All effing week I had to hear about these super-duper awesome-tastic star Argo players who had the potential to break the EDF open for Toronto. I heard about how dumb we were to trade Owens. How it was, according to some, the biggest blunder of Jim Popp's career. I heard Boyd saying we were not as athletic a front-seven as Hamilton.
Avon Cobourne: 17 carries for 163 yards (9.59 average), 1 TD; 4 catches for 53 yards
You forget, Toronto is the centre of the Canadian universe. Montreal is just a backwater. :lol:
I should point out that I was annoyed by the poor coverage the Als received in Montreal, especially in the Gazette before the big game. If any of you Gazette staffers are actually paying attention: 59,021 paying fans showed up! The Als are popular enough that they should not be relegated to the fourth page of the sports section after three full pages of early season hockey coverage. And enough of Red Fisher's memoirs already!
Actually it was 58 021. I know that because without my family and I it would be 58 018.
When you write about lack of coverage in The Gazette, have you seen other major Montreal newspapers? I wrote this once, I write it again. Alouettes coverage on The Gazette is more than that on Le Devoir, La Presse and Journal de Montréal combined.
The Argonauts were so bad even their cheerleaders were bad. The did not seem to be prepared with the music and the beat.
Le Devoir : un article de leur journaliste et une photo à la une
La Paresse : 3 grandes pages et demi, photo à la une et photo à la une du cahier des sports
Journal de mes deux : 6 pages et photo à la une
Je crois que si les journaux francophones ont tendance à injustement lever le nez sur les Alouettes, cette fois-ci, ils ont fait une couverture à la mesure de l’événement.
Pour ce qui est des cheerleaders de Toronto, il faut leur pardonner : elles ne sont pas habituées à faire leurs steppettes sur du Charlebois, Plume, Vigneault, Offenbach, Lapointe, etc. Je suis même pas certain qu’elles connaissent April Wine.
The story doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
Except maybe Popp is a bit confused…
When he says, “As a person who goes and finds players, I have a lot of pride in Chad Owens.?
He could just as easily say, “As a person that negotiates with and signs players…I really blew it with Chad Owens.”
Not sure I understand the source of his pride, since Chad is excelling on another team.
“In hindsight he’s had an unbelievable season and if that was laid on the table before the year started and you put that in front of people and go okay, ‘If Chad Owens does this will you change him for somebody?’ Yes, there might have been a different decision made. That said, I know our coaches are happy with the guys we have.?
Amazing how much bull can fly over one BAD decision. He brought Owens here because of his talent and reputation…he’d been trying to get him here for years. Then he released him because he was too cheap…end of story. The Alouettes simply are not willing to shell out for a decent return game this year. Last game notwithstanding…snow jobs and lame excuses are pretty pathetic in the harsh light of reality of professional football.
Without reopening the Owens debate (which I guess I`m doing anyways), it had absolutely nothing to do with Popp being cheap. There is a CFL salary cap to uphold.
You could make an argument that a poor personnel decision was made and Owens should have been kept over Bratton or Green. But for now anyways it`s Chad who? And Maypray will only improve next year.
Its ironic that Barker blamed his coaching failure in Calg. on the fact that he was forced to play Kevin Feterik, the owners son, at QB.
Yet he stubbornly stuck with Cleo Lemon throughout this season even though he showed no signs of improvement.
With a full off-season to assess the situation I fully expect Barker to replace Lemon. If not then we know Lemon must be David Braley`s illigitimate son!
Bull
He wanted Owens to take a salary hit because he’d promised to take one if he didn’t make the team as a receiver.
As far as taking Owens over Green or Bratton…well who wouldn’t?
At the time Green was a little known quantity, Bratton was a part-time player (still is).The question was and still is the need for an electrifying returner. Whether Maypray improves or not is hardly the issue. Owens was more of a known quantity, and Popp himself admits he’d been trying to get him to Montreal for years…only managed it because Owens had been injured.
Being a fan does not ipso-facto mean being willing to gob any carp management wants to shovel. Personally my allegiances lie with the players first. It’s obvious they and their fans have been rooked by this returner-gate debacle…perpetuated by the impenetrable release of Larry Taylor. A move I might add that has raised eyebrows just about everywhere in the CFL media.
Until someone comes up with a more plausible explanation than “we’re going with the 2010 version of the Alouettes” the too cheap to reap explanation will have to stand as the most believable.
Senior, what part of salary cap do you not understand?
Hey, I`d love to have Owens and Taylor and Green and Bratton on my team if there was cap space.
But part of good management is fielding a constantly competitive team while working within a $4.2 million salary cap, and sometimes that entails making difficult and even wrong decisions. But Ill take Jim Popps track record over any other CFL G.M.`s in recent history.
Chad Who- led the league in - COMBINED YARDS 2701 which is 1000 more yds { 2TDS ] that the second place returner.
MISSED FIELD GOAL YARDS- 425 yards with a 70.8 average return.
PUNT RETURNS - 1060 yards with 2TDS.
RECEIVING YARDS - 363 yards.
These stats do not give CO justice- he was not the fastest returner but, he has great strength and is very quick, able to shift away from tackles. When he sees a hole then, he turns on the power and speed. Owens and Boyd were responsible directly for the Argo's wins this year.
Cory Who - led the league in rushes, the most yards rushing [ 1359 ] with a 6.6 average and 6TDS. This despite the fact that he was the most heavily defended back this year. Along with Chad Owens, he WAS the offence for Toronto this year.
Along with the coach, these two turned a losing franchise into a winning one. Those who select the MVP's don't select a kick returner otherwise a case could be made for Chad Owens, along with Cory Boyd. Given a second chance, Popp would give his eye teeth to get Owens back. They are not " who's " any longer but, very respected quality football players. They would be welcomed by any CFL team. These three men were responsible directly for the Argo's fortunes this year and, a stronger TO is good for the entire CFL.
Guys, we've reached the Grey Cup again. For two years in a row.
The whole "releasing Chad Owens was a monumental blunder" thing is getting old now. We've shown that we're still the Beasts of the East, and we've established it. It's not like Maypray is a godawful returner either. In fact, THREE return touchdowns, one of those a punt, isn't bad at all. The fact that the team decided to stick with him and release Taylor shows faith in Maypray, and he delivered on his end by providing us with a great special teams effort in the Eastern final.
Chad Owens is no longer an Alouette. Chad Owens doesn't need to be an Alouette. Sure, he's got league-high numbers in yardage, but that means nothing if you don't put together some Wins. Just ask the Blue Bombers. Fred Reid, Terence Edwards and Philip Hunt are tremendously talented players. Does Montreal need them? No. Does Montreal need Chad Owens? Nada. Did trading Chad Owens hurt us to the point that it should be considered a huge mistake? Not even close.
In fact, I'm glad Chad Owens is with the Argos, because he helped renew them into an exciting team. Also, looking at things in hindsight is never the way to go. You always have to look forward. I would never question Popp because of his trading Owens to Toronto, because he's put together a winning team, year after year.
For that matter, what about Matthews releasing Mike Pringle, of all people? Things are done for reasons and management has to make difficult decisions at times; ones which leave fans scratching their heads. We can lament about that until kingdom come or get on with it. I prefer the latter!
Chad Owens is no doubt an electrifying receiver, but Tim did his thing at least 3 times this year as a rookie. Here's hoping he will develop into a great returner himself. Like others, I have lamented his performance this season. However, we also have others on the roster who have proven to be good at returning punts/missed FGs, not the least of whom is Ferri! The unfortunate thing I find with Owens is that his presence on the Argos team makes it two-dimensional instead of one. Take him out of the equation, and the Argos are not left with much offensively. Except for 2 excellent returns, he was effectively held in check on Sunday, as was Boyd. Result? Als 48 - Argos 17. One player can make a difference to a team, but you can't build a winning franchise around one player only; others have to contribute. On Sunday, the Als proved just that.
The logic behind the last 2 posts is baffling...almost mensually synchronised.
The point isn't what Owens did with and for the Argonauts....that the Alouettes released Mike Pringle (especially because they did so because they were heading in another direction....the passing game with Anthony Calvillo)
or that Owens makes the Argos a 2-dimensional team instead of one....or that despite his presence, they lost last week.
The obvious fact is: the Alouettes were the better team....have more balance...more talent....except at returner.
Maypray returned 2 fieldgoals for touchdowns this season. Now although that is by far the easiest "RFT" to achieve....returning kicks isn't about touchdowns...it's about field positon. Maypray was 17th in the league in punt return average. 10th if you remove players with less than 10 returns. This hurt the Alouettes this season...and you need no other proof than the Alouettes trying several replacements....including a linebacker.
The Als were 15-3 last year...12-6 this year. At the start of the year I said that Larry Taylor was arguably responsible for 2-3 of the Alouettes wins last year. You didn't have to be a prophet to realise that if they didn't replace the Special Teams Player of the Year for 2009 with someone of equivalent talent, they were going to suffer the consequences. They didn't and they have.
...and now Owens will be named Special teams Player of the Year for 2010.
I frankly don't see how anyone has anything to argue about.
Must be the Moon
Senior, we are free to express our opinions, whether you agree with them or not. You have been on this diatribe about Owens for some time now, (as well as the AC thing) and it is really getting old. So what if the Als let him go? We're going to the Grey Cup without him and still have a good chance of bringing it home.
Part of questioning decisions made in the past...trying to identify how they affect the present, and the future...is hoping the mistakes won't be made in the future.
If anything...if more people had come out against the Chad Owens-gate earlier in the year...maybe we would be playing Larry Taylor next Sunday.
I know....if Owens or Taylor had been faced with that gaping hole Maypray took to the endzone....maybe they would have cut left instead of right....who knows right?
One thing I do know....if we'd kept Owens we'd have been facing the Hamilton Ticats in the east Final.
Any player that can do that to the vagaries of time is a keeper.
One would have thought.
PS-any fascist can justify their attempts to silence the truth...however men of conscience reserve the right to respond
