George Cortez was in the office Monday morning at 5:15 a.m.
For the past two weeks, Cortez and the rest of the coaching staff, along with the team’s player personnel department, have conducted a thorough review of the 2012 Canadian Football League campaign in hopes of improving on a six-win season that saw the franchise miss the playoffs for the first time since 2009
“We’ve evaluated everybody we had here last year by position and gone through all our schedules in terms of practice and travel,? Cortez said. “We’ve tried to look at everything we’ve done to see if there’s a better way to do certain things.?
Also included is a painstaking statistical analysis aimed at uncovering anomalies in performance among the offensive, defensive and special-teams units. For example, Cortez says the Ticats’ punt-return team had terrible numbers against two particular opponents this season.
I like the fact that this process has already started in mid November.
Give his relatively late start last year, I think next year Coretez will be much better prepared personennel wise ( both players and coaches) , but I have no idea if the Guelph factor will affect the team’s performance.
With the number of players we had on IR all season, I'm thinking they should be starting with the training staff. And maybe looking at what the team was doing at the gym, at practice, and in games that resulted in so many injuries?
Just keep the team together for godsake. Of course their will be a few casualties but if the Ti-Cats have proven anything this past decade, it is that bringing in a ton of new faces year after year is NOT the way to build a championship team. There is less than 10 guys on this team I’d consider getting ridding of and maybe the only one I’d get rid of FOR SURE is Marc Dile. Let this team become just that, a TEAM. Whenever I played football I was always a lot more comfortable when I was lining up next to someone who I had gone to battles with before, I felt like I could trust them to do their job and they could trust me to do mine. However if I was lining up next to some new rookie, it just wasn’t the same. You don’t have that same sense of brotherhood when you bring in a BUNCH of new faces every year. Can we please just try continuity once…maybe.
Cotez obviously was dealt the hand when he started the season because he was left with many of the players from the previous year. My only concern is his and his coaches ability to assess player talent. Montreal, Toronto, and most of the other teams have that " Plug In and Play" abilty to find a player that fits in right away. In short, the player makes a positive contribution immediately or right away. I'm not sure how patient Cortez will be this year, I know the fans are fed up with the lack of player talent the last decade. The first thing Cortez will do is find a quality defensive mind and find the player talent to match the scheme. Even though I am not a Toronto supporter in any shape or form. However, you have to admire how they can find the players on defence that play tough. Is the Tiger Cats scouting up to par? Scouting in my opinion has been non-existent. I guess we find out with the Cortez version of player talent.
Perfect example of this philosophy working is the 2010 and 2011 versions of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. They finished 4-14 in 2010 and decided to stay the course. They could have blown up the team and no one would have faulted them, but they didn’t and went to the Grey Cup the next year. Say they caught lightning in a bottle during their 7-1 start, but they rode that to a Grey Cup appearance and if you make the Grey Cup you can win the Grey Cup.
Big changes are not needed on this team. We got big changes last year and it is time to see a plan through. Let everyone grow together and see what can come of it. There will be changes because there are always changes (even teams that win the Grey Cup make changes), but massive ones are not needed. It is high time we stop seeing big news out of Hamilton with cutting this player or signing that player. Just make a few changes and let’s see how everything plays out in Year 2 of the Cortez regime.
You are correct, big changes aren’t needed. We just need some upgrades on defense and at the DC.
The online might be a bit of a concern too with Hage, Dyakowski and Simmons as free agents.
This team with a so/so defense in 2012, would have made the playoffs and had a legitimate shot at the playoffs. I knew it was going to be bad after week 1. A game that we should have been up for, weren’t, and got trounced by an average SSK team. On bad weeks our offense was putting up 20 points.
I don't buy the whole idea of there being too much change.
Toronto has a new coaching staff and a ton of new players yet they're playing in the Grey Cup. Saskatchewan had a new coaching staff and a ton of new players yet they were a minute away from going to the West Final.
Change whatever needs to be changed. With that being said, I don't see the need for an overhaul this year.
