paulwoods13 wrote: ↑
Arbuckle was not the giant step down from Kelly that everyone expected.
IMO he was a giant step down. You can look at his stats and say he wasn’t, but their 1-5 start was mostly because of his ill timed turnovers. You can blame the o-line for that if you want, but ithe turnovers disappeared with the same o-line in the next 6 games.
If you don’t think Kelly would have made a difference in their 6 one possession losses that’s fine. I think he would have made a huge difference.
paulwoods13 wrote: ↑
Arbuckle was not the giant step down from Kelly that everyone expected.
IMO he was a giant step down. You can look at his stats and say he wasn’t, but their 1-5 start was mostly because of his ill timed turnovers. You can blame the o-line for that if you want, but ithe turnovers disappeared with the same o-line in the next 6 games.
If you don’t think Kelly would have made a difference in their 6 one possession losses that’s fine. I think he would have made a huge difference.
Kelly can makes throws that Arbuckle simply can’t which would give the opposition D something to think about.
I think the major improvements for next year have to come at the tackle positions both on the o-line and d-line. Correa/Pelley tandem yesterday is something you can never let happen again. Two guys grossly out of shape with no mobility at all. Lanier IMO was very good this year. They need to add 2 or 3 good ones for a good rotation.
I think with Nicastro, Hunter and Doxtator they have their 3 interior o-line starters. And I’m not ready to give up on young guys like Bosse and Vandal.
The LB core is solid. Secondary was pretty good down the stretch and will get better the more they play together.
Receiving core is also really good. I see Coxie, Polk, Mital, Brissette and Herslow as the starters next year. I like Ungerer but I see him as the 6th receiver if he wants it.
RB’s I have no issue with. They just need better push up front.
Everyone agrees major changes need to be made. It is important to properly evaluate what talent the team does have. In the remaining games the coaches should be playing several players on the P R and some players who have been on the active roster but not played that much. Really hope Doege isn't at QB but rather let's see what Duggan and Horn can do. If one or both show they are not future stating material, better to know now rather than to wait until next year's Training Camp. Ojo, Casey, Donovan and several others should see full time action in the remaining games. The scores in the remaining games doesn't matter but player evaluation does.
shatto wrote: ↑Sun Oct 05, 2025 5:51 pm
Everyone agrees major changes need to be made. It is important to properly evaluate what talent the team does have. In the remaining games the coaches should be playing several players on the P R and some players who have been on the active roster but not played that much. Really hope Doege isn't at QB but rather let's see what Duggan and Horn can do. If one or both show they are not future stating material, better to know now rather than to wait until next year's Training Camp. Ojo, Casey, Donovan and several others should see full time action in the remaining games. The scores in the remaining games doesn't matter but player evaluation does.
Has Ojo been given a single down of D playing time opportunity - in an area of big need - at all this season? Pathetic & embarrassing, and shows the mind-set of the D coaches.
And watching Jackson Findlay get to start at safety for BC the past couple of games, it seems quite likely the guy is going to be a CFL stud - at a position that he learned and excelled at in Canadian ball; Argos could have drafted him, but maybe he would have sat on the bench all season for this Argos' D "brain-trust".
There are openings all over the place for upgrades on this Argo roster; be interesting to see where the recruiting emphasis is - I'll bet it's firstly with "veteran" Americans who have already played for another CFL team (= therefore, they must be good); followed by a bunch of new imports - from NFL or UFL rosters or straight out of college ball.
My prediction (which to be clear was neither a request nor a suggestion) was based on gut instinct. There has been weirdness about this situation from the moment camp opened. If he's not back next year, there may be many possible reasons. Odds are we will never hear the full story, no matter how it plays out.
There’s nothing weird about a serious injury that doesn’t heal as quickly as was hoped. And there’s nothing weird about teams being less-than-transparent about their injuries. It happens all the time in sports.
Except the team was talking like Kelly was on the verge of returning as early as training camp and several times during the season, now Dinwiddie is admitting he is likely done for the season with two games left.
Kelly and the team gave out conflicting signals about his situation for months. He kept going to Buffalo rather than rehabbing around the team. He wasn't put on the six-game for the first six games, which strongly suggested the team expected him to be activated during that period. Then there was confusion about when he had been put on the six. Then further confusion around his second stint on the six. Then his Instagram post predicting a return on Sept. 13. If all of that doesn't constitute weirdness, I don't know what would.
There’s nothing weird about a serious injury that doesn’t heal as quickly as was hoped. And there’s nothing weird about teams being less-than-transparent about their injuries. It happens all the time in sports.
Except the team was talking like Kelly was on the verge of returning as early as training camp and several times during the season, now Dinwiddie is admitting he is likely done for the season with two games left.
Kelly and the team gave out conflicting signals about his situation for months. He kept going to Buffalo rather than rehabbing around the team. He wasn't put on the six-game for the first six games, which strongly suggested the team expected him to be activated during that period. Then there was confusion about when he had been put on the six. Then further confusion around his second stint on the six. Then his Instagram post predicting a return on Sept. 13. If all of that doesn't constitute weirdness, I don't know what would.
There’s nothing weird about a serious injury that doesn’t heal as quickly as was hoped. And there’s nothing weird about teams being less-than-transparent about their injuries. It happens all the time in sports.
Except the team was talking like Kelly was on the verge of returning as early as training camp and several times during the season, now Dinwiddie is admitting he is likely done for the season with two games left.
Kelly and the team gave out conflicting signals about his situation for months. He kept going to Buffalo rather than rehabbing around the team. He wasn't put on the six-game for the first six games, which strongly suggested the team expected him to be activated during that period. Then there was confusion about when he had been put on the six. Then further confusion around his second stint on the six. Then his Instagram post predicting a return on Sept. 13. If all of that doesn't constitute weirdness, I don't know what would.
I’ll admit I’m not the type to see a conspiracy under every rock. But to me it seems obvious that Kelly suffered a setback in his recovery, and I don’t think there’s anything weird about that. It happens.
The team obfuscated about it likely for the same reason sports teams since time immemorial have obfuscated about injuries: to keep their opponents guessing. I think it is also possible the team fudged the truth so as not to discourage their fragile fan base, and maybe that’s not the best approach but I would certainly understand it.
I do agree Chad’s instagram post was bizarre, but this is a guy with a long history of bizarre social media posts is he not? HE is weird, but I don’t read any grand conspiracy into it.
paulwoods13 wrote: ↑
Arbuckle was not the giant step down from Kelly that everyone expected.
IMO he was a giant step down. You can look at his stats and say he wasn’t, but their 1-5 start was mostly because of his ill timed turnovers. You can blame the o-line for that if you want, but ithe turnovers disappeared with the same o-line in the next 6 games.
If you don’t think Kelly would have made a difference in their 6 one possession losses that’s fine. I think he would have made a huge difference.
They got as much or more out of Arbuckle than could have been expected but Kelly is elite and can do things that Arbuckle simply can't. The Argos win at least 3 more games with Kelly at QB and that makes a huge difference in the standings.
