Calgary at Montreal- Friday,July 14,2017

The next game will be quite interesting and tough, but the Als can win. To me, a win will be easier to achieve if:

Nat. WR Samuel Giguère is ready to play.

If Int. DT Ray Drew is added to the roster; Int. DB Jalen Rodgers would come off.

Drop in "bad"penalties.

Richard

With the Als struggling on offense, I cannot see them dropping an import receiver to play DT Ray Drew.

On the DL, the Als strategy is to use 3 non-import DT and 3 import DE in a 6-man rotation. Playing Drew would just mess that up. Unless, Noel Thorpe is willing to move Chris Ackie to WILL and start Dondre Wright at Safety. This also would mean benching an import LB and then inserting in Nicolas Boulay when the Als play a 3-4. Hard to see this scenario happening so soon into the season.

I suppose if the team was desperate enough for a non-import DE, they could take a look at DE Ricky Foley who is 35. As somebody who takes up space, DT Khalif Mitchell is also looking to get back into the CFL. He no longer retweets offensive material and now claims to love everybody. Problem here is even if you accept his remorse, the guy is now 32 and is an import.

Anyway, I would be surprised if the Als made a ratio change this week.

-Yesterday, Stefan Logan posted that he is okay. Sounds like he expects to play against Calgary.

As per CFL transactions of today, Int. WR TJ Graham was removed from practice roster to active roster then transferred to retired.

Int. DB Brandon Stewart was added to roster and Nat. DB Mikael Charland deleted from roster and added to practice roster.

In BC, Stewart was CB and Ryan Phillips played DB both on same side of field; could be as such with the Als; if so, I presume that Chip Cox will return to his normal position.

Richard

But if Drew goes in, we have to take out one of the International LBs to respect the ratio. We have to play 3 Nationals on defense. Would we be better off?

I doubt, in fact I don't think that Drew will be in. When I did mention it, I based it on the fact that Int. DB Jalen Rodgers played only on special teams; Chip Cox was at DB. I was saying take Rodgers out and add Drew. Now that Stewart is in, I now expect Chip at his new position. Rodgers should be out. Injured or practice roster-.

Richard

You were right Richard. Als are going sit Tiquan Underwood which I will assume means 2 non-import receivers in 5-receiver sets. With that ratio change, the Als are going to activate Ray Drew.

[url=http://montrealgazette.com/sports/alouettes-failure-to-execute-means-tyrell-sutton-is-underused]http://montrealgazette.com/sports/aloue ... -underused[/url]

Another ratio ding dong move that backfired.

Which "ratio ding dong moved that backfired" HfxTC?

Richard

Well Richard you were right about Ray Drew. But you know I`m not going to sleep all week knowing only 3 International receivers will be dressing!

Situation may not be that bad,Sheldon; after all, Tiquan Underwood has had 8 receptions in 3 games. Nothing to write hope about.

Richard

Sure let's take out one of the three receivers that produced on this 16 point offense, what could possibly go wrong? :roll:

1 UNDERWOOD, TiquanMTL 3 8 14 121 23 15.1 27 1 0
9 JACKSON, Ernest MTL 3 7 14 67 8 9.6 31 1 1

How can you say "backfired",HfxTC, when a game with only 3 Int. WR's has not happened yet?

Richard

On the Als This Week, Rick Moffat said with the signing of Brandon Stewart, Chip Cox could be moved back to linebacker. What is more notable is that he also thought the Als might play a 3-4 defense more often.

Today is Samuel Giguère's birthday as he turns 32. Als social media usually acknowledges birthdays as they probably will sent their best wishes later in the day. I am only mentioning this because John Bowman turned 35 two days ago to my knowledge, the team never said anything.

Are the Als going to keep 6 QB's all year? Maybe they are psychic and forsee a need for the extra QB's soon? Drew Willy is now in his 3rd week with the team. Is that not enough time to evaluate him as compared to the others on the roster? What are the Als going to do, wait multiple weeks more until a grade is given to Antonio Pipkin before the team makes a decision?

Maybe Ray Drew is Randy Drew and legally changed his name to Randy

And Jackson has 67 yards in three games. I would say nothing to write home about either.

Bien d’accord sauf que Jackson a plus de potentiel que Underwood.

Which only serves to prove how badly Durant and JC’s offense is so far.

-On Tuesday, the transactions were:

ADDED TO PRACTICE ROSTER
Chris Greenwood (I), DB, Albion College
Miles Jones (I), RB, Jacksonville State

RELEASED
Ryan McManus (I), WR, Dartmouth

DB Chris Greenwood is a relatively large DB who was a 5th round NFL draft choice in 2012 and was released by the Bombers in June when the team made their final cuts. He seems to have been injured through much of training camp.

RB Miles Jones does not appear to be standout as a prospect, but his signing is nevertheless noteworthy. With the exception being Chris Greenwood, all the other imports (Miles Jones, Kyler Kerbyson, Geno Lewis, Ventral McMillan, and Anthony Sarao) on the Practice Roster are all represented by the same agent. Only player from that agent on the Actice Roster is Jacory Harris.

With the release of Ryan McManus, I am guessing that the Als did not negotiate a deal to acquire a MVP Mobile Dummy.

-In this week's CFL Blitz (Kirk Penton's old column which is now done by committee), Herb Zurkowsky writes that it was Kavis Reed who initiated talks for the Als to practice at Olympic Stadium. Jim Popp had tried previously but could never get ownership to spend the money. Added cost is $40-50,000. However, the team saves $25,000 by chartering.

[url=http://www.torontosun.com/2017/07/11/modernizing-operations-part-of-als-plan-to-instil-winning-culture]http://www.torontosun.com/2017/07/11/mo ... ng-culture[/url]

-LEAGUE STATS

GOOD NUMBERS
-Rushing Yards Per Game - 1st
-Yards Per Rush - 1st
-Points Allowed - 2nd
-Opponents Yards Per Play - 2nd
-Opponents Yards Per Pass - 1st
-Net Punting - 1st
-Yards Per Kickoff - 2nd
-Sack Allowed -1st

NOT GOOD NUMBERS
-Total Points - 9th
-Passing Efficiency - 8th
-Yards Per Game - 8th (Calgary is 1st)
-Yards Per Pass - 8th
-Passing Yards Per Game - 9th
-DIFFERENTIAL BETWEEN THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE PLAYS PER GAME - 9th
(SSK: +12, BC: +8, OTT: +7, EDM: +6, WPG: -1, TOR: -1.4, CGY: -4, HAM: -13, MTL: -17)
-2nd Down Conversions on Offense - 7th. 2nd Down Conversions on Defense - 8th.
-Sacks Made - 9th
-Opponents Red Zone Percentage - tied for worst.

OTHER
-Stamps and Als have almost an identical passing completion percentage on both offense and defense.
-Stamps are 1st in Punt Return Average, yet 9th in Opponent's Punt Return Average.
-Darian Durant's QB rating is 86.5 which is 8th among starters. Between 0-8 yards, his rating is 78.5. From 9-15 yards, he has a 40.4 rating. Over 16 yards, his rating is 166.1.
-Tyrell Sutton is leading the league in rushing yards.
-Kyries Hebert is 3rd in defensive tackles. Dominique Tovell and Bear Woods are tied for 4th.

Further to what okie has written, it is unusual for so many of the Als International rookies to be repped by the same agent - Martin Magid. There was also Tarik Bennett cut in training camp. I wonder where Joe Mack is in all this.

To be fair Magid does have other CFL clients - Cassius Vaughn, Marcus Howard, Abdul Kanneh.

http://www.mrmsports.com/clients.html

And while Kavis Reed the personnel guy is still a work in progress, we certainly have to give him credit for updating the Als football operations.

An example from the CFL Blitz story Okie posted:

[b][i]As part of his agreement with Olympic Stadium, a new training and weight room to be used exclusively by the players is being created. Immediate improvements will be made to the locker room and other training rooms. A new production studio also will be created, allowing for the processing and distribution of exclusive social media content for the team.

Again through sponsorship, Reed — with the help of front-office personnel in the team’s downtown business operations office — has arranged for the players to have breakfast before 9 a.m. meetings. When they conclude practice at 1 or 1:30, they can dine on lunch before leaving for home. Reed also arranged for water and air-purifier machines to be installed in the dressing room. While this is the norm for many CFL teams, the majority of which have moved into new stadiums, the Als painstakingly lagged behind the times. This is an opening step, one the organization hopes will help to attract players and keep the ones they already possess.
[/i][/b]