Arakgi injured

[QB Club 63]

Mr Mancouver, Jason Arakgi, won't be in the lineup for Friday's game against the Tabbies. Apparently in the Bomber game he sustained a fracture to his wrist which can't be placed in a cast until the swelling goes down, so at this point they're not sure how long he'll be unavailable.

Some have speculated about how this will impact special teams as well as our NI depth on defence. We will likely see junior Steven Doege placed on the active roster in the short term and there is talk of bringing back Kwasi Nkansah to fill the ST gap, but I wonder if last year's #36 Neil McKinlay is still in game shape? He was a demon on teams plus he's got the experience at LB. Thoughts?

[Blitz]

The Lions tried to activate Verdone but he balked at losing 2 years of CIS eligibility and has been released. Our Leos also did not want to activate Doege because they can only do it once and then he loses the opportunity to play junior football if there was a second occasion. They would prefer to leave Doeges present status as it is. Instead Conn will get the start on special teams.

McMann is not getting what we need out of our coverage and return units...and its certainly not a question of talent on our Leos roster. There were enough mistakes on special teams in our opener for an entire season. McMann needs to get the right mix for downfield coverage and he also needs to scheme our punt return blocking better and have our players executing better in their blocking.

I have already expressed my thoughts about McMann. He needs to start getting better results and he is accountable.

[TheLionKing]

McMann is not getting what we need out of our coverage and return units...and its certainly not a question of talent on our Leos roster. There were enough mistakes on special teams in our opener for an entire season. McMann needs to get the right mix for downfield coverage and he also needs to scheme our punt return blocking better and have our players executing better in their blocking.

I have already expressed my thoughts about McMann. He needs to start getting better results and he is accountable.

I agree. Poor coverage last year. Becoming a trend

[WestCoastJoe]

I have not been impressed with how Arakgi has played the last couple of years. Didn't watch him as an individual in the Bombers game. He is mostly an ST guy. This could be a bit of a shakeup for the coverage team. Can't get any worse IMO. Sit Phillips down too IMO. Too soft for STs.

Agree with the decision to not waste Doege's eligibility. He is for the future, and this year he should get to play for his junior team as much as possible. It seems to me Wally is doing it the right way. ST guys are available.

[TheLionKing]

Wonder what is Brett Anderson is up to these days

[cromartie]

I have not been impressed with how Arakgi has played the last couple of years. Didn't watch him as an individual in the Bombers game. He is mostly an ST guy. This could be a bit of a shakeup for the coverage team. Can't get any worse IMO. Sit Phillips down too IMO. Too soft for STs.

Agree with the decision to not waste Doege's eligibility. He is for the future, and this year he should get to play for his junior team as much as possible. It seems to me Wally is doing it the right way. ST guys are available.

Arakgi rushes well on punt blocks. Seems to have a problem on punt returns.

I can't speak for Phillips (though I'll pay attention this week if I get to see the game) but as I mentioned before, I'm not impressed with Foster on ST for the same reason you aren't impressed with Phillips.

[Dieter]

http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/de ... wsID=35514

[SammyGreene]

Little concerning given it was the Lions weak area last season and they knew it to the point where McMann dropped his RB coaching duties to solely focus on special teams.
Whether it's the CFL or NFL special teams coverage is typically about players getting an opportunity to prove themselves for perhaps a larger role in the future. This is an area, IMHO, the Lions maybe lacking. Aragki looked great earlier in his career but his ST play has levelled off since his chance to be a starter seems to have come and gone. Same goes for someone like Larose who lost his starting safety spot and to a lesser extent Yurichuck.

Bighill was probably their best special teams downfield tackler last season and that helped paved the way for him to be the starting MLB spot. After him it was probably Lumbala which may say something about your back-ups when he is also your starting FB.

Just don't think it's a good mix with the starters who already have their workload and some back-ups who have been around for a while and their progress is kind of in neutral unless someone like Joash Geese wants to prove himself.

[QB Club 63]

Wonder what is Brett Anderson is up to these days

That's precisely why I brought up the name Neil McKinlay. Another *younger* firefighter to bring in to fight a different kind of fire...

[Lions4ever]

Yesterday Jay Janower was tweeting that James Yurichuk was the one with the injury. I called him on it and he corrected himself.

[TheLionKing]

http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/de ... wsID=35514

Funny how an observation turns into major story

[zark]

This might be a wake up call for him. I've talked to him before , and all he wants is to make the starting line up. I think he's OK with ST, but ...c'mon...it's not starting line up. Goods luck Bro'.