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Landry: Argos' Durie excelling despite extra attention
Somewhere along the way, Andre Durie went from being underrated to just rated. Highly. Not surprising that it happened in stealth fashion for the humble and understated 32-year-old star slotback for the Toronto Argonauts. That's the way things are for Durie. Soft-spoken and polite off the field, his arrival as a bona fide CFL star came with no blaring trumpets. Just hard work and incremental improvement. Quietly, he has slipped into the upper echelon of pass-catchers, on course for the first thousand yard season of his career. Seventh on the league's list of top receivers with 669 yards and second in receptions with 60 (injured teammate Chad Owens is the league leader with 62), Durie is no longer an up and comer. He may even be in the conversational mix when it comes to all-star slotbacks. Not that he's thinking that way. “Not at all," he responded when asked whether he ponders the possibility of being an all-star. "I’m too old for that stuff," he added with a laugh. "I’m just about getting those Grey Cups now and winning.”Leader of the YACAndre Durie is the runaway leader with 488 yards gathered after the point of reception. “YAC kind of steals momentum, he said. "It kind of sparks that flame of energy.”Where Durie has especially set himself apart from other CFL receivers is in the category of Yards After Catch (YAC). In that, he is a runaway leader with 488 yards gathered after the point of reception. Next best is Owens, with 383 and Hamilton's C.J. Gable with 367. In Durie's dust are notable YAC ‘racker-uppers’ Andrew Harris (342) and S.J. Green (277). It's Durie's bread and butter and he knows it, even if he doesn't know exactly how many of his yards have been accrued on quick little three or four yard passes in the flat being turned into much more. "It's one of the things that makes him so special. He can make a pretty routine play a 30 yard gain," said head coach Scott Milanovich of Durie's open field abilities. Abilities that continue to flourish regardless of his standing as a 'must stop' player for opponents. Defensive coordinators around the league have caught on to the importance of Durie to the Argonauts and he, in turn, has noticed a change in the way his foes are trying to top him. Gone are the days where he had room to roam at the snap of the ball. Often now, Durie is subjected to a little manhandling. “I see a little bit more man to man than anything else," he explained. "Predominantly, it’s man-to-man coverage. I think that’s because I’m smaller, quicker. So they kind of want to jam me at the line and throw everything off if they can.” When I suggest that game plan doesn't seem to really be working against him, he chuckles quietly and then flashes some insight into his continued success,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, despite the extra attention. This will come as no surprise to an avid football fan, but Durie extolls the virtues of eyeballing video. “I study each person, probably to the tee, just so I know what to attack. What weaknesses, what tendencies, just so I can better myself when I’m going and attacking someone," he said. Related Links Andre Durie's 2013 Numbers Andre Durie Drives to the Endzone Wk. 3 Rewind: Durie Seals 100th GC with TD With very little doubt, the Argos' resurrection these past two games against the Alouettes and Roughriders had a number of things in common. Cleaning up sloppiness as the games wore on was one. Durie and Dontrelle Inman's inside work on short catches that became bigger plays were also factors. The small adjustments made to ensure the likes of Durie and Inman were open more freely for quarterback Zach Collaros to hit quickly were crucial. Durie knows one thing for sure; that yards after catch are absolute kill shots in the arsenal of a CFL offence. “YAC kind of steals momentum, he said. "It kind of sparks that flame of energy.” Tough sledding, those yards after catch. Harassed at the line of scrimmage, Durie can then also grab a pass and turn to immediately see a full-flight linebacker or defensive back bearing down. That's when the quick decisions and moves can turn that little toss into one of those momentum-grabbers. Currently, Durie is the king of YAC. Now the focus of attention from defences and fans alike, he feels no special sense of satisfaction because, he says, he never felt a sense of being deprived in the first place. “I don’t really feel like that. I get a lot of respect from my teammates and my coaches and that’s all that really matters to me,” he said. The Extra PointIn their last two games, the Argonauts have seen themselves struggle mightily before staging furious comebacks against both Montreal and Saskatchewan. Durie believes that's been made possible by a couple of key factors. One of them was the ability to clean up mistakes like fumbles and bad penalties. The other, was resolve. Durie claims his teammates did not feel at all that things were too dismal in either of those games at any time. “Never," he responded. "And I think that’s on the coaches. They control the attitude on the team so well. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve been on losing teams before and I’ve seen guys get on each other. It brings a lot of turmoil. I feel like the energy has been controlled so well and that the guys are so well-prepared that it doesn’t matter if we’re down that much. As long as we don’t do the things that put us in bad situations, we’ll be fine.”