With our terrible defense, I am curious to see where the blame goes.
Is it the problem with our co-ordinator not putting our guys in the right spots to make plays
or
Is it the actual defensive players brought in by Obie itself
I just don't think that our players are good enough. No matter what scheme you use, defensive ends need to get to the QB and defensive tackles and the middle linebacker need to clog up the middle on runs.
I'm not sure what it is....but what has me concerned is the list of players we've had on defense who we felt were not good enough and were released. Who then get picked up by other teams and are playing on better teams.
Kyries Hebert. Had him...let him go.....geez...the Alouettes seem to think he's good enough and oh..look...THEY WON TONIGHT!!!
The Als also have a pass rush. A pass rush means quicks throws and read and receivers not running their full routes.
Hebert was terrible here but then again, we never really had a great pass rush when he was here.
You can't blame Obie for Hebert. He came to the Cats at the end of 2010 and wasn't in the shape he's in now. He dropped some weight when he was out of football and even then, making him our starting safety (and thereby switching from starting a NI to starting an import at that position) was a gamble.
I haven't always been a fan of Obie's moves, but I don't think it's fair to blame him for Hebert.
If Creehan doesn't realize that AC usually gets rattled when pressure is put on him, then he isn't a very smart coach.
As far as the players are concerned, this is one of the worst D Lines we have ever had here !!
Last in the league in sacks, and unable to put any sustained pressure on the QB. The talent level is simply not there.
We have an almost invisable middle linebacker, who is just not big enough to stop the run, and who is constantly
out of position. I saw the same thing last year about him, but nothing was done about replacing him this year.
Getting Tisdale back has been a giant waste of time. He is constantly getting beaten, and missing tackles.
If changes are not made, player wise, and soon, then it's going to be another very long embarrassing season !!! <!-- s:roll: -->:roll:<!-- s:roll: -->AGREED, both. If you look back the last 10 years, our defense has been in the bottom 3 in points against in 8 of those years. The 2 years we were not, we had the second fewest points against. Guess who our DC was (yep, Greg Marshall).
If the D falters badly during the Labor Day game, Obie may wish to contact Marshall and inquire if there is any interest in returning.
As a local resident, he may be open to the proposition.
BTW, is he still on the Riders payroll?
If the team allows 30 points on Labour Day and loses, Creehan will be fired and Marshall will be brought in.
I went to the Toronto and Montreal home games at Ivor Wynne this year and the defensive line looked a lot better than it did in the past three games. Obie needs to cut Peach, who has done zip, and keep bringing in NFL cuts until Boudreaux, McLveen and Rose get it through their heads that until they get to the QB consistently, their jobs are in jeopardy.
Marshall still has two years left of HC salary from being canned in SSK. It's not at all clear that he'd trade that in to come back to Hamilton in a lesser role and reduced salary.
If he’s not available, Obie will hire my dead grandmother instead…she can’t do any worse than Creehan.
Don't be so sure
Sask is paying a certain amount per year, but they are not stupid, and would likely agree to allow Marshall to take on an assistant job with the Cats, on the basis that what the Cats are paying Marshall is deducted from what Sask is paying
Summary
marshall is making the same amount bur from two sources and coaching D and staying current for his likely future Ottawa gig
Cats a real defensive coach
Sask saves money
Oh, that's perfectly plausible, for sure. But while SSK may be fine with that, would Marshall? Maybe he's enjoying his HC salary and time off right now. Maybe he doesn't want to get back into the CFL fray. I guess what I'm saying is: he's not starving and desperate for work, so it's not a given that he'd jump at the chance to return to Hamilton.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. A voice a reason, finally. I keep reading and hearing things like this:
And I don’t understand where they get there information from. This is not an opinion, but a statement of fact. Since there have not been ANY whispers of Creehan being fired or Marshall returning, I don’t know how anyone can be so sure that it will happen.
As was said above, Marshall is being paid this year and next to not coach, so he won’t jump at the first job offered to him. He doesn’t need to coach, so he will wait for the job he wants before getting back on the sidelines. I would love for Greg Marshall to return, but it seems like a pipe dream at this point.
Firing the coach mid-season doesn't work in football.
Period.
Next idea?
After the players only meeting, the defence may well have played as well as they can. If that is true, then Tisdale plus the entire defensive line are not good enough to play in this league. A 40 year old man ran up the middle of the defence several times. Give A.C. his props( whatever that means) but these guys just don't have it. Nobody made a play last night! No intercepts and no fumble recoveries. Not one play maker on defence! Markeith makes plays but he's hurt.
Start the airlift, Obie. These guys are done! We never replaced MacIntyre or Hickman. Our tackles have no push up the middle. On the Oline, Dile (#63 the right tackle) had a chance to make a play in the Peg which would have been a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Didn't make it! Last night the Cats are driving for the winning touchdown and he blows his block on the defensive end. Hank could have continued the drive and eaten up the clock at the same time. Didn't happen because Dile didn't make a play. We kick the go ahead fieldgoal but the defence can't hold the Als because nobody can make a play. Our Dbacks can't catch and our Dline can't contain and tackle for losses. Nobody can make a play when it matters.
On the bright side, our special teams were special. Blocking and coverage were great. Kicking was solid. Avon gave everything he had! Onrea Jones continues to impress.
If we lose to the Argos on Labour Day, they're done. Blow up the defence and start again with a co-ordinator who can make adjustments on the fly because Creehan looks like he is in over his head.
There, I feel better now, getting that out of my system. 
Pat Lynch (the old guy who didn't sleep well last night)
Of course a mid season firing of an assistant can work. There would be a bit of an ajustment but it is not like you start from scratch.
Look at this way, I would prefer the hope and prayer that a new defensive coordinator who has the confidence of the players be how we play the balance of the season, as opposed to the proven failed situation we have now, and where there appears to be an apparent disconnect between the coach and the players.
One wonders whether there was actually someting to that brou-ha-ha in the locker room earlier in the season as it did seem to spin around Creehan.
With a new DC, I bet we go 6-4 at worst to end the year at 9-9
With Creehan, regardless of the Chris Williams magic and regardless of what Burris can do, we go 2-8 to finish off 5-13
To be honest, I am not sure anymore where the two wins will come from given that the Winnipeg might appear to be the weakest team and we know what they did to us with a 3rd stringer in his first game.
Well, you've got Montreal one more time in Hamilton, which has been a graveyard for my Als the past few years. You can probably bet on the Cats winning that one.
I would love to come and be a part of the Ti Cats nation and contribute to the defence!
A clip from training:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFEfoOryBBYHighlights from Senior Year... Defence (can put hand in dirt or stand up playing OLB), pass rush is huge! begins film through minute 9 and continues with Fullback and Special Teams:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9qd7V_2ASMThe biggest thing that has killed me in scouting process is exposure... No not from a D1 University, but an NAIA school.. As you can see with Chevon Walker, the NAIA does have talent..
I'd say it's BOTH...But let's not forget, the offense isn't exactly setting the world on fire either. They start slow and usually have to pull out some kind of heroics at the end to win games.
The D coordinator hasn't been impressive. We can't get pressure on QBs; good schemes can create pressure even with average players. We made a 3rd string Winnipeg QB look like a Hall of Famer (33 of 43, 400+ yds,really!?). We give up over 30 pts per game. We play a lot of zone when we're defending the red zone and other teams score easy passing TDs. Our linebackers drop too far in zone coverage which allows QBs to scramble for big gains (like Calvillo's 17 yard run last night on the final drive).
The players haven't played well to say the least. I do like our linebacking crew, though I wish they'd play Knowlton more. The D-line gets no pressure. Obie seems to be bringing in new people, but it's not working yet. The interior of the D-line is the worst part of the defense. At this point we may be better off signing 2 big sumo wrestlers who can at least take up space. Our DTs are just getting pushed all over the place.
Oh, and worst of all, we can't make a key stop to win games.
It is both.
Our schemes fail. Seriously... a prevent defence with a one point lead against Calvillo???
Our DBs can't cover, don't look back for the ball and can't catch.
Our LBs can't tackle or are constantly out of position (scheme?).
No rush at all.
Recipe for failure.