Toronto Argonauts
I think Scott Milanovich might have done alright with my first car. It was a used (very used) ’77 Chevy Nova that would stall out as you hit the brakes and came to a stop, unless you learned how to brake with your left foot, while simultaneously hitting the gas with the right and throwing the transmission into neutral with your right hand.
Based on the fancy footwork and line up multi-tasking he was forced into in 2014, I do believe Milanovich could’ve handled that old boat of mine.
An 8-10 record won’t exactly have the third-year Argos’ head coach being fitted for a halo based on performing a miracle. It won’t even get him coach of the year honours, nor should it. At the very least, it should protect him from the specious reasoning from some that, somehow, he’s to blame for this year’s playoff miss. Actually, isn’t it just a little bit remarkable that the 2014 Argonauts didn’t get marooned much, much earlier in the regular season?
An exodus of trusted coaches and veteran free agents was a prelude to the 2014 season. Starting tailback Chad Kackert’s ankle injury forced him into retirement on the eve of training camp. Then, an unbelievably relentless injury plague followed; it meant the Argos didn’t once play a game this season with all of their starting receivers in formation. Not once.
Not that all the Argo fates were uncontrollable. While catastrophic injuries cannot be managed, personnel decisions can and I’m sure both Milanovich and general manager Jim Barker would admit they didn’t get it all right. Bringing veteran defensive back Dwight Anderson in during the season and then releasing him a few weeks later is an example.
Still, given the Argonauts’ season of catastrophic injuries and nomadic practice life (they didn’t get settled into their permanent home until September), as well as all the roster changes that came during the off-season, I find myself giving a tip of the hat to Milanovich for keeping things seaworthy.
“Truth is, we’re not that far away,” Milanovich told a scrum of reporters this week, when asked how he felt about the team’s roster going forward. “We’re obviously close.”
With a season they’d like to forget now in the past, the Argos look ahead to the off-season. There are questions to be addressed, some that weigh on them more heavily.
First and foremost would be the health of quarterback Ricky Ray’s shoulder. Turns out he never did return to 100% this season, after being badly injured late in the 2013 campaign and then aggravating that shoulder during the first game of the 2014 regular season.
Ray never did say he was completely healed in 2014, although he did maintain he could get the job done, when I asked about the injury, in August. “I feel pretty good out there and nothing’s holding me back from doing what I’ve been able to do in the past,” he’d said.
This week, the 12-year vet admitted he was bothered. “(The shoulder) definitely wasn’t where I’d like it to be at.”
Ray’s numbers were sensational and would have been even more so had he been top drawer. Now, he isn’t ruling out off-season surgery. “That’s always a possibility,” he said. “Just have to wait and see what the doctors say and what’s the best course of action.”
If he needs surgery, how will it affect his readiness for training camp? Another lingering question surrounds the concussion Ray suffered in the second last game of the season, although the concern over his bouncing back from that doesn’t seem acute, at least not at this time. “I’ve been getting better every day,” he said.
Consistency of roster would be a priority moving ahead, for the Argos. If, as Milanovich feels, they are not far away from Grey Cup contention, keeping the players he treasures in place is important.
“The locker room got better,” Milanovich said of the additions and subtractions of 2014. “That’s an important thing for me. It wasn’t always where I wanted it to be this year.”
“We’ve weeded some of those guys out,” he said of players that didn’t buy in. “There’s a few more, probably that need to go.”
Go they will, as will a few more for various reasons; some of them through free agency.
“We’re gonna have to be better defensively,” said Milanovich, looking ahead to 2015. “We’re gonna have to be more consistent offensively.”
Consistency on offence – obliterated by injury this past season – could be further challenged by free agency. Among the possible dozen or so Argos’ free agents this off-season are receiver John Chiles, running back Curtis Steele and lineman Tyler Holmes. All difficult to replace, should they leave, but that’s life in pro football and a given for pretty much any CFL team in most any CFL off-season.
Defensively, the Argos have already locked up Canadian depth, signing Matt Black, Jermaine Gabriel and James Yurichuk to extensions. Linebackers Cory Greenwood and Shea Emry are under contract for next season as well. Whatever the personnel, whatever the alignment in 2015, having the same players in the same positions from day one will be exceptionally important. The top defences in the CFL all boast experience and cohesion as units. That’s not something that can be attained without the proper talent in place, consistently, week in and week out.
“I like it here,” Milanovich told reporters this week. “I like the lifestyle of the CFL. I like the city and I enjoy coaching these players.”
The organization should like him too. He managed the tumult of a very challenging season without any sort of public display of complaint, consistently shouldering the burden and offering very, very little in the way of excuses.
Milanovich says he has one more year on his contract. He’s not a free agent, but head coaches are not often agreeable to heading into a season without the security of a multi-year deal.
That might be another important order of business for the Argos this off-season.
“In my mindset, I’m going to be here,” said Milanovich. “If, for whatever reason, that changes, we’ll address it then.”
