DON LANDRY – Argonauts.ca Columnist
TORONTO – I’ll say this for Argos’ general manager Jim Barker and head coach Scott Milanovich: They’re not afraid to deliver the odd lightning bolt.
It was a just about a year ago that they pulled out the mid-season electroshock paddles and jolted Argoland with the news that the CFL’s leading rusher, Cory Boyd, had been released. Jaws were dirtied and scraped as they bounced off the ground.
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Related: Argos Player Moves |
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VIDEO: Milanovich Addresses Player Movement |
Now, the zap is felt again with another big move. Linebacker Brandon Isaac, the team’s defensive captain, dismissed after four games.
It’s not really debatable as to which was the bigger move, releasing Boyd or releasing Isaac. Boyd’s exit, facilitating the arrival of Chad Kackert as the team’s starting tailback, was a general sports headline grabber, setting tongues beyond just the usual football beat wagging. Isaac’s will not be quite that glamourous but it no doubt raises eyebrows among CFL observers. In some ways, it’s more shocking than Boyd’s departure.
“A name player who helped us win a championship last year, so it’s always hard,” offered up Milanovich, engulfed by microphones and cameras. The coach had many topics to cover in this particular media scrum; from the health of Ricky Ray and Kackert (good news with regard to Ray, not so much with regard to Kackert) to the expectations surrounding back up quarterbacks Zach Collaros and Trevor Harris, to those placed on Kackert’s replacement, Curtis Steele, and to the situation leading to Isaac’s being let go.
In retrospect, Boyd’s ouster might have been telegraphed. In the couple of weeks leading up to it, Kackert got to see more first team touches than usual in practices.
Isaac’s fate, however, may have been harder to see, wrapped up in the serpentine schemes and shuffling positions and responsibilities of an ever-changing and complicated (defensive coordinator) Chris Jones defence.
“A decision was made by the coaching staff that we think gives us a chance to be a little bit better at that position,” Milanovich said.
I had a one-word question as a follow up. ‘Why?’
“I’m not going to get into it,” he replied, before referencing (I’m inferring) the cutting of Boyd in 2012. “This is the same deal we went through last year. I’m not going to get into the reasons why and step on Brandon. I do appreciate what he’s done and what he can do as a football player.”
“I’m very appreciative of what he’s done for this team.”
On a team with a decided freshman feel to its defence, veteran leadership might be a valuable commodity.
If the release of Isaac then seems to be a bit of a gamble, it will be in the results from here on out that form the basis for judgment of that gamble. You’ll recall that the installation of Kackert worked out rather well, even if it did cause the coach to swallow hard at the notion that setting the league’s leading rusher free might come back to haunt him. It did not, of course, with Kackert helping a growing Argos’ offence consistently improve, culminating in his being named the most valuable player in the Grey Cup Game.
Isaac might be hard to replace in many ways. There is no behind the scenes story to relate, no bad blood, no burned bridge. In fact, Milanovich admitted that Isaac’s leadership in the locker room and on the field were valuable. Others echo that sentiment. As with Boyd, nothing more than a football decision. A bold stroke football decision.
“Brandon was a vocal leader and did a good job with that,” praised Milanovich. “All those things made the decision that much harder. At the end of the day you have to make decisions that you think will help your team.”
That the Argos’ defence can be better, there is little argument. Last in the CFL, the unit has yielded 1,672 yards or 418 per game. The team is second worst in rushing yards given up, at nearly 138 yards per game. Pass defence is the same kind of story. Second worst in the league, with 293 yards yielded. (Oddly, it’s the 4 – 0 Saskatchewan Roughriders that are dead last in that category, giving up 305 yards a game, proving once again that statistics will tell you only part of the story)
Now, of course, Brandon Isaac – by himself – is not the reason for those numbers. But history has shown that if Chris Jones can gain a fraction of a second in speed or a millimetre more in leaping ability in his personnel, he will opt for that time and again.
The Argos must then firmly believe that their defence will be made stronger with number 28 being subtracted and another being added.
However, unlike the Boyd/Kackert decision – which was crystal clear in that Kackert was the guy – a replacement for Brandon Isaac still needs to be identified and that will be the immediate challenge here. Milanovich mentioned corner Jamie Robinson and defensive back Joshua Gatlin as candidates. Then added: “There’s the possibility of some new guys coming in.”
Robinson has looked progressively more comfortable at the corner spot, while Gatlin has yet to play in a regular season game after what the team termed an impressive training camp.
“I’m seeing improvement and growth, defensively,” observed Milanovich.
“We’re certainly a better team than we were four weeks ago and we’re heading in the right direction.
That direction – lamentably for he and his fans – no longer includes Brandon Isaac.
“Sometimes you have to make hard choices that… you think maybe somebody can do the job a little better,” Milanovich said.