Reigning Grey Cup MVP Chad Kackert’s out for the year: can the Argos repeat without him?

The injury Toronto Argonauts' running back Chad Kackert suffered in practice Friday is even worse than previously thought, as the team confirmed Tuesday that he has a broken ankle and underwent surgery for it. That means he'll be gone for not just the East Final, but also the Grey Cup (if the Argonauts advance to it). Kackert was a huge part of the Argonauts' success down the stretch of the regular season last year and in the playoffs, picking up the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player award, and although he's battled numerous injuries this year, he's been very effective when healthy. The key question now is if the Argonauts are talented enough to advance to the Grey Cup without their star running back.

It's hard not to see Kackert's loss as a substantial downgrade in Toronto's ground game. While he only recorded 71 carries this year thanks to all the time missed with injuries, he averaged 6.8 yards per carry and notched three touchdowns. He was also effective in the receiving game, hauling in 23 passes for 184 yards and another touchdown, and he did well as a blocker too (one of the reasons the Argos replaced Cory Boyd with him midway through last season). The team does have some intriguing backups, including rookies Jerious Norwood (342 rushing yards, 5.9 yards per carry) and Curtis Steele (187 rushing yards, 4.8 yards per carry), but both are relatively inexperienced, and they haven't been producing at Kackert's level. Without him, it's likely the Toronto running game will suffer.

Will that matter all that much, though? After all, much of the Argonauts' offensive production this season has come not on the ground, but through the air. Toronto led the league in passing yards per game (300.3), yards gained per completed pass (8.8), passes completed (436) and completion percentage (70.9 per cent), and they found tremendous success both with starter Ricky Ray (2,878 passing yards, a 77.2 per cent completion rate and 21 touchdowns to 2 interceptions) and backup Zach Collaros (2,316 passing yards, a 66.2 per cent completion rate and 14 touchdowns to six interceptions). Sure, the Argos will need a ground game as well, but rushing hasn't been as important a part of their offence as it has for other teams; their 283 rushes this season were the lowest-such total in the league, 20 behind nearest competitor Hamilton). If Norwood and/or Steele can deliver competent production, Toronto's offence could be just fine.

Losing Kackert still hurts, of course, and the team isn't as strong offensively without him, but this isn't as critical a loss as say, Kory Sheets' was to Saskatchewan earlier this year. The Argos just don't run the ball all that much, and they don't really need to with the kind of numbers Ray has been putting up. Keep in mind that head coach Scott Milanovich favours a lot of short passes in his West Coast-inspired offence, and those passes often take the place of running plays. Toronto will still be moving the ball on the ground at times to keep defences honest, and they won't be able to do that quite as well without Kackert. However, losing the Grey Cup MVP may not be enough in and of itself to derail the team's dreams of repeating.