25th. July ! Game 5: Edmonton vs Montreal

But we still can’t pass it. At what point will we actually score like, three passing TDs in a game? We are going to get eviscerated in the second third of the season.

Game should not have been that close, two non calls gave Edmonton 14 points.
The defense played like absolute garbage in the second half, including that final drive which showed that Thorpe has no idea how to take away the long ball without turning your defense into a sieve. Letting Edmonton march down the field in like 30 seconds was pathetic...

today i had to force myself to get off my ass and get down to the stadium. Im to cheap to give my tickets away. I usually get there early grab a bite to eat and slowly make my way to my seat. I would of rathered we lose today. What we won everything is okay now? Im sure thats what Popp is thinking. I have never been so bored at the stadium in my entire life. Oh ya it happened once when Leak was the Qb. I dont know what else to say, but this team is frickin boring. Fans were getting restless even heard some booo birds. Dont know what else to think anymore. This stuff used to get to me but frankly i really dont care about this team anymore. Win or lose, oh well. I know we aint going nowhere.

If Scooter Berry can't go next game, maybe we'll actually get to see Moton Hopkins in action. Our pass rush could use a boost. Anyone want to call Mike Lockley or Cyril Obiozor?

I also hope Thorpe uses the bye week to install some new calls and plays on defense. We need a package to clog up the middle of the field, specifically the intermediate zone, and it would be nice if it weren't a pressure package. Run it out of a OLB fire look but have both the OLBs drop back into zone (shallow and intermediate) to give our DBs some coverage help. Leaving our DBs in man coverage snap after snap with only safety help puts a lot of pressure on them to play mistake-free football all the time. And of that group, only Billy Parker is good enough to be on an island with his receiver so often.

Agreed. This isn’t progress. We won but we were at home against a team that’s been struggling as badly as we have been and nearly lost the game despite all that. We have 2 wins so far and both were against teams with losing records and were barely wins at all. This is probably the worst case scenario of what could’ve happened. Ideally Hawkins and Miller could pull their heads out of
and learn to coach well at the CFL level but obviously that didn’t happen and the next best option would be a loss so at least one of these two buffoons would get fired. A narrow win, and this was narrow a win as you can get, likely means we need to put up with another game of the Miller and Hawkins farce in the hopes that lightning strikes yet again

We need to get ride of Tisdale. He’s killing us.

Well that was oodles of fun. Had Ian Mofford and his twin brother sitting near us wearing their 77 grey cup rings.

Glad we got 2 weeks it’ll take that long for my heart to recover. Good night.

First off, again struggling as hell vs. the weakest opponent in the league.. again playing vs. 2nd/3rd/4th string QB's and this time barely surviving.. certainly not reassured in any way.

Still plenty of confusion out there, from O-line blocking to Calvillo turning one way and Whitaker the other... and passing game that still feels so damned difficult, as are 2nd or 3rd and short. Whitaker continuing to progress was the main good news for the Offense, and even then he left the game injured.

On ST we gave up a TD return, and Devine continued to have the fumbles... which more than negated Whyte actually having a good game punting/kicking.

D while having it's good moments, let the 2nd stringer move the ball easier & easier as the game wore on.. again.
We really lucked out at the end, only EDM would have the wherewithal to edge us out at the end to pull out the loss. :wink:


As an aside, I didn't agree with not going for it on the last 3rd & 1 on the goal line.
My thinking:

1- By kicking FG you are now up by 5.. EDM needs to start at the 35 and score a TD to win.
2- By going for it on 3rd and 1.. if you miss EDM needs to start at the 1 and get to the 35-40 to attempt a FG.

In both cases the EDM offense has to gain the same yardage (maybe 5 yards diff).. but in scenario 2 they also need to make that FG... AND more importantly you have a chance to make that 3rd & 1 and win the game right there.

So I don't get how you can call not going for it the "right decision"... I just don't. Going for it gives you 2 more chances to win, requiring the same yardage from the EDM offense. Seems like simple math to me. Bu I know some of you would disagree, so explain to me why I'm wrong.

I am satisfied with the win; yes, there are improvements to be made but the Als won and that's what matters the most to me. I can't imagine the comments from the Media and fans had the Als lost on the last play of the game. It would have been quite tough during the next two weeks.

Edmonton may be on the bottom of the league but they have a good team and they will win games. I would take many of their players on the Als team.

After 5 games the record is 2-3 as last season and as first season of Trestman. I definitely don't expect changes in the coaching staff. Happy that 23,021 were at the game. Good game full of suspense,particularly in the fourth quarter.

Richard

The injury to Brandon does not seem serious,at least it's what he said. Good thing there is a week-off. He was definitely the first star of the game.

Richard

Yup, this ain’t progress! The Als barely beat the worst team in the league at home. The passing game was a mess once again! We will get destroyed when we go out west… Miller still has no clue!

Johnny agrees, this game was boring alright :thdn: Two bad teams on the field, nuttin to see here…

Someone has to teach Miller how the third and one situation should be handled. There were some good moments such as - Ejiro Kugle making a final second play at our 2 foot line to enable us to get the win. Whyte had 20 of the team's points and, punted for a 47.5 average. Kris Matte made a super block to spring Whitaker for a long run. The management gave Matte a new three year contract this year which, hopefully means that he is now ready to make his mark on the team especially now when considering the injuries on the OL. Whitaker was the strength tonight enabling our team's win, hopefully he will be healthy. We have an extraordinary group of line backers and defensive backs. Hebert is immense attacking opponents from the line position- he was the leader in sacks tonight and, the team is in 1st place in total QB sacks. Edem is proving to be a great draft pick and, take away that last drive by the ESKS, and I would believe we have a potentially great defense. Even " little" Ameet Pall had another ST tackle tonight.

Last season the defense was the problem. This year our passing game is weak. The QB and receivers are not working in tandem as evidenced by AC again throwing up his hands in disgust. This passing offense is lacking coordination with each other and, I would hope Mr Miller will address this issue. The offensive passing stats of this team is horrible as compared to other teams. Finally, I hope the management of this team will publish the team depth chart. Every other team does this except the Als- just another example of mismanagement.

And ST unit gave Esks 7 pts !

Thankfully it was the Esks they played last night. Lions, Riders and Argos coming up after the break!

Messam, Whitaker maybe. Too bad Jennings was let go to sign with Milanovich.

I don’t think we were watching the same game. Whitaker had a career night, Emry had 2 picks, Whyte was awesome (with a bit of luck on his disputed punt), and Cox won the game with that tackle on the last play. Could the Als have racked up more points? Easily. Should it have been so close? No: If SJ doesn’t drop that pass in the end zone, it’s over.

Sorry Phil im not gonna get excited and out of my seat because Chip Cox makes a tackle. For the life of me i cant understand how some people think we improved??? Whitaker had a big game yes, but other teams will eventually watch the tape and see what he does. Yes Emery intercepted 2 but Mike Riely is worse than Nealon Greene. We almost go beat by Edmonton for christ sake. If this was any other team in the league the game would of been over a long time ago. Wait till we face Ricky Ray and friends we will be leaving the stadium by halftime mark my words. I really wish we would of lost. A win mean efff all. We all see what hapenned again!!!! When we get 15000 in the seats maybe Mr Wettenhall will get behind the bench!!!

Johnny, I agree about the passing game, I love your italics ( as always), but that’s about it.

If there’s one coach that was clueless last night, it wasn’t Miller. Xs and Os guys might disagree, but the Als outcoached the Esks yesterday. Reed had a brain cramp when he challenged the spot on Pippin’s nicely executed punt: How can he expect anyone to reverse the position of the spot? You’d need an overhead camera, at the goal line, for that. Molson stadium would need a roof to support the camera! Am I missing something, or was that totally lame? Esks gave up their final time out for that, which they desperately needed in the final plays of the game: Reed was expecting a review from the command centre, but it didn’t come, and because of his brain cramp he had no choice but to watch the seconds tick away.

And that call on the last play of the game, a handoff deep in the backfield when you only need a yard, and when the opposing D has been swarming all evening, was even more lame.

Give Miller credit. There were gaping holes through which Brandon ran last night, the likes of which I’ve never seen an Als offence create: The blocking was excellent. And Miller stuck with the running game, it paid off, Whitaker had a career night.

AC got sacked…once? Twice maybe? Protection was good.

SJ Green catches that ball in the end zone, and it’s game over. It looked to me like he was being interfered with, otherwise that’s an easy catch for him.

Kudos to the Als coaching staff. It was far from perfect, but it was much better than the last 3 weeks.

Gman, the outcome fully justifies the call. It’s one thing to march down the field, and quite another to punch the TD: What call do you make, how many seconds on the clock, how many plays do you have left, all those considerations in the last seconds. And what happened, the Eskimos marched happily down the field but then couldn’t move the ball a tiny yard.

Over the last 2 years, the Als D have given us memorable goal line stands (against BC and Toronto, to name only 2). Crossing the goal line is by no means a gimme. Miller’s call, to have AC try to draw them off side and then kick, was the right one. You don’t risk being turned back at the line, and you force the other team to make the TD, which they couldn’t.

Mike, I agree with you. Watching the game last night, seeing how they stalled yet again after the 1st quarter. Way too many penalties yet again and all the while saying they are playing the Esks.
It came down to the last minute for the Als.

Not only do they have Ray when they come back, but 2 games for both the Lions and Riders.

For me, this win just prolonged the agony.

Pour ma part, Sean Whyte l’aurait eue.