Thoughts on the first game with Chad Kackert?

[1argoholic]

We'll he need some adjustment time and struggle or run wild? I think he'll do ok once his nerves calm down and if he holds onto the ball. I'm cheering for him to be our guy and really hope the year improves. I'd hate to see him fail and then scramble mode will take effect. The year can go anywhere from here but I sure hope it doesn't crash and burn. One thing this Cory Boyd saga has done is have everyone talking about this teams issues. We have plenty but hopefully Kackert can be a solid change since he's our guy for now.

[Fungi]

If he does as good as good as Boyd, how long will he last. Good luck. At least if you can get a couple of years in.

[1argoholic]

That's the sad part. Do well and move on to another team or get dumped or hit the NFL. Guys don't seem to last long.

[ArgoFan1]

This is not Kackert's first game. He played last year and led the team in scoring for most of the year despite only getting to play a handful of games. I've been hoping he gets to play ever since and am glad that he finally gets to play. I think he is a faster runner than Boyd, and he goes around guys instead of through them.

[1argoholic]

I meant first game this year and to me this came out of left field because I was wondering if Kackert would get cut. Strange that we've seen vertually squat from him all year.

[gilthethrill]

I appears it won't just be Kackerts first game as a starter....Tony Washington is set to start at LT.....interesting to see how the juggling works...I expect Kack to really set an fast paced tone in Calgary.

[NelsonP204]

I was just wondering why they never used Boyd and Kackert as a Thunder and Lightning in some two back sets. It would have seemed that having those two on the field at the same time would be the defenses in a tough position deciding whether to play Boyd to run inside or Kackert on the pitch.

[paulwoods13]

I was just wondering why they never used Boyd and Kackert as a Thunder and Lightning in some two back sets. It would have seemed that having those two on the field at the same time would be the defenses in a tough position deciding whether to play Boyd to run inside or Kackert on the pitch.

Basically because Milanovich's offence is based on passing, not rushing -- the same as every team in the CFL, and increasingly so in the NFL as well. No team in the CFL has had a true two-back set where both guys carry regularly for close to a decade, and there are none that I'm aware of in the NFL any more, either. The old days of Thunder and Lightning (Kiick/Czonka in Miami, for instance) have disappeared as football at all levels (even high school) has increasingly emphasized the pass.

[Invader]

I'd bet a Thunder & Lightening rushing offence would be very effective, if some coach had the guts to run it. With the lightweight hybrid LB's most team use today, running a traditional FB/HB offence, especially with two imports might be hard to stop. Having an import FB like the former Lion, John Henry White (6' 0" - 200 lb), who was a tremendous blocker, rusher and pass receiver out of the backfield, would give the offence a tremendous advantage (screen pass, sweeps, sneak pass, short yardage & especially pass blocking).

When Don Matthews first became a head coach in B.C. he said the No. 1 talent for a CFL RB was blocking; No. 2 pass receiving; No. 3 rushing. He considered the FB a "skill position" and with J.H. White he hit the jackpot. No team uses an import FB today although Jeff Johnson is a very capable player for the Argos. The team just needs a commitment to run the ball and to utilize the FB in the offensive game-plan.

[paulwoods13]

As a reminder, Kackert dressed in week 1. He had two carries for minus-three yards (oh no, he's terrible!) and two kickoff returns for 64 yards (wow, he's fantastic!)/.

[ArgoGabe22]

Not worried about his rushing, he was a player of the week last season in Boyd's absence. I just want to see how a 5'9 back blocks compared to the poor blocking of a 6'2 back.

[KCargosfan]

Not worried about his rushing, he was a player of the week last season in Boyd's absence. I just want to see how a 5'9 back blocks compared to the poor blocking of a 6'2 back.

Was Boyd's blocking really that awful? Maybe I missed something, but of the three plays TSN showed, only 1 was really poor, with the one against Hamilton being subpar and I don't know why the one against BC was shown. How else would you block someone coming at you full sprint after a 15-yard run run-up when you're mostly stable in the backfield? I thought his blocking was fine for the most part. Like I said in another thread, if you made a highlight of nothing but Ricky Ray's interceptions this season, he wouldn't look great.

[ArgoGabe22]

Was Boyd's blocking really that awful? Maybe I missed something, but of the three plays TSN showed, only 1 was really poor, with the one against Hamilton being subpar and I don't know why the one against BC was shown. How else would you block someone coming at you full sprint after a 15-yard run run-up when you're mostly stable in the backfield? I thought his blocking was fine for the most part. Like I said in another thread, if you made a highlight of nothing but Ricky Ray's interceptions this season, he wouldn't look great.

I'm not a fan of chop blocking maybe because its illegal in highschool outside the LOS (1 yard radius) and if I attempted it, I would've looked like Boyd just falling towards their knees. Maybe he doesn't now idk but imo they weren't that bad except for that one vs Montreal. They did make it sound as if he just gave up when in fact he did try. Seriously maybe he can't chop for beans and it was seen as him not wanting to block. KC I agree the 3 plays TSN showed wasn't enough but I am still interested in how Kackert will do in regards to blocking

[paulwoods13]

Was Boyd's blocking really that awful? Maybe I missed something, but of the three plays TSN showed, only 1 was really poor, with the one against Hamilton being subpar and I don't know why the one against BC was shown. How else would you block someone coming at you full sprint after a 15-yard run run-up when you're mostly stable in the backfield? I thought his blocking was fine for the most part. Like I said in another thread, if you made a highlight of nothing but Ricky Ray's interceptions this season, he wouldn't look great.

Unless we were to review every passing play this season, there is really no way for any of us to be sure he was a poor blocker. There is no question the one block attempt on that TSN sequence was really pathetic, and I found nothing positive about the other two. But three plays out of around 230 pass attempts (around 30 of which were passes aimed at Boyd where he would not be expected to block) is not a big sample. At this point we have to accept the judgment of Milanovich that Boyd's blocking was one of the aspects of his play that was subpar. Maybe Schultz will give us more examples tonight.

[OV Argo]

Gagne-Marcoux not injured? - but he can't beat out Keeping, Andrew Jones or Eppele for an interior O-Line gig? - interesting, and i guess his stock or play has fallen sharply or else the other guys have progressed quite well.

[Rich]

Not worried about his rushing, he was a player of the week last season in Boyd's absence. I just want to see how a 5'9 back blocks compared to the poor blocking of a 6'2 back.

Maybe it's too much to ask of a single tailback to pass protect 30-35 times a game. Kackert's gonna get pretty beat up when you factor in his carries and catches. They really should consider some extra help in the backfield whether it means dressing Riggs too, or just giving Jeff Johnson some more action on passing downs and taking out Watt. JJ is a tank, a reliable blocker, and still a pretty good ball carrier. It's too bad that FB/TE-hybrid experiment in the preseason didn't work out, I guess they just couldn't find the right guy.

[paulwoods13]

Gagne-Marcoux not injured? - but he can't beat out Keeping, Andrew Jones or Eppele for an interior O-Line gig? - interesting, and i guess his stock or play has fallen sharply or else the other guys have progressed quite well.

I wasn't very impressed with CGM last season -- thought his play was well below the level he showed in 2010. Eppele has not yet lived up to expectations and looks to be on the bubble to move out of the starting lineup. I think Keeping has been quite good at centre this year, notwithstanding the fact that he is a former tight end and nose guard (it was a huge mistake to move him to the latter position, IMO) and was barely a roster player for several seasons. Sometimes guys eventually play themselves onto the starting roster and he looks to be one of those. I haven't seen enough of Jones yet to rate him as a player or prospect.

[Rich]

I doubt we'll be seeing any new looks in the running game, since, as we know, the coach's energies are more focused on his passing system. So I guess this means Kackert will line up beside Ray in the shotgun, take the ball from a standing start, and head into the middle of the line.

The good news is that Kackert has more quickness than Boyd, and may able to bounce outside when the hole's not there. What I'm most curious about is whether they try to run Kackert on second-and-threes. Boyd was good for the first down on those whether there was a hole or not.

[OV Argo]

I doubt we'll be seeing any new looks in the running game, since, as we know, the coach's energies are more focused on his passing system. So I guess this means Kackert will line up beside Ray in the shotgun, take the ball from a standing start, and head into the middle of the line.

The good news is that Kackert has more quickness than Boyd, and may able to bounce outside when the hole's not there. What I'm most curious about is whether they try to run Kackert on second-and-threes. Boyd was good for the first down on those whether there was a hole or not.


That's the standard basic CFL running play you're describing there - pretty well all teams use the same basic look without much variety - QB always in shot-gun; maybe Kackert can make it work better than Boyd in this offence, but Boyd didn't have much trouble making it work in previous Argo offences where he was a league leading type rusher. Where Kackert could make more of a difference is as a receiving back - he's quicker than Boyd i think, but has he shown the hands to be able to haul in a lot of passes - even of the shorter variety - we shall see; blocking another matter too.

[KCargosfan]

At this point we have to accept the judgment of Milanovich that Boyd's blocking was one of the aspects of his play that was subpar. Maybe Schultz will give us more examples tonight.

And thus that is the crux of the debate. Pretty much everyone here has watched all the games, I never thought during the last 6 games, "Man, Boyd sucks at blocking." Thus my disagreement with Milanovich on this decision.

[1argoholic]

I didn't think he sucked or thought about it much until I saw his poor attempts. Not Milanovich would have watched tons of tape and obviously discussed matters with Cory from game one I'm sure. How long does a guy flog a dead horse. The deal is done.

[paulwoods13]

And thus that is the crux of the debate. Pretty much everyone here has watched all the games, I never thought during the last 6 games, "Man, Boyd sucks at blocking." Thus my disagreement with Milanovich on this decision.

I hear ya KC, but despite how closely we all watch the games, there is too much happening on any given play to properly evauate everybody's success or failure. Ray has been sacked from time to time (four times in the B.C. game, I think) but when watching it live you can't possibly notice everything, and even on replays on TV or in the stadium there is a lot to look at. I might see a defender blow by an o-lineman and focus on that breakdown, not even noticing the one or two or three other breakdowns/good plays happening around it. Coaches get the benefit of watching that stuff endlessly, and at the speed of their choosing. I think on any given play in football, there are at least 12 chances for somebody to win or lose a matchup of some sort. How many of those wins and losses do we actually see? Usually two or three, I would venture -- maybe the quality/accuracy of the QB's pass, the hands of the receiver and maybe a good block somewhere, for instance.
Meanwhile there are 16-20 other players on the field engaged in battles or at least assignments -- whose success or failure we'll never know unless they get benched/cut/given a big raise.

[KCargosfan]

I hear ya KC, but despite how closely we all watch the games, there is too much happening on any given play to properly evauate everybody's success or failure. Ray has been sacked from time to time (four times in the B.C. game, I think) but when watching it live you can't possibly notice everything, and even on replays on TV or in the stadium there is a lot to look at. I might see a defender blow by an o-lineman and focus on that breakdown, not even noticing the one or two or three other breakdowns/good plays happening around it. Coaches get the benefit of watching that stuff endlessly, and at the speed of their choosing. I think on any given play in football, there are at least 12 chances for somebody to win or lose a matchup of some sort. How many of those wins and losses do we actually see? Usually two or three, I would venture -- maybe the quality/accuracy of the QB's pass, the hands of the receiver and maybe a good block somewhere, for instance.
Meanwhile there are 16-20 other players on the field engaged in battles or at least assignments -- whose success or failure we'll never know unless they get benched/cut/given a big raise.

Agreed, but I also think sometimes we give coaches too much credit. Why is Milanovich smarter than you, gilthethrill, AngeloV or argolio? In my opinion he isn't. I also think coaches can overanalyze and make things more complicated than they need to be. It's football, not rocket science.

Yeah, Milanovich can probably say, "The Baron is going to give the stance call here on defense for the dline and blitz himself while the mic linebacker fills the A-gap and the secondary plays cover 1" and sound smart, while I can say, "Dude, your OLINE sucks, so against teams like Edmonton, BC, and apparently Montreal, you need to have more slant patterns and roll Ray out the pocket."

Now I'm starting to sound like OVA, haha.

[Wobbler]

Agreed, but I also think sometimes we give coaches too much credit. Why is Milanovich smarter than you, gilthethrill, AngeloV or argolio? In my opinion he isn't. I also think coaches can overanalyze and make things more complicated than they need to be. It's football, not rocket science.
The difference isn't reflected in inherent intelligence; access to data means a lot. Milanovich is much better informed about his players and other players in the league (and outside it) than we are. I'm sure that there are people on this board who are smarter than SM, but as mere fans we're all fundamentally ignorant.

[AngeloV]

The difference isn't reflected in inherent intelligence; access to data means a lot. Milanovich is much better informed about his players and other players in the league (and outside it) than we are. I'm sure that there are people on this board who are smarter than SM, but as mere fans we're all fundamentally ignorant.

I consider myself to be more knowledgeable about football than the average fan (I have played and coached), but I am nowhere close to guys like Milanovich and Barker. Do they make mistakes? Of course, but their choices are all done with plenty of thought. I'm sure this wasn't the easiest decision to make, but if they truly believe it was the best for their team, I don't know how anyone can argue with it. We all get attached to our favourite players.

[1argoholic]

How can anyone get totally attached to a play in any league and hope they're with your team forever? It's sad really but true. The Pinballs and Masotti types are very rare. Hell should Eiben be rotting away in Hamilton for what will most likely be his last year. I think that was a bigger loss all in all. There's a guy who played his heart out on special teams then as a solid starter for years only to get dumped.
Just had to answer the phone to finally figure out who's been called and hanging up at least four times a day. Some very east coast sounding dude with Mr. Harpers Conservative Party to see if I was one of them. NO!! Take us off your friggin list. I was a Progressive Conservative but hell no I'm not a religious bumkin like Harper. I feel like a guy without a party so we toss our votes to the Greens. Like I'm going to back nummy who's trying to push that oil pipeline all the way through beautiful BC wilderness so tankers can haul it along lovely coastline. Harper is a nummy who can't see the forest, bears,fish,birds etc through the Chinese CASH! Sorry about the rant but these buttholes have been obviously locked in a room and forced to call people day and night for weeks. Never an answering machine message.

[KCargosfan]

but I am nowhere close to guys like Milanovich and Barker.

Why not?

I would have rather had you as head coach of the Chiefs last year than Todd Haley. Not everyone's dad is an NFL scout who can hand them a job in the league and then gradually work their way up to do a terrible job with the Chiefs.

Circumstances determine a lot. Bill James was considered an idiot by the baseball "good ole boy network" 20-30 years ago and now his thoughts from that era are basically accepted baseball logic.

I've seen a lot of high school football coaches that I would take over some NFL coaches and other people like Bart Andrus.

[Gill The Thrill]

How can anyone get totally attached to a play in any league and hope they're with your team forever? It's sad really but true. The Pinballs and Masotti types are very rare. Hell should Eiben be rotting away in Hamilton for what will most likely be his last year. I think that was a bigger loss all in all. There's a guy who played his heart out on special teams then as a solid starter for years only to get dumped.
Just had to answer the phone to finally figure out who's been called and hanging up at least four times a day. Some very east coast sounding dude with Mr. Harpers Conservative Party to see if I was one of them. NO!! Take us off your friggin list. I was a Progressive Conservative but hell no I'm not a religious bumkin like Harper. I feel like a guy without a party so we toss our votes to the Greens. Like I'm going to back nummy who's trying to push that oil pipeline all the way through beautiful BC wilderness so tankers can haul it along lovely coastline. Harper is a nummy who can't see the forest, bears,fish,birds etc through the Chinese CASH! Sorry about the rant but these buttholes have been obviously locked in a room and forced to call people day and night for weeks. Never an answering machine message.

Did you mention that you were laid up, and slightly incapacitated:sick: ...hope you get well soon. In the meantime stay away from the sauce...lol, :hi:or is it that Wacky-tabacky that British Columbia is so well known for that led you to this last rant....LOL...kidding:confused:

Cheers:D

[1argoholic]

No BC bud or booze just sick of the friggin hangups from these nummies. haha.

[Fungi]

Bart Andrus.
Don't ever mention this name again. Please... Eli...d...something or other...
Have I ever mentioned a great place to visit while in Newfoundland???
http://www.virtual-tours-newfoundland.ca/Dildo/dildo.html

[Fungi]

Did you mention that you were laid up, and slightly incapacitated:sick: ...hope you get well soon. In the meantime stay away from the sauce...lol, :hi:or is it that Wacky-tabacky that British Columbia is so well known for that led you to this last rant....LOL...kidding:confused:

Cheers:D
You don't know what it's like out here. Pristine. I know where his rant comes from.
Way too many Albertans on this side of the fence. They stink up their province, but play in ours. Now they want a pipeline across our north. Take a big long suck Alberta. The Pacific ocean does not belong to you.
No BC bud involved. Although Ontario likes their hash.
Lets move on, shall we? LOL

[1argoholic]

Chad was GREAT and exciting. I give him a THUMBS UP!!!! Plus I'll raise him a glass.

[argotom]

Cory who?
Chad is the man.
Overall we still have a major problem in the red zone.
RR has to atttack downfield more.
The D is awesome at least tonight.
While Patrick Swayze is the next Medlock, awesome leg with incredible hang time on punts.

[AngeloV]

RR has to atttack downfield more.


Pretty hard to attack down field when opposing defences are taking it away. I'm sure you'd be the first to complain if he turned the ball over by forcing something that isn't there. Ever since the first half of the Montreal game was over, the Argos have seen ZERO man coverage against them.

[argotom]

You have to stretch the D even by overthrowing some times, just like the Durie TD.
For the record, I would never complain going downfield for an attempt.
A pick sometimes as just as good as a punt.

[ArgoFan1]

Argos could have put that game away early but instead made some pretty stupid plays. They had a first and goal on the 5 yard line and Ricky Ray throws two passes that are complete, but do not make the end zone. In those cases they should have handed the ball to Kackert two straight times and even three if needed and they probably would have scored a touchdown. I will never, ever understand this 2 yard pass nonsense. With 5 yards to score, you should be able to run it at least 2 yards per carry and score. I still think they don't run anywhere near as often as they should. Ray was having a hard time hitting his receivers for most of the game.

[argotom]

It's a timing and protection thing.
Still though, there is nothing wrong going for a homerun once in a while to keep the D honest.
The old high risk and high reward.

[1argoholic]

Fungi I agree with Alberta and their pipeline. I know exactly where they can ram that pipe. Their Premier is a royal bitch too. Thinking they can just ram this down BCers throats and take all the profit from it. Her, Harper and all of their Chinese friends can go suck arse.

[Will]

No complaints about Kackert's performance. He is a bit more of a power runner than I gave him credit for.

[Rich]

I doubt we'll be seeing any new looks in the running game, since, as we know, the coach's energies are more focused on his passing system. So I guess this means Kackert will line up beside Ray in the shotgun, take the ball from a standing start, and head into the middle of the line.

The good news is that Kackert has more quickness than Boyd, and may able to bounce outside when the hole's not there. What I'm most curious about is whether they try to run Kackert on second-and-threes. Boyd was good for the first down on those whether there was a hole or not.


They really should consider some extra help in the backfield whether it means ... giving Jeff Johnson some more action on passing downs and taking out Watt. JJ is a tank, a reliable blocker, and still a pretty good ball carrier. It's too bad that FB/TE-hybrid experiment in the preseason didn't work out, I guess they just couldn't find the right guy.

Finally we see some new wrinkles in the offence tonight.

It was great to see them line up Jeff Johnson and Andre Durie at the TE spot, just as some dumb average fan suggested here. It opens up a lot of possibilities for the offence. Kackert was great, and unlike Boyd, he is able to bounce out when the hole is closed, and he's got a faster first step than Boyd after catching the short checkdown pass. It was fantastic to see them run Kackert on second and three and even second and four and I think he made most of them.

On the downside, a couple of times Kackert was carrying the ball forward shoulder down and got stopped by one guy, while Boyd never got stopped by only one guy when he had a head of steam going. I know there's a tradeoff in the skill sets, and I'd say on balance we are probably ahead with Kackert, but there will be times I'm telling you when we are gonna miss that power in the backfield.

I also liked the end-around with Owens, I know they have shown it before but only maybe once in a game, I think they ran it 3 times tonight. They've refined it, it looks like it gives Ray some options to pull it back and do some other things with it, I think it's going to give defences fits.

So my question is, and I'm only half joking, is how come it took 7 weeks to come up with these new looks?

[Wobbler]

So my question is, and I'm only half joking, is how come it took 7 weeks to come up with these new looks?
Bye week be praised. Sure, some of these changes should have been implemented earlier, but this was the ideal opportunity to change personnel and flip the playbook to a different chapter.

[tennyis]

I thought he played great for his first game! but he also has some room to improve with lining up in the wrong spot, that probably cost us 4 points. He also missed a few key blocks, one that caused ray to get leveled.

[Fungi]

They sure do throw alot to the backs. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more long balls. If there's no deep threat, that short stuff will get figured out.

[RoRoYoBoat]

They sure do throw alot to the backs. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more long balls. If there's no deep threat, that short stuff will get figured out.

You can't throw the deep ball much when your oline can't hold its own. Jones knows Calgary's defense inside and out and he probably helped Milanovich design a game plan that worked perfectly. Ray still managed to put up 300 yards and complete 65 percent of his passes.

Where Ray needs to improve and that's always been his weakness in Edmonton is on selling the fake and staying calm when he has to throw a short pass on timed plays. If I was Milanovich I'd send him and his wife take latin dance classes all expenses paid.

[flafson]

I was very happy with Kackert. Initially Ray didn't give him the ball at all, took a while before he got any touches, but he sure made the most with what he was given and was just unlucky not to get to 100 yards rushing.
There is still room for improvement, you can tell he doesn't understand the play book 100% yet. The position problem that we had to settle for a field goal and i think also Owens fumble came because Owens got mixed with Kackert.

Overall, i'm super happy though, looks like coach knows what he is doing by releasing Boyd.

[dmont]

.

I wonder if Kackert's game doesn't make things harder on our slotbacks. The opposing D knows he's more likely to take the check down pass or the screen pass than Boyd was. Gives the LBs more of a reason to crowd the slot.

Still, I'm proud of Kackert for stepping up under a lot of pressure from the fans and the media.

Despite the win, I'm worried about our offense. A lot of our scores were the results of really stupid penalties by Calgary. Didn't have a tremendous passing game, on whom I'm inclined to blame the receivers this time. Ricky seemed to have plenty of time in the pocket. Still a long way to go.

[RoRoYoBoat]

When your D gives up on average 20 points in this league. The Argos will be in pretty much every game.

[Fungi]

It's not too hard too develope a deep threat. The criteria for catching short passes can be applied to long throws. It's just timing. Don't tell anyone on our oline, they can't give Rickey enough time to at least throw one long ball. Thats insulting, to say the least.

[1argoholic]

How does BC look like they have 20 receivers that all produce? I don't get it. We look like we don't have enough.

[ArgoRavi]

How does BC look like they have 20 receivers that all produce? I don't get it. We look like we don't have enough.

Ray has thrown for 2073 yards while Lulay has thrown for 1893 yards so our receivers don't seem to be doing any worse than B.C.'s.

[paulwoods13]

.

I wonder if Kackert's game doesn't make things harder on our slotbacks. The opposing D knows he's more likely to take the check down pass or the screen pass than Boyd was. Gives the LBs more of a reason to crowd the slot.

This makes no sense to me, so maybe I'm not understanding your point. If the D knows Kackert is more likely than Boyd to do something after catching a screen or check-down pass, they would have to pay more attention to that possibility. They wouldn't ignore it to focus more closely on the slots. Am I missing something?

[doubleblue]

I was very happy with Kackert. Initially Ray didn't give him the ball at all, took a while before he got any touches, but he sure made the most with what he was given and was just unlucky not to get to 100 yards rushing.
There is still room for improvement, you can tell he doesn't understand the play book 100% yet. The position problem that we had to settle for a field goal and i think also Owens fumble came because Owens got mixed with Kackert.

Overall, i'm super happy though, looks like coach knows what he is doing by releasing Boyd.

Yes I thought Kack played as advertised. But then I always thought he should have been in all the earlier games instead of Barnes or one of the unproductive WR's. However, when they moved Owens into the slot position, that kind of took away a spot for Kackert I guess. But it would have been interesting to see what they could have done with Kackert coming across the middle much like Ben Cahoon, taking a short pass and getting some YAC yards. Throw in some running plays to mix in with Cory Boyd and IMO the Argos would be a more dangerous team offensively.
However, the salary cap may well have been an issue if they eventually replace Barnes with Rambo and or Mann. I would think Rambo would command a salary similar to Boyd's.

[UncleFester]

Kackert was ok and should get better as he gets a few games under his belt. He is more versatile and explosive than Boyd. He will make more big plays with his speed. Having said all that, his pass protection blocking seems to be the most important role for him according to Milanovich so he'd better do his job there or this discussion will all be moot.

[Fungi]

I think, just in terms of receiving, the opposing D's will take K out of the equation, along with Chad and Durie unless Rickie gets on page with a few more of his receivers. Inman is the only receiver worth notice... IMO.
Still , agood job by Ray with what he's got. One premiere guy, and who knows.

[Rich]

Yes I thought Kack played as advertised. But then I always thought he should have been in all the earlier games instead of Barnes or one of the unproductive WR's. However, when they moved Owens into the slot position, that kind of took away a spot for Kackert I guess. But it would have been interesting to see what they could have done with Kackert coming across the middle much like Ben Cahoon, taking a short pass and getting some YAC yards. Throw in some running plays to mix in with Cory Boyd and IMO the Argos would be a more dangerous team offensively.
However, the salary cap may well have been an issue if they eventually replace Barnes with Rambo and or Mann. I would think Rambo would command a salary similar to Boyd's.

I agree completely. Boyd and Kackert playing together would have brought better tools to an offence than Boyd and Barnes. I would now even play Riggs ahead of Barnes, Kackert could be the guy getting those 10-yard passes that seem to be the only ones Barnes gets thrown. Just imagine having three guys in the backfield who can both carry and catch the ball, the fakes and misdirections could be awesome. But you're right, if Rambo plays you probably go with him instead of the extra back.

By the way, doubleblue, making suggestions for the Argonaut offence is frowned upon around here, since we don't know football like Milanovich does, and we gotta just trust him and hold our tongue.

:shhhh: