Tim Burke effect

[Gill The Thrill]

At this point in time, the Argos look like Tim Burke's Winnipeg Blue Bombers of last year and not Scott Milanovich's team. The porous defence, terrible secondary and undisciplined penalties are all bad signs.

Barker had another terrible season recruiting Defensive Backs, 2nd year in a row...is it me, or is this guy starting to emulate David Cynamon or JI Albrecht. He's always on the friggin sidelines...can this guy not have a spotters booth in the 300 or 400 level to get a better view of the game and the formations.

Milanovich is looking like no genious either since the East Final last year...maybe we should've promoted O'Shea and sent Scott to Winterpeg.

[Will]

I can hardly blame Tim Burke for the performance of the defense up to this point. He's saddled with a group of inexperienced players that Barker signed in the off-season. Think about it, as bad as our defense was in 2012, it's compounded by the fact that any sort of experience we had on that D (Mitchell, Ball, McCune, Watkins, etc.) all left in the off-season. I am not a fan of Barker's off-season strategy, but I feel that it is a few weeks before we can start really going after him for it.

[paulwoods13]

I'm not yet prepared to write off the defensive recruits based on three games (and two games in many cases). Last week the defence looked fantastic -- was anyone ripping the new talent after that? Teams take time to gel. I expect at least some of the guys we now have will turn out to be players. Other GMs are also paid to recruit players, and Hufnagel seems to be good at this year after year. We got schooled by the Stamps last night but that doesn't mean we won't be all over them the next time we play them.

[Gill The Thrill]

Other GMs are also paid to recruit players, and Hufnagel seems to be good at this year after year. We got schooled by the Stamps last night but that doesn't mean we won't be all over them the next time we play them.

So does that mean we should be content with being the team that at the bottom when it comes to recruiting talent. I'm always amazed how this Argo organization picks Southeast US players and players from California over guys from the Midwest in places like Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana...then they wonder why they can't perform when those temperatures dip and winds pick up in the fall toward the playoffs.

Not saying they won't gel, but the undisciplined penalties speak of a failure to execute detailed instructions which is what the pre-season is for. The guys have been together for a month now, and the learning curve has been slow. Picking up a vet like Dwight Anderson does not really address that situation...in fact it may compound the problem...we'll wait and see.

I did like some of the pass rush last night, but any gains there were negated with terrible coverage in the secondary. I also did not like some broken tackles and yac yards on crucial second down plays...they need to be tighter as a unit for sure.

[paulwoods13]

So does that mean we should be content with being the team that at the bottom when it comes to recruiting talent.

What's your evidence for this statement? Seems to me that our recruiting in recent years has been quite good. A number of the players Barker recruited have been signed to big-money deals by other teams as free agents, or gone to the NFL. If we were "at the bottom" would that have happened? And again, where were these complaints one week ago?

[Argocister]

Recruiting has been better the last couple of years.... And it shows when these players can go onto bigger and better.....

On the other hand, what were the differences in the line up compared to last week .... I just haven't looked yet.

[jerrym]

While the 2012 Grey Cup winning Argo defence took several games to gel, and this could happen again this year, my gut feeling is that they have a lot further to go to get there in terms of talent potential. The talent represented in 2012 by Armstead, Foley, Huntley, Belli (at the end of the season), Watkins, Ball, McCune, McCollough, and Isaac is not matched by the current defence, although I really like Emry, Molden and Gabriel's potential. It will take time to see whether Tim Burke make a solid defence of this group, but it is highly unlikely to match the 2012 defence IMO.

[Argo57]

While the 2012 Grey Cup winning Argo defence took several games to gel, and this could happen again this year, my gut feeling is that they have a lot further to go to get there in terms of talent potential. The talent represented in 2012 by Armstead, Foley, Huntley, Belli (at the end of the season), Watkins, Ball, McCune, McCollough, and Isaac is not matched by the current defence, although I really like Emry, Molden and Gabriel's potential. It will take time to see whether Tim Burke make a solid defence of this group, but it is highly unlikely to match the 2012 defence IMO.

Unfortunately the same observations we could have made about last years (all new) defence as well.

[1argoholic]

Playing in front of 40,000 blue empty seats really didn't pump the D up last night. Plus we have way too many new guys. I think it's going to be a roller coaster to the end of the franchise. I don't worry about this years team. I worry about having a team.

[ArgoRavi]

While the 2012 Grey Cup winning Argo defence took several games to gel, and this could happen again this year, my gut feeling is that they have a lot further to go to get there in terms of talent potential. The talent represented in 2012 by Armstead, Foley, Huntley, Belli (at the end of the season), Watkins, Ball, McCune, McCollough, and Isaac is not matched by the current defence, although I really like Emry, Molden and Gabriel's potential. It will take time to see whether Tim Burke make a solid defence of this group, but it is highly unlikely to match the 2012 defence IMO.

Let's keep in mind that the 2012 defence did not totally come together until the final two games of the regular season and the playoffs. I will never forget the final loss of the season at home to Winnipeg in which a bad Bombers offence passed and ran all over the Argo defence, the Argos lost their third consecutive home game to go to 7-9 and virtually everyone on here wrote off the Argos for the rest of the season. I think that we sometimes "romanticize" that 2012 Argo defence but it took most of the season for even that veteran defence to come together. There were times that year that many of those veterans looked a little on the old side.

[AngeloV]

I think the Argos need to get a little more size on the D-line to suit a 4 man pass rush system. Rushing 4 smaller type lineman against 5 o-lineman and maybe a RB as well, is not going to get the pressure you need. It puts too much pressure on the secondary.

[Gill The Thrill]

What's your evidence for this statement? Seems to me that our recruiting in recent years has been quite good. A number of the players Barker recruited have been signed to big-money deals by other teams as free agents, or gone to the NFL. If we were "at the bottom" would that have happened? And again, where were these complaints one week ago?

The evidence...did you watch game 1 and 3 of this season so far. Did you watch the Eastern Final? The defence was terrible, the pass coverage weak, the run defence poor. The missed tackles which sees opponents gain so many yac yards was noticeable. The foolish penalties...etc

Howabout that Argo home record last year, non-impressive isn't it. They're pros, you can't blame that on the crowd or lack thereof. They just got their asses handed to them at home for the second year in a row vs Calgary. The games were so similar that Ray got hit exactly the same way by the same guy on Saturday as he was in last year's home game on the play he hurt shoulder...that does not look like improvement too me. If this team is a true contender, you've got to compare them to the best and Calgary has been the best and most consistent team over the whole season.

They did beat the Riders last week at home after getting beat badly last year at home, but a .500 record at home is nothing to brag about. Saskatchewan may have won the Cup but Calgary was the more consistent team, and is better when you consider their starting QB issues due to injury.

[Neely2005]

The penalties have been an issue for a few seasons now so I don't think that we can blame Burke for that. I don't know why they can't seem to clean up the penalties.

Also the officials certainly don't seem to be calling the game the same way for both teams. This has also been going on for a few seasons.