Three starters (receiver Arland Bruce, defensive lineman Justin Hickman and safety Dylan Barker) all missed practice yesterday and two other Canadians, Barker's back up Ray Wladichuk and receiver Adam Nicholson, were also out of action.
It created a merry-go-round of personnel changes at practice yesterday.
"It's a challenge," Bellefeuille admitted. "The biggest thing is when you have to practice people at different positions, even though you're fairly certain the starters are going to play. It takes reps away from guys and that hurts your execution."
Bellefeuille said Bruce was a lock to play Friday while he described Barker as "probable." Hickman and Nicholson are listed as "day-to-day" while Wladichuk is the only surefire scratch.
Bruce would be the biggest hole to fill.
"Arland will play. Period. If we wanted him to practice today, he could have," said the head coach. "He's played this game for a long time and it's more important to have him as close to 100 per cent as we can have him."
Of this list, I'm most worried that Barker might not play. If he doesn't, and we already know Wladichuk is out, it falls on Beswick to play safety. That wouldn't worry me as much if we didn't already have problems in our secondary with Shivers and Tisdale. I think the coaches need to tell Tisdale to stop going for the big hit and just stay with the receiver to try to stop the pass, and make sure the receiver doesn't make any extra yards if he happens to catch the ball. And then tell the two of them to start talking to each other. Sometimes I wonder if part of the problem with Shivers is that he isn't confident that Tisdale will make the stop and is trying to be in position to back him up, allowing his own receiver to beat him. Without an experienced safety to back him up, we could be in deep trouble (pardon the pun).
When you say Tisdale do you mean Bradley because Tisdale routinely stops passes and has some great saving knockdowns while Bradley fits your description perfectly.
You’re right, I was thinking of Bradley going for the big hits. And I don’t think he plays the same side as Shivers, although I could be wrong. Most of the time, you’re right that Tisdale covers pretty well. The issue I have with him is that he has a tendency to go for the interception rather than just the knockdown, putting himself out of the play when he misses. Not as serious a problem now that he’s on the corner, as he usually has backup from the DB and safety. But all it takes is sending someone on a clearing route up that side, taking the DB into the middle, and Tisdale’s by himself again.
There was another DB many years ago who did the same thing, although more so. He snagged a bunch of interceptions in one of his first games - player of the week, etc. - and from then on all he did was go for glory. And he got burned a lot. I’m not sure he even made it through the first year. Can’t remember his name now. (Probably got traded, settled down, and turned into a Hall of Famer.)
Somehow these DB's pull the wool over our eyes. They give up too many big plays, allow teams to score in last minute of half regularly and defensively we allow more points against than our offense scores. This needs to change. We need to tighten up the defense.
Bruce is our offence, so in other words were screwed. We need a big game from Maquay McDaniel or Maurice Mann. Put Fish on returns and start Thiggy at runningback maybe?
If Barker can't play, then it looks like James will take his place. We may see more of Kirk and Reid in that case. It was also said that Albert Smith might be used. I think McIntyre could be moved to DE, where he was used last season.
Missing AB3 would hurt a lot but I understand he'll probably play. We might see more of Bauman if Nicolson will sit this out.
A lot of question marks here. I'm interested in seeing what the depth chart will look like tomorrow.
Hey, McKay showed EXACTLY what he showed in college.And that’s amazing hands, undying effort, the ability to create YAC yards because he’s hard to drag down, he can make leaping grabs.Until proven otherwise, i’m a big supporter of this kid.The fact that he’s N/I just makes it even better.
I haven’t seen anything of MacKay but have read many glowing reviews from people here who attended training camp. I have seen enough of Bauman to know he doesn’t have what it takes for this league. It was only one game, but Carter and Nicholson showed like they belong.
McKay has Windsor highlights on youtube, and he did pretty much everything he did there in the 1 start he got in the pre-season, most notably sprinting all the way across the field and diving and catching an arrant Porter pass.In practice he does some great things as well and I think we’d be making a huge mistake not giving this guy a shot.He wants it more than Bauman and can play so much better.
Shannon James (safety)
Matt Carter
Glenn Mackay
Reggie Fish
Chris Bauman
There going with a extra receiver, although that includes Bauman. I suspect that he'll only play special teams; he's going to have to earn his receiving spot again if he can, but that touchdown-saving tackle last week showed that he has speed and can run down ball-carriers. Carter probably has a spot for now. We'll have to see how the other two work out. Maybe we'll see David Ball next week in TO?
The safety position scares me, although James might end up working out. Expect a lot of blitzing?
Safety doesn't worry me, James knows how to tackle and how to go after the ball.He's a playmaker through and through and i'm sure he'll be able to git er' done.
Bauman’s never played ST before, can’t imagine he’ll start today. Drew pointed out that this is one thing that gives Matt Carter a leg up on Bauman, he plays STs. In fact, in college he asked to play STs as much as possible.
Matt Carter is the real deal, he could be the next Andy Fantuz or Chris Getzlaf.Bauman is unwilling to try for the ball unless it’s squarely in his hands and even then it’s a crapshoot.And as said he can’t play ST and Carter can.Bye bye Bauman.