Jul
Argo coaches will have to learn CFL game quick
Courtesy Globe and Mail:
When the Toronto Argonauts step on the field for tonight’s season opener against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, it will mark the end of a unique run-up to the start of this season for head coach Bart Andrus.
When Andrus and his staff first assembled back in the dead of Toronto’s winter, they brought decades of football experience with them from the NFL, NFL Europe and American college football.
But aside from defensive co-ordinator Pete Kuharchek’s one season with the B.C. Lions nearly 20 years ago, the new staff was getting its first taste of CFL football. And so Andrus decided that, before they started drawing up plays and formations, they all needed some immersion.
“He came in and we were all wondering how we were going to approach this,” said offensive-line coach Ron Heller, who played 12 seasons in the NFL and coached with Andrus in NFL Europe. “He said ‘We’re going to sit and watch every game they played last year and as many games from throughout the league as we can.’ And instead of offence watching offence and defence watching defence, he wanted us all to sit in there as a staff and just talk about what we’re seeing. He said ‘Just try to understand it.’ ”
And so for the next month, the Argos’ coaches sat each day just watching. And watching and watching. Sitting among them was Steve Buratto, the lone holdover from the previous year’s staff, a veteran CFL coach who became their sounding board for ideas and questions.
And then one day, like someone turned on a light switch, it all just clicked.
“One day, I said to myself, ‘This just doesn’t look odd to me any more,’ ” Heller said. “After the meeting Bart said to me ‘This is the first day I didn’t have to think: what the heck is going on out there?’ ”
Like someone learning a new language who is able to think in that language, all of the sudden Canadian football made sense to the new Argos coaches. No longer did the motion and the big field look odd. And the coaches found themselves thinking in terms of three downs instead of four.
“And that really did happen a couple of weeks in,” Andrus said. “You’d get a video of a player that an agent had sent and he’s playing in the NFL or in college and that looked wrong. That transition happened. As soon as I was able to picture 12 guys, the coverage, the route, how it’s going to fit on the bigger field. As soon as I started to picture all that on the bigger field, I knew it had clicked.”
It wasn’t just the obvious things the Argos’ staff was studying about the new game. There were also mundane things, such as how teams in the CFL transition from offence, to special teams, to defence, back to special teams. And how each of the game’s nuances plays out.
Once the initial phase was over, the coaches began the process of putting together formations and schemes, the building blocks of what would become the playbook. It was seven days a week that started early and ended late as the process of adapting to their football knowledge to the CFL went into action.
“I used the format that I used in my playbooks down south but I transformed everything into a whole new language … because it’s a totally different game,” Kuharchek said. “For me the biggest transition is the 65-yard wide field. It would be kind of like comparing defending Pennsylvania compared to defending the whole East Coast.”
As they progressed, they analyzed what they were constructing against what they saw on film from the previous season.
For example, Heller’s pass-protection schemes were processed and judged against 320 different blitzes which the staff compiled from watching the 2008 Argos season.
“He made a blitz tape and it took us more than three days to watch it and ask ‘How would this be handled, how would this be handled?’ ” Heller said. “So we found out where some of the holes may be and we adjusted them. It was painstaking. It was long hours. People said ‘Why are you working 12-hour days? You don’t even have players yet.’ ”
By the time training camp got started, the Argos’ coaches had a level of comfort with the new game, but understood the learning process would continue. Some of that came from the players themselves.
“The coaches seemed to be very open-minded, so anything we said they considered,” said veteran running back Jeff Johnson. “They were prepared and then made adjustments as they went through camp. Sometimes they’d work with a play and see it didn’t work and they would adjust or move on.”
The preseason games brought more learning, dealing with the 20-second play clock and managing time within the final three minutes of a half. And having to study a game from a sideline that is further away from the action than that to which they are accustomed.
It’s all new and starting tonight it’s all for real.
“I’m really looking forward to this experience,” Andrus said. “There’s not many times when you have a first in your career, and this is a first for me so I’m really looking forward to this.”
CFL Week 1
Toronto Argos (4-14 in 2008) at Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-15)
What can you say about a game between two teams that have combined to lose 17 of their past 18 games? How about, “At least it’s a new year.” The Argonauts and Tiger-Cats both have new coaching staffs since they last met on Labour Day in an Argos 34-31 win. There is lots at stake for both teams in this one since an opening-game win would help erase the stench from last season. Hamilton won’t name a starting quarterback until today, with the choice being between sophomore Quinton Porter and the veteran Kevin Glenn.
Montreal Alouettes (11-7) at Calgary Stampeders (13-5)
It’s the rematch of last year’s Grey Cup game. And a rematch it is in most every sense, since both teams underwent just minor changes to their rosters and coaching staffs during the off-season. But while the Stamps are mostly comprised of players in their prime, some of the Als’ marquee names are aging, which is why their window of opportunity could be closing fast. Should be interesting to see if Montreal can stay as close to Calgary in July as they were last November.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-10) at Edmonton Eskimos (10-8)
The Bombers have a new coaching staff, a new quarterback and have turned over more than half their roster since last season. In most instances, that spells disaster in football. And it remains to be seen whether starting quarterback Stefan LeFors is up to the task. The Esks mostly filled holes during the off-season and will feature the debut of all-Canadian running back duo of Jesse Lumsden and Calvin McCarty.
B.C. Lions (11-7) at Sask. Roughriders (12-6)
It’s the battle of two teams that suffered the most depletions of any teams this off-season. The Lions’ biggest losses were running back Stefan Logan and defensive end Cameron Wake, both of whom have moved to the NFL. The Roughriders’ two best linebackers, Maurice Lloyd and Anton Mckenzie, left via free agency and defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall became head coach in Edmonton. Both teams may need some time for adjustment this season.
