Are The Als A Better Team In 2015

Major Losses:

Ryan Bomben
Duron Carter
Brandon London
Brandon Whitaker
Geoff Tisdale
Chad Johnson (Just kidding)
Steven Lumbala (Was a 1st round draft choice)

Major Additions:

Phillip Blake
Samuel Giguere
Fred Stamps
Nik Lewis
Dan LeFevour
Stefan Logan
Jonathan Hefney
Chris Ackie
Jacob Ruby

Still don`t like the Bomben trade, but will assume Blake is equal to the task. Whitaker despite all his previous contributions had become injury prone, and Sutton, Logan, Rutley are capable of handling the role. I thought Tisdale handled a difficult short side CB position, the Als did re-sign him in free agency, but I will trust Thorpe that one of the younger DBs can do the job.

The biggest task will be replacing Carter`s big play ability. Giguere should be a productive receiver, but do Stamps and Lewis have much left in the tank and can they survive a full season injury free?

Logan will give us much better field position on returns as well as being a change of pace running back in spot duty.

But again it all comes down to the QB and in this case LeFevour. Can he develop chemistry with Green, Giguere and Stamps and provide enough of a running threat to keep defenses off balance? If he can, we will have an improved team that will be capable of challenging the Tiger-Cats.

And at the same time there are some good looking National prospects and young QBs that hopefully can learn and develop.

To me, the Als will be a better team in 2015, provided the QB is much better than in 2014. I don't have too much worries about other positions. Presently, I rate the Als as the worst team QB wise when I consider the QB's of other teams. Should LeFevour become the number 1, I then see improvements.

Richard

Lewis is past his best before date for sure but as long as he stays healthy Stamps can totally still play. :thup:

I don't think you'll find anyone who will say the defense won't be top notch again.

Dan Lefevour is a great move. He has vastly improved QB depth. I actually think there could be a platoon QB situation in Montreal, where you can mix up the packages with 2 different QBs and/or just go with a hot hand. I think that it could be very successful especially regarding Crompton's great attitude. I'm sure he would not necessarily be 'happy' with splitting reps but unlike someone like Burris who would just go home and pout, Crompton is a team guy and a leader who would handle it like a pro.

I can't see how Hefney is an improvement over Tisdale, especially with the new rules.

On offense I think we have great size but not much speed.

I think the rest of the teams in the East have improved more than the Als and that will be a problem, unless we see a leap in productivity at the QB position.

Right now I think this team is capable of 7 or 8 wins and will be in a dog fight with Ottawa and Toronto for the second of only two seeds coming out of the East with the healthiest team likely to win out.

Might it be that with the new rules the Als feel that engaging the receiver in the first 5 yards will be important and that whoever takes Tisdale’s place is better at that?

A few thoughts:

WR: we got worse at WR.. losing our best, all-star receiver. Brought in aging and/or injury-prone guys instead
O-line: we lost depth, an unproven rookie coming in to replace a starter.. best case we haven't taken a step back
QB: improved plan B, C, & D.. but as long as Crompton makes it onto the field we're just as bad as last year
OC: coach still hasn't proven that he can put together a good offensive game plan.. tbd

D-line: potentially better, like what I read/hear about new-comers that made team
DB: apparently lots of new depth there, plus new rules.. real unknown for me right now

Special teams: we potentially could go with a punter who can kick the ball to go with an accurate kicker.. and the return game looks a lot better with Logan.. and we actually have a special teams coach now.

At the end of the day:

  • the D had already set the bar so high, can't really hope for it to be much better
  • I do have hope that special teams will be improved
  • on offense, unless we go to LeFevour/Cato quickly.. I have no faith whatsoever. Cato has the potential to be the next one IMO, I want him in there as soon as possible this season. Count me as one person who wants Crompton to fail. By this I mean I don't want him to be just good enough not to get pulled, I want him to be bad enough that we can move on to someone who actually has the potential to lead us to a Grey Cup. Until this happens, the Als are just wasting their time IMO. For the record I hate that I feel this way, as Crompton seems like a really good guy, but football-wise that's just how I feel about it.

G Man doesn’t post often but he makes them count :thup:

Nice, honest, and respectful post G Man. I disagree with you on certain points -- I think we're better at WR than you're giving the new guys credit for and hooray for no Decoy Deslauriers making us play a man down on offense -- but I also like how you summed up your attitude to Crompton. I don't want him to fail, but yes, if he does just enough to not get pulled, I won't be happy, because it means that we still won't have found a franchise QB. I want him either to succeed legitimately or fail beyond a shadow of a doubt. No more of this in-between BS. There should be no excuses this year. He knows the playbook, the OC worked with him last year, the GM went out and got him a crew of topnotch veteran receivers, and he's playing behind one of the most consistent pass-blocking O-lines in the league. It's boom or bust for Crompton.

Great analysis G Man, you didnt mention LBs, I assume you feel theyll be a strong point like last year.

Absolument! Surtout quand on se souvient du bordel qui régnait au sein de l’organisation et de l’équipe en juin 2014.

Je pense également que les Tiger-Cats ont subi de lourdes pertes. En attaque, il n’y a toujours pas de receveur qui peut se démarquer dans les zones profondes. C’est bien beau d’avoir des Tasker et des Fantuz mais Collaros serait encore plus dangereux avec un receveur qui peut se démarquer dans les zones profondes à la Mo Price ou Fred Stamps. Ils ont également eu beaucoup de mal à courir avec le ballon en deuxième demie de saison. Je ne vois pas de porteur de ballon qui vaut une chique. En défensive, Delvin Breaux était le meilleur demi de coin de la ligue. Linden Gaydosh et Brian Bulcke faisaient partie intégrante de leur ligne défensive. Ils sont tous partis.

Les Argonauts ont perdu les services de Ricky Ray pendant longtemps. Il ne se remettra pas facilement d’une chirurgie à l’épaule. C’est une lourde perte. Leur calendrier est atroce. Sans oublier que leur plaqueur à gauche SirVincent Rogers est avec le Rouge et Noir. Dans la tertiaire, j’aimais beaucoup Evan McCullough qui n’est pas de retour.

Le Rouge et Noir s’est amélioré mais ce n’était pas difficile. Malgré les ajouts importants aux postes de receveurs, je ne pense pas qu’ils soient encore prêts à rivaliser avec les Als, Tiger-Cats ou Argos pour le trône de fer dans l’Est.

Als season is riding on the proficiency of their starting quarterback.

Agreed but I think they are far better equiped than last year at this time at that position. If Crompton does not show up this week, I agree with Richard that he could be released shortly. I would then expect Cato to be promoted to the active roster. LeFavour would have a few weeks as a starter to prove that he can be the man. I’ll take both of them any day of the week over Alex Brink and Troy Smith. And I would hope that Marsh is a better quarterback than he was last year.

They can’t all stay, that’s for sure. I’m concerned for Cato. I think Jim found a way to hang on to him by parking him on the 1IL
but he can’t stay there for more than a few weeks without these 1Il starting to cause CAP problems. Coaching staff is also enamored with Bridge who while he has long term potential is way, way too raw. He’s a two or three year project.

If it was me going into the season it would be Lefevour,Marsh,Cato and Bridge on the practice roster. I’d release Crompton. I’d rather watch Golf than watch the Als offense with this guy running the offense. Schonert thinking he can “fix” this guy also causes me huge concerns about our OC. We’ll know this week if he can be creative, innovative and if his players can execute.

Does this look like a QB with a knee injury to anybody ???

http://cfl.uploads.mrx.ca/mtl/images/photo_gallery/2015/06/crop_21441432630.jpg

This is why the angry bird is still playing pro ball at 36

http://cfl.uploads.mrx.ca/mtl/images/photo_gallery/2015/06/crop_21441852549.jpg

It does to me.

There is something very sad, forlorn, about that whole shot actually for some reason.

He is there with all the 6 game guys. So, yeah.

Which just goes to show that professional football coaches can be as idiotic as anyone else, prioritizing size and body type over football intelligence and accuracy. How many QB prospects with height and size wash out in the NFL? Lots every year. No different with the CFL. Then you look at a guy like Kevin Glenn who’s had a great 10-year career (is in fact within reach of certain passing milestones) despite not being that “big” guy everyone is looking for. It’s absurd.

If it was me going into the season it would be Lefevour,Marsh,Cato and Bridge on the practice roster. I'd release Crompton. I'd rather watch Golf than watch the Als offense with this guy running the offense. Schonert thinking he can "fix" this guy also causes me huge concerns about our OC. We'll know this week if he can be creative, innovative and if his players can execute.
I agree, but I will give Schonert the benefit of the doubt here. After last season, it's not like the team had the option to cut Crompton. He wasn't great but he was sadly the best of the bunch in 2014. So perhaps the thinking going into 2015 was, "Let's get more quality prospects to push Crompton, give him an offseason mandate, and see whether his game improves. If it doesn't, we move on quickly to the next guy." Based on Higgins's comments, I think Crompton is on a very short leash. If he comes out against Ottawa and plays the first half like he did in preseason, I think we'll see LeFevour in the second half. If Crompton messes it up the next game as well, Cato will be activated and Crompton will be outright released...

Je crois que les Alouettes se sont globalement améliorés pour cette saison 2015, mais cela ne veut pas dire pour autant que je les vois terroriser la ligue.

Je le crois parce que l'architecte de l'attaque semble mieux équipé pour la diriger. Également, il n'y a pas d'imposteurs au sein de cette équipe, comme il y en avait l'an dernier. Nous avons des receveurs expérimentés, ce qui devrait aider l'attaque à s'installer et nos quarts à progresser. Cela dit, des zones grises demeurent en attaque. Les quarts, évidemment, mais également le jeu au sol. Nous n'avons pas vu grand chose du jeu au sol, sinon une difficulté certaine à courir au milieu de la ligne défensive. Mais ce n'étaient que des parties préparatoires et ce n'est pas dans ces parties qu'on a pu voir un bon échantillon du cahier de jeux. La partie de jeudi devrait être plus révélatrice sur ce plan.

Du côté des unités spéciales, je crois que les Alouettes ont progressé. Logan semble toujours être un retourneur de qualité et le fait d'avoir un coordonnateur dédié à cette facette du jeu devrait nous permettre de ne pas parler de nullités spéciales. Je souhaite que Bédé puisse gagner de la régularité et former un bon duo avec Whyte pour permettre aux Alouettes à la fois de gagner la bataille du positionnement et d'être plus souvent en mesure de mettre des points au tableau. Ceci passe par de meilleurs schémas de protection en situation de retours de bottés et par le fait de donner des terrains plus longs aux offensives adverses.

J'ai l'impression qu'il faudra quelques parties pour que l'équipe réussisse à installer une certaine cohésion en attaque et que cela risque d'attirer rapidement des critiques dans les média et chez les supporteurs. Mais je ne crois pas qu'on vivra une débâcle comme celle de l'an dernier.

Agreed. Great post !