart for tonight's game I'm more comfortable with our 2014 defense then I anticipated being. I think Emery - Horton - Robinson at LB will be fine and Hebert - Lawrence at the corners will be good too. Personally I'd like to see Jermaine Gabriel win that safety job but I'm guessing Black's experience wins out - i just love Gabriel's closing speed. If the D-Ends pan out we will be ok - with our offence we (forunately) don't need the D to hold our opposition to 16-17 pts like once upon a time....

I too would like to see Gabriel at safety and Black at corner. But if they start 2 NI's in the secondary, they better have at least 1 NI back-up.

[ArgoRavi]

I agree that stability is key (assuming the talent level is reasonable at a given position). Even in 2012 there was a fair amount of jumbling of the lineup but it stabilized as the year wore on. Last year reminded of the old nightmare of the 1960s - the Argo airlift - the result was the worst years of Argos long history. While the number of players being brought in did not match the 60s', the lineup hardly ever seemed to be the same and the results showed it.

You are right that there was some juggling during the first half of the 2012 season but things settled down, for the most part, during the second half. Ahmad Carroll's cornerback spot was up for grabs a little during the second half of the season but that was about it as I recall.

[ArgoRavi]

I too would like to see Gabriel at safety and Black at corner. But if they start 2 NI's in the secondary, they better have at least 1 NI back-up.

Would Shane Herbert figure there perhaps?

[doubleblue]

I'm interested in seeing the new DLinemen, new DB's and new RB's perform tonight. There will be a lot of evaluation going on in those positions IMO.
QB, they probably know pretty well what they have talent wise, just need them to show it on the field. Football's back.