I agree, this is a team that is basically starting from scratch, so you are looking at year 3 if they finally get a bit of stability before they are a contender, so there is very little point of having guys who are in their mid-thirties starting IMO. If you want to keep them in reserve or assign them jobs in the front office like some western teams do for a guy like Matte that would make sense but. I’m not sure it is wise to keep starting guys who are at the very end of their career instead of focusing on two and three year down the road.
I don’t think that the Alouettes lack confidence in Najee Murray, but they may have concerns with his past injuries. They want to be prepared in case of injuries. A player who could replace Murray, if injured, will definitively be added to the practice roster
Richard
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Un article très intéressant sur le site de RDS de Éric Leblanc qui s’intitule « Avery Williams, des Alouettes de Montréal, rêve de joindre une société secrète ».
Et on y apprend entre autres, qu’il joue comme secondeur intérieur sur la pointe des pieds.
Go Als, faites du bruit.
Based on how they played in the first half and late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, I am quite surprised that the Alouettes won. Given how many veterans did not dress, compared to Ottawa, it was a nice win and definitely a tough loss for Ottawa, despite the fact that it’s only a pre-season game.
Regarding the Alouettes, my major disappointment concerns QB Caleb Evans. I even wonder if they should keep him; yes, he will remain for a least a week, but Alexander and Glass did much better than him.
Offensively, WR Mack did well as did John Brunner at the end of the game; returner Lecher was great. Defensively, Tyrell Richards, Stubblefield and Ento all had good games.
Should be interesting next Friday against Hamilton.
Richard
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Kicker Maltos was great with 5 field goals, including the winning one. Will definitely remain with the team on practice roster.
Richard
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Alexander looked brutal until that TD pass. Evans wasn’t great but he led the team to 12 points. I’ll be curious to see how much playing time all three get next week, since Fajardo will also be seeing game action.
Interesting take. I found Caleb Evans to be absolutely brutal. Poor accuracy, awful mechanics. Alexander has a much better arm but he isn’t reading anything out there, he’s going through his reads like an automaton and ends up playing High School football. The guy who impressed me the most was Mike Glass. He has 8 CFL practices under his belt and came in and showed a great arm, has a great internal clock and is very, very cool under pressure. The CFL being what it is Fajardo will be #1 Evans will be the short yardage guy and they will keep developing the guy they have a year invested in. I predict when they cut Mike Glass he will be getting offers by a at least 2 or 3 teams.
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The Story of the game no question. Maltos who in his helmet looks like a twin to “Fat AC” (2006-2007). This guy came into a camp knowing he had Zero chance to with the spot and made the most of his opportunity. He will get cut at the end of camp but he will be the first kicker all 8 teams have in their Outlook.
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Current plan in Edmonton is to use a 36 year-old rookie global kicker. Not hard to imagine that strategy fails. If that indeed is not successful, pretty sure Chris Jones would give Jose Maltos (or any decent global kicker) an active roster spot.
He will be the first guy most if not all teams call. Good for him. He made his own opportunity.
The Als did nothing against the Ottawa starters but in the 4th when Ottawa took out all their starters, not surprisingly the Als started to move the ball.
But Maltos did look good and I think they should keep him.
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I didn’t come away from the game as positive as some others.
Our o-line with 3 starters was brutal against their starters, and there was no penetration from our d-line, although with all newcomers.
But my biggest disappointment was not seeing any progression from Davis Alexander. Mike Glass looked best of the 3, but one has to start questioning if AC is the right guy to develop these guys. Caleb Evans was Caleb Evans. But in their defense they were constantly under pressure.
There were some fine individual performances, led by Maltos of course. Tyrell Richards showed why he was last year’s No. 1 pick and Thorpe better find a place for him in the starting D.
Letcher, Brunner, Mack, Ento all had good games. Snead was decent but not more.
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I agree on all. Hoping our regulars on the defensive line and those on the secondary line will rush the passer a lot better. Penetration is very important.
Looking for improved play next week with the “A” team starting.
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You have a good eye Sheldon. I found the Offensive line schemes really weird. I mean you are doing play action, no huddle kind of stuff and they drop your line into passpro, then there was the obvious weak pushes on short yardage which are really concerning. Of all the units, they had the worst performance of the game. If they are planning to run the ball, they better get in sync, because they looked like a bunch who spent the afternoon eating TimBits and Chocolate milk.
That’s what she said.
Excellent take on the game. Don’t know who this Nicholas Richard is but might be my new favorite reporter, if he follows the team. Might be the first Harvard graduate to cover CFL.
Suite au commentaire de notre collègue tony, il est certain que la semaine prochaine contre Hamilton, l’équipe aura une performance supérieure.
Hier à la défensive, il n’y avait aucun régulier de la dernière saison, des vétérans de retour, j’ai apprécié en particulier le travail de F. Chagnon, de Z. Lindsey, de J. Ellis et j’ai été impressionné par le jeu de T. Richards, s’il peut demeurer en santé, ce sera un joueur important cette année.
Parmi les nouveaux, j’ai remarqué le jeu de K. Ento, D. Ruffin et l’énergie de R. Stubblefield et de L. Uguak.
Hier à l’attaque, il y avait plus de réguliers, mais j’ai été déçu de l’attaque au sol et en particulier au niveau de la ligne offensive, où il y avait trois (3) vétérans , J. Callander, P.O. Lestage, P. Gagnon avec J. Lawrence,
A l’attaque, parmi les nouveaux venus, j’ai apprécié le jeu de A. Mack, Q. Davis, J. Brunner et D. Dallaire.
En ce qui concerne, le jeu de T. Snead, il a été correct mais il a besoin d’expérience.
Pour les unités, spéciales, nos nouveaux botteurs ont été excellents J. Maltos, R. Byrne et le retourneur J. Fletcher.
Au niveau des qa, le jeu était inégal, C. Evans habile à la course mais erratique au niveau de la passe, D. Alexander bonne performance et avec l’expérience, il devrait se développer mais l’histoire récente des Alouettes, ils n’ont jamais réussi à développer un jeune qa depuis la retraite de A. Calvillo, j’ai également apprécié le jeu de M. Glass 111, à la fin de partie.
Comme les Alouettes peuvent encore inviter six (6) joueurs au camp d’entraînement suite aux prochaines coupures, je prévois parmi ceux-ci, l’arrivée d’un nouveau quart-arrière pour augmenter la compétition à ce poste.
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Comme le commentaire de notre collègue HfxTC, j’ai apprécié l’article de Nicholas Richard, de La Presse qui est intéressant et sa référence au film Rudy de 1993.
Un aspect que j’ai apprécié de cette partie, c’est le jeu discipliné des Alouettes et leur enthousiasme de la fin de la partie avec leur version 26/05 de Rudy qui est devenu Jose (Maltos).
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En partie d’accord. La ligne offensive a en effet été très mauvaise. Pierre Vercheval mentionnait Callender comme maillon faible, lui qui pourtant est un partant (il a aussi remplacé Schleuger). Le jeu au sol n’a pas été bon et les performances des quarts-arrières étaient inconstantes (on peut quand même attendre à vendredi prochain pour les voir évoluer avec les partants).
De l’autre, nous avons vu des performances très intéressantes de Tyrell Richards, James Letcher Jr et José Maltos. Si la défense de Thorpe a encore accordé trop de 2e et long, elle a arrêté Ottawa à la porte des buts pour les empêcher de marquer un touché, puis a forcé le Rouge et Noir à un 2 & out qui a mené au placement victorieux. Plus important encore, l’équipe B et C des Alouettes a été capable de battre l’équipe A (et B) d’Ottawa, sur le terrain adverse, en n’ayant accordé qu’un touché.
Si on a des problèmes contre Hamilton vendredi prochain avec nos partants, je serais d’accord pour dire qu’il y a un goût amer. Aujourd’hui, on peut se permettre de savourer la victoire, même si elle ne compte pas.
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