more on Tate
[url=http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/football/calgary-stampeders/Stamps+prepare+life+after+Tate/6900382/story.html]http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/foo ... story.html[/url]Does not look good. Could be a fracture or some torn musle, ligament...He was off to such a great start too. Kind of incredible when you see all these QB's getting hurt that AC has played 18 seasons without a major injury of that kind.
I dislocated my shoulder last Canada day in a biking accident
So...a little over a year ago
I can honestly say that until a few weeks ago I wasn't sure it would ever stop being a problem...
Sleeping on my other side...avoiding lifting the arm over my head etc
When you think of the tendons and muscles that are stretched and torn
Not to mention the quite impressive pain involved
I can well understand what Tate's going through
And that Calgary must be a bit worried about their young star quarterback
I've no doubt that if I'd fallen on that side over the last year or so
The dang thing might have popped out again
Considering the amount of contact involved in playing quarterback
I can't help wondering if this won't be a recurring injury
Marring what could otherwise be a brilliant career
While Tate's the pivot of another team
I wouldn't wish that fate on him or anyone
Anybody's who's been through the experience
No doubt feels the same
Once a shoulder has been dislocated the labrum is never as strong. Kind of like once a jar that's been open. In his case its the second time it happens. If it happens a third time its usually big trouble.
Glenn is beatable, PROVIDED we get pressure on him and never take our foot off the gas pedal! We had two sacks last game; that's not enough to be effective. The Bombers were able to go deep on our secondary. So, good D starts up front - Glenn can never be made comfortable in the pocket. And (sIgh!) our ST will have to find a way to stop LT - 2 returns for TDs - sheesh!
On O, more of the same, Anthony and company! And Jamel, SJ, and Bratton - hang on to the bloody ball!
That's my two cents' worth.
Go Als go!
I don't think we need sacks so much. We need to keep his pocket small to cut his "sight angles" down to the flats. Glenn can't see the middle of the field very well. We are going to see a lot of underneath stuff to Cornish and Lewis hanging out in the flats 8 to 15 yards out. We need to take that away from him. Use your DE to keep the pocket small. Play your linebackers shallow and cover your MLB by bringing up the safety. We might get burned deep a couple times but that's not where the game will be decided. You got to keep his lines of sight to the sidelines down. You know he's going to look to the sidelines to Forzani. quick outs to Lewis and get Cornish running against the grain. That's pretty going to be their offense this week.
They can't afford to have him run and get injured. They won't allow him to hang on to the ball. So I hope we don't give them the flats.
AND stop the run.
Stop the run (which we didn't do very well last time against them), and you force Glenn to beat us through the air, and as you so presciently point out, we CAN stopTHAT.
If we don't get pressure on Glenn, it won't make a difference how we play him. I agree that sacks aren't crucial. We do, however, have to get a good push up the middle and pressure from the ends to keep Glenn in a small pocket. I am frankly not sanguine, given how mediocre our pass rush was against one of the league's worst offenses (Winnipeg). What works in our favour is we have an extra day between games, while Calgary will be playing its second game out east. Hunt had better have some stats after the upcoming game. If he finishes with 0 tackles and 0 sacks, we should seriously consider releasing him and using J.P. as the full-time nose tackle, or else switching permanently to a four-man front with Bekasiak at one spot, Jenkins at the other, and Montgomery as the rotation guy to keep the tackles fresh.
We have to be patient. Aaron is a notoriously slow starter. It would drive Buono crazy. With 3 dlinesmen out already I would advise against any rush to judgement.
This is very much a rematch against Calgary. Unfortunatly our guys won't get to rematch against Drew Tate but after the humiliation they suffered last week. To me this game will tell us how much pride and character our guys have.
My expectations are not a "win" but utter domination.
You can say that again.
Is this not why Wilson was put on the sidelines last season for a game and in the end, not brought back this season?!
For the money the Als signed Hunt for, not allot of bang for the buck so far.
Offensively, we have got to use our wideouts. That means Deslauriers and London have to step up. I would like to see 100 yards of combined production between the two of them against Calgary. Campbell isn't stupid, he'll have broken down film of the Winnipeg game and seen that we use Whitaker in the flats to open up the two slots, Richardson and Green. If we don't involve our wideouts, Calgary will do pretty much what they did in the first game: double-cover Jamel with a shallow and a deep defender and smother the shallow zones with LB coverage to take away Whitaker. We have make them pay for the strategy by using the wideouts on deep and intermediate routes, specifically comebacks, bang routes, and slants. Working the hitch screen game with S.J. will help as well.
The other issue is run-blocking. Through two games, we have not been effective at establishing the line of scrimmage for Brandon to carry the ball on the ground. The majority of our rushing yardage against Winnipeg came in the fourth quarter, when their D was worn down. I am not ready to panic yet, but I do wonder whether the change in O-line coach (Himebauch to Meyer) is a factor in our sudden inability to open up running lanes for Whitaker.
Edit: I am willing to be a bit patient with Hunt, but we can't afford to wait until after the 9-game mark for him to get into gear.
I still believe moving on from Eric was the right thing to do. In fairness to Hunt, Wilson never had to line up as a nose tackle as Hunt is being asked to do right now. However, so far Hunt has been a huge disappointment, and I do hope that Reinebold and Trestman aren't going to wait too long if a change in personnel is needed. We brought in a bunch of linemen to compete for spots this year; of that group, Jenkins shows some promise, as did Montgomery in training camp. It's unfortunate that Hopkins is on the LTIR or else he could be an option in the interior of the line. One thing we can do to help ourselves out is to dress another import defensive lineman. I also think using Brouillette at safety would give us more ratio flexibility. I don't think Hebert is worth using an import spot at safety. He has 0 ST tackles and didn't look good in pass coverage against Winnipeg.
Good points. And surely when Bowman returns that will be a big help to the D line.
Bottom line is our Dline is made up of a bunch of CFL rookies right now and we've seen flashes from them. If Bowman was in the lineup, he would make them all look better. I am certain our Dline will be very good later in the season but right now its a learning process.
Our Special Teams are killing us right now and that is strictly a matter of wanting it more than the other guy. I can't understand why we have one ST tackle by Imports after two games. ONE ! Something very, very wrong with that. Not sure if its Trestman who wants to keep his imports fresh by not playing them on ST or if it is the players themselves who refuse to put their body into it. But something better give. There is ZERO chance of this team getting anywhere with the way special teams are playing and the High School punting we are getting.
I agree 100% that our special teams are killing us. It was never more apparent in the Winnipeg game, and I am not even talking about us allowing the by-now-obligatory punt return for a TD. What's killing us is the persistent loss in field position on every punt for/against, every kickoff for/against. We started virtually every drive inside our 20, sometimes at our 10, thanks to a combination of awful blocking and penalties. Winnipeg started virtually every drive at their 40 or better. I think our offense deserves a medal, frankly, for being so productive despite getting absolutely no boost in field position from ST. All Winnipeg had to do was put together one or two plays or FDs in order to get into field goal range. We had to bust our nuts just to get to midfield.
I don't understand how Trestman is okay with what we're doing on special teams, I really don't. He's a smart man, he's led us to two Grey Cups, why can't he see that our level of play on ST is absolutely unacceptable? Is he happy that our offense routinely starts drives in the shadow of our own goalposts? Does he just shrug off the absurd number of penalties we take every time we kick or cover a kick? In what universe is it acceptable for a professional football team to deliver these kinds of execrable performances on special teams, game in and game out, for years on end? We are in the third year of Andy Bischoff's reign of terror and if anything, ST is getting WORSE, not better.
Not entirely true. Hunt, Bekasiak, and Mullinder are all veterans. And D-line is the defensive position where familiarity with the Canadian game matters the least. You aren't reading keys or switching off coverages, or getting used to an extra receiver. Your job is to collapse the pocket at end, or get a good push up the middle if you're a tackle.
If Bowman was in the lineup, he would make them all look better.No doubt. I'm just praying we can play .500 ball until he's healthy.
I am certain our Dline will be very good later in the season but right now its a learning process.I'm looking forward to Hopkins being healthy. I think he could be a difference-maker on the line.
Well, a dominating performance is always my hope, too. However, until we get things straightened out on D, get our vets gack, I'll be happy with a W at this point. A team needs momentum and confidence to be successful and nothing is better than stringing Ws together.
It's no secret that I am not a fan of the 3-4. They played a modified version thereof against the Bombers and they were more effiective. However, I didn't see Pierce being significantly hurried for most of the game. Towards the end, Winnipeg was getting tired and they were playing catch-up which made them more predicable and easier to defend. So, Reinebold needs to study game video, be flexible with his D alignments, and adjust, adjust, adjust...
The secret to a W this Thursday? Same recipe as last game - score early and often in the 1st Quarter. On D, we have to get pressure on Glenn off the edges and occasionally up the middle, and not let up.
One of their DB's has a knee sprain. probably won't play. Look for matchups...
Calgary is a physical team, we need to embrace that and match that. Especialy our receivers.
Special Teams guys have to come together and make a commitment that they will win the one on on matchups.
Don't give them the easy yards and wait for turbover opportunities.
While I was not overly surprised by the win of the Argos against the Stampedres, I was most surprised by the Argos dominance over the Stamps; yes,the score was close but if we exclude Larry Taylor returns and the interception returned for a TD, the final score would have been totally different.
The Argos had 525 yards of offense to 293 for the Stamps; they had the ball for 36.12 minutes to the Stamps 23.48; 26 first downs to 15.
While there is still 1 game remaining in week 2,presently the Argos rank first both on offense and defence; after today's game,they will be,at worse,second on offense but still first on defence. During the past 5 years or so, I don't recall the Argos being first on offense during the season; yes defensively but not offensively. Should the Argos continue to be competitive and good,it will be quite positive for the League and the Argos; more fans will want to attend and listen to Argos games.
For this thursday's game against Calgary, I hope that the Als will play as well as the Argos did both on offense and defence; hope that they will play better than the Argos against Larry Taylor. Cannot let him run/return for 441 yards. Eventhough Kevin Glenn is a good QB,the injury to Tate should help the Als. As most of you,I hope that the defensive line will put more pressure on the QB; yes,only 2 games have been played,but unless Aaron Hunt improves substabtially, I say he will be released. Ditto for Kyries Hebert. Being new/rookies is not an excuse. There are many rookies on all the Teams. Can we say that the Als would have been worse with Etienne Boulay or a non-import safety? I say no.
Hoping for an Als win this thursday.
Richard