ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
MISSISSAUGA – Argos DB Lin-J Shell insists that his team is not the least bit concerned about potentially being the team that Anthony Calvillo re-enters the record books against. In fact, Shell is hoping that the future Hall of Fame pivot doesn’t record a touchdown of any sort when his club meets the Alouettes in Montreal Friday night.
“I don’t want him to score on us, period. It doesn’t matter if there is a record on deck or not,” Shell said.
“This is something that he has built up, that’s something on his own personal trophy wall. We just don’t want any quarterback throwing any touchdowns, at any time, on our secondary ever. It is nothing personal with him but we are going to try and stop him from getting that record by not letting him complete any touchdowns this game.”
Calvillo is currently tied with former Argos great Damon Allen for the Canadian Football League’s all-time lead in career passing touchdowns with 394. It is a record that few doubt will eventually become Calvillo’s, but another Argos defender, Kevin Huntley, reinforced that his only desire is to leave Montreal with a win.
“You never want to be the guy that a player breaks a record against. Let’s say that he does break the record and that’s all he gets? I will take him breaking the record if he only gets one touchdown by throwing the ball. They are not going to run the ball on us and score five or six touchdowns running…so he can have the record, I will take the victory,” the outgoing defensive tackle said.
After riding the high of an opening week win, the Argos stumbled last Friday in Winnipeg and the offence took most of the blame. Shell explained, however, that although the defence held the Blue Bombers in check for most of the evening, they could have done more to help their teammates come away with the win.
“There is something somewhere that we left on the field in the last game and we need to improve,” he said.
With an early test against last year’s best, Toronto is feeling confident after splitting the season series with the Alouettes last season. The Double Blue edged their Eastern rival in scoring (107-104) in four games to take the season series, too.
However, the regular season record is not what irks Shell and his team. It was their performance in the playoffs at Olympic Stadium where they suffered a 48-17 loss in the East Final.
An injury to starting tailback Cory Boyd is paving the way for rookie RB Chad Kackert. The New Hampshire product impressed in the pre-season, generating 150 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Kackert speaks on his debut here.
“A lot of people were worried about how we lost and how it didn’t go as planned. A loss is a loss and it doesn’t really matter how many points you lose by – whether it is a bad loss or a loss by one point – at the end of the day you take an ‘L’ and that always leaves a nasty taste in your mouth,” Shell explained.
Shell and the Argos defence seem primed for the challenge, as does the offence, but they will have to try and gut out a win without their star tailback Cory Boyd. The bruising back will sit out this week with an injury, paving the way for rookie RB Chad Kackert. The New Hampshire product impressed in the pre-season, generating 150 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.
Boyd’s injury will affect the Argos offence in a similar fashion to the way the absence of Jamel Richardson will affect the Alouettes’ attack. Richardson will sit out with a quad injury which may be good news to Argos fans but not so much for Huntley who was looking forward to reconvening with the star receiver. Huntley even went as far as to call out the CFL’s leading pass-catcher, accusing him of what Huntley called a “cheap-shot” in last November’s playoff battle. Richardson’s spot will be taken by non-import WR Danny Desriveaux.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday night from Percival Molson Stadium in Montreal. You can watch the game live on TSN, hear it on TSN Radio 1050 and follow live as it happens on argonauts.ca through CFL Game Tracker.