Next Game
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CFL.ca Staff
In the grand scheme of things it will go down as a footnote in the Argos 30-17 win over the Ticats on Wednesday night, but Kerry Joseph’s third quarter TD strike to Matt Lambros for his first ever CFL touchdown may not have occurred if not for a twist of fate.
Lambros was activated off the team’s practice roster prior to the game to back-up Reggie McNeal and James Robinson at the X and Z receiver spots. Lambros didn’t figure he would see much action in the Argos’ season opener, but due to a mix up with the import ratio on the play in question, he found himself lined up to Joseph’s right.
“Robinson was supposed to be in,” said Lambros. “There was some confusion with the Canadian receivers being in. I moved over to the X position. Right place at the right time.”
The Argos refer to the TD-scoring route as a “Stutter-Go” and it was a route that Lambros had perfected during training camp.
“It seemed like in training camp every time we had that in the script Matt was in,” said head coach Bart Andrus. “When we looked up, it just happened that J-Rob was out of the game and who was there? Mr. Sutter-Go himself, the guy that got all the reps during training camp. He learned that route and he learned it pretty well.”
“It was a stutter route; an out and up kind of thing,” explained Lambros. “They’d been sitting on it, waiting for it and we kind of game planned that.”
“I was at the right side of the formation. They were in man coverage. I gave him a couple of steps to the outside. As soon as I saw him turn his hips to bite, I turned up field and tried to give Kerry a target.”
Once the ball was snapped, Lambros’ memory of the play is a blur.
“It kind of all just flew by too fast,” he said. “I was on cloud nine for a little bit. Here’s my chance, stay in bounds, just hold onto the ball.”
Lambros didn’t hold onto the ball for very long. He gave it right back to the official after scoring the touchdown. However, Joseph retrieved the pigskin and presented it to Lambros on the sideline.
“It was an awesome experience,” said Lambros, describing his first regular season game at Ivor Wynne Stadium. “They have great fans. It was a great environment to play in.”
Fans in Hamilton quickly found another Argo player to dislike as catcalls from the stands rained down on the Argos second round pick in the 2009 Canadian Draft.
“I tried to keep my back turned and pretend I wasn’t listening,” added Lambros.