MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes waited through a defensive battle to find their offensive punch. Cody Fajardo and the Als’ offence used a strong fourth quarter to down the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27-12, to advance out of Saturday’s Eastern Semi-Final.
As a big Tiger Cat fan, I am disappointed that they lost, but I have to give Montreal credit for being the better team. I’m not sure what Hamilton’s problem is, but they simply do not appear to be a team that had a game plan all year. Even for this game there was doubt to who their QB was going to be right up to game time. I think that confused the team and helped lead to a lacklustre offense. Like it or not, maybe it is time for Orland to consider his role in all of this - he lost to a team that had a new coach, new QB (who was on his last legs when he went to Montreal), a franchise that was also on its last legs who picked up a number discarded players from other teams - and they beat Hamilton every game this year! No. it is time for some big changes in Steeltown.
Great win by the als. But probably won’t matter cuz Toronto will blow us out. Cats would have suffered the same fate.
But stranger things have happened
I think you’re right about Hamilton not matching up with the Argos, but I have thought that Montreal could be the dark horse in this year‘s playoffs… if defences win championships, they’ve got a chance … Lemon was a great acquisition… Playing some of his best ball in his “twilight” years … Don’t be so sure they can’t beat the Argos… And this is coming from a Bomber fan… good luck to both our teams in the West and East finals
Again stranger things have happened but even with that I just don’t see how mtl can really beat this Argos team. Unless rust starts to play a factor but it normally doesn’t against teams with a bye week.
Good comments. If you’re going to lose you go down with the guy you’re paying $500K+/year. Shiltz isn’t going to get it done. Having said that, probably time for Bo to pack it in.
As for Steinhauer, Bob Young has been loyal to his guys to a fault. Step back & be the football ops guy & give up the HC position. Milanovich is in the room. Maybe this was the plan all along. Gotta hope so.
Finally, Simoni had a bounce back season but time to invest in younger talent & step back from him, Laurent & a couple of other guys. A makeover is desperately needed. And they absolutely have to fix the QB position. Not that they’re alone. I don’t see a future for Masoli once he comes back from injury in August or abouts.
On your defensive point, yes, I agree. The team has been loyal to a fault to veterans for past services rendered. Lawrence had a solid season but is that season worth the money HAM is likely spending on him? The same applies to Laurent. Maybe Banks going to Toronto and winning made HAM leery of cutting veterans too early? Impossible to tell.
At QB, I think the issue is that Hamilton has bought into the “a good QB will fix everything” fallacy. At the end of the day, I don’t think the issue is at QB. IMO the issue is that the supporting cast isn’t strong enough, which speaks to scouting and evaluating talent, and the coaching decisions at times don’t serve the best interests of the team.
Having said that, whoever scouted BLM and made a decision to pay him a king’s ransom to be a starter needs to be fired. That was very poor judgment which again speaks to talent eval. BLM at $200k is fine. BLM at his current price tag does not give you value and makes you unable to spend appropriately at other positions of need.
Edwards is a terrible person. He needs to go the way of Saskatchewan’s Marino.
As far as MItchell goes - I’m not sure what to make of this situation. The guy just didn’t get any kind of a chance to play this year - 2 long term injuries made it impossible for him to get into any kind of a rhythm or grove. To expect him to come in at the end to be “the saviour” was idiotic - particularly when the management kept him on the bench until the closing minutes of the game. I still believe that the Cats have a good core of people, but there is a huge need for a couple of “spark plugs” to get this team excited. I haven’t seen that old grit and guts in a Tiger Cat team in a long time. You can have all the talent in the world, but if they are getting bad direction or are lacking in team spirit - then there is a bigger problem. Just what was Shiltz doing when the threw those interceptions? It appeared that he didn’t even look before trying to throw just over the heads of the Montreal D-line. It doesn’t take brains or talent to put your hands up to block the throw - Geesh! Where was the coaching?
I have been following the career of Matt Shiltz from back when he first signed in Montréal, and he seems like a cool guy, but he has definitely had his opportunities over the years to show the world what he can do. I even remember when his brother made a comment here on the forum a few years ago, telling us Matt Shiltz would light up the sky with touchdown passes and set the CFL world on fire (a post that was removed shortly after, and wisely so).
The Al´s defence played very well yesterday (and they were not even playing their best), and BLM is not a mobile QB anymore, and so perhaps Orlondo waited to put BLM in there for that reason. But Orlondo waited too long. Despite the great job the Al´s defence was doing, I was still perplexed by Orlondo´s decision leaving Matt Shiltz in there until the wee hours of the fourth.
I would have removed Matt Shiltz after his first series in the 3rd quarter. That would have given BLM enough time to have a chance. As it stood, BLM did not even get a chance to really play to his skills.
Matt Shiltz was playing the game to determine if he was going to be next season’s starter for the Cats, it looks like he did not achieve that goal but they gave Shiltz every opportunity to do so. 
Matt has proven to be an excellent reliever. Remember that miracle game in October 2 years ago in Hamilton ? He moved the ball until VA returned in the second half. Last play in regular time was a 55 yard field goal against the wind by Hamilton, and then Montreal wins in overtime.
This year Matt 2-1 as starter. A great number 2 QB.
I can appreciate that others want to carry on talking about the QB situation in Hamilton, but I’m done. As an avid Tiger Cat fan for close to 75 years, I was really, really, really hoping that this year they would at least be in the Grey Cup in Hamilton. It was not to be. I am tired of the excuses coming out of the coaching staff. I don’t blame Mitchell or Shiltz - my question is - where in the hell was the rest of the team? The fans were there for them, but where was the team pride, that old “Steeltown” moxy the team had before playoff games? I remember times when teams would shake at the thought of playing the TIgers in a playoff game - just ask Russ Jackson. My point is, this team needs to reinvent itself and get back to playing football in the old Hamilton style - we can’t be “The Hammer” of we don’t have the people to drive the nails!
Hey Als nation… You must be liking this game… I always thought Toronto wasn’t all that and I know there’s a quarter and a bit left to play but Chad Kelly for MOP my butt… he hasn’t faced adversity all season long and he certainly isn’t handling it well today… gonna need to dig deep if they plan on come back… Go Als!
I would like to apologize to mtl I wasn’t familiar with their game.
You could see how hungry they were when they beat Hamilton… you know what they say, defense wins championships… Should be a good one bombers versus the Als Grey cup Sunday… Go blue
What surprised me the most wasn’t mtl beating Toronto but the fact they completely destroyed them in every phase.
The scoreboard doesn’t tell the full story at all in how dominant mtl was that game.
One of the better defensive performances by a team in my recent memory like from top to bottom mtl completely dressed down the Argos.
Like fr allouettes I apologize for ever doubting your play or for not at all being familiar with your game.
They were COOKING
Right from the first whistle Als had their number…it was a wonderful thing to witness…all the “experts” had already crowned Toronto as the Champion before this game or the Grey Cup game was ever played…that’s why actually playing the game matters…