Last year at this time most articles written and media segments dedicated to anything regarding the Montreal Alouettes were what you could generously call a ‘doubtful’ perspective.
Thanks for the this piece Marshal. Most of the winner/losers pieces so far have not at all focused on the pre-FA work the Als did to secure key pieces of their team in December and January.
The Als lost a couple of stars but the piece that I will miss the most is James Tuck. James is not the most talented player but take a look at the years films, especially the 3 weeks of playoffs. Mr. Tuck was involved in at least 10 plays that could have changed their run up to the Grey Cup. I’ll mention a few. In the Grey Cup he threw the lead block to send Stanback scampering into the end zone. He led the blocking to a kick off return on the play after Toronto’s touchdown that looked like the start of a comeback. He got a critical first down where he should have been stopped 4 yards short and he sealed the end by blocking two people to allow Antwi to score a touchdown. He is a smash mouth football and will be missed by the Als more than they think he’ll be missed
I think Ferguson nails it, especially this:
All of it, piece-by-piece was methodical and reserved, the 2024 plan coming into focus more clearly with each transaction. Maybe it’s the confidence of a championship, perhaps it’s the residue of seeing Maciocia’s plan work or ownership solidify, but the Alouettes feel stable and built to last for as long as a reigning Grey Cup champion can.
Here’s the thing: ‘running it back’ and seeing the exact same results just won’t happen. There will be evolution caused by injury and typical mid-season CFL intrigue. The script won’t be the same for Montreal and despite being named top team in the recent CFL.ca Way Too Early Power Rankings, the possibility of finishing anywhere from first to fourth in the East Division is always present.
With so much parity and moving pieces for the other eight franchises outside of Montreal though, perhaps the Alouettes’ secret to success in 2024 will be their consistency in messaging.
That is a realistic and evenhanded assessment. Nothing is certain or guaranteed. But Ferguson definitely puts his finger on the methodical nature of how Montreal has operated this offseason. Perhaps the only thing missing is @Jocko 's point about us already having re-signed all our key pieces months ago. But overall, good work by Marshall. I wish more cfl.ca pieces were as attentive to the Als instead of just repeating cheap talking points.
I think the Als will benefit from a weak Eastern Division. Toronto should be there throughout the season but they should have a small but noticeable decline. Hamilton should benefit from the coaching change, but Bo will be three seasons past his last decent season. Still, maybe they make things interesting? Ottawa should see improvement out of the Pivot position with Brown coming onboard, but Dyce’s in game management and more than a few of his calls cost the team more than a few games. From where I sit, I think the worst the Als could do is secondish-thirdish, maybe. The exciting thing is that with all of the changes in the Division–the good and the meh–there should be a legitimate race for the championship. Whoever the top two teams are, there should not be more than two games separating them right down to the playoffs. That is my not-so-expert opinion. I cannot wait for the season to start!
Except that it was the west that was the weak division last year, not the east…Nothing says it will be different this year
Nothing except history of course. One outlier year does not make for a trend.
History means nothing
Trends mean nothing
Last year the east was the stronger division…
It will continue to be so until the west proves its self to be stronger
Team A wins the championship. they are the champs even if team b won 5 times in a row before that…same thing here
Why assume that the east will be weak purely because there is greater parity? Eastern teams could get more wins against western teams. In fact, the east had a stronger head-to-head record against the west last year.
I agree that Hamilton and Ottawa both have questions. If BLM can turn back the clock, the Cats will be competitive. If he can’t, it could be a long season in Hamilton. Dyce is down to his last chance in Ottawa. As is GM Burke.
The only team I can see that hasn’t really improved is Calgary TBH. Every other team looks better on paper heading into the 2024 season.
But its not like the riders Stamps and Elk are/were power houses
If Ottawa has questions, so do the Elk
Ham would have finished 3rd in the west
all you needed was a 6-12 record to make the playoffs in the west
Everything still points to a weak west this year as well
I agree with you. SSK and EDM both have questions. Particularly Edmonton, where Chris Jones is down to his last strike. Either Edmonton makes the playoffs in 2024 or that’s it for the Chris Jones era.
While I think people are overrating the Riders at this moment in time, I also acknowledge that the moves they made this offseason will make them better. Their big question mark to me is their OC, Mueller. Can he put together and run an offence that protects Trevor Harris and allows Harris to succeed? His track record is a bit murky.
Really? Until November, Toronto was the only team in the East that could compete with the Bombers or the Lions and still, the Boaters were slammed by the Bombs in late September. To be fair, neither division was great in 2023. The QB position was lacking across the league. I think that was due, in part, to the silly leagues in the US overpaying players in some bizarre hope of becoming an NFL alternative. Regardless, I do think the East is weaker this year than last. It should be fun to see how it plays out! All I care about is seeing some good games. I cannot wait!
It seems to me that until November, the East was a one team Division…Toronto. I refuse to believe that anyone had the Als on their Bingo Card as Grey Cup Champs at any point in the season. I sure did not see them coming but it made for one heck of a great end to the season.
By the way: great article!
Wpg lost to Ottawa and Ham and Mtl in the Cup
BC lost to Toronto and Ham
The east went 20-13 against the west in 2023
All you needed was 6 wins to make the playoffs in the west…and 2 teams tied for that spot
West was the weak division last year…Its up to them prove they are not again this year
It’s still only one year. You can say that the East was better last year because of their head to head record, but I can say that the West is the better division historically and as a result should be the odds on favourite to be the best again this year. Last year was such a regular season outlier. If you looked at a 3 year segment or 4, 5, 10, 15, 20 years or any greater number, the West would always be the better division. Cherry picking one rare year should not give anyone confidence. Many think the East is almost always worse because it is so much easier to make the playoffs than in the West and therefore teams have less motivation to win all season long than teams in the West that usually have far less room for error. I don’t think I necessarily agree with this but I have read the theory many times on this forum.
I don’t agree with cherry picking one outlier year and declaring the East all powerful champs and assuming the tide has turned. We’ll see. At least this year we will have more of a sample size due to the long overdue return of the balanced schedule. Now if only we could convince the league to allow the best 6 teams to make the playoffs and the higher seeds to have home playoff games to make every team earn their way into the Grey Cup game. Last year was also an outlier in that every team did in fact earn their way into the playoffs and earned every home game.
When does historically stop?
Its not cherry picking…The east was better last year and the record proves it
That is your opinion and even if true, how does it make it worst…and last year all you needed in the west was 6 wins to make the playoffs
And then there is the crossover which favours the west…so its easier for the west not the east
Totally ridiculous! Think about what you are saying…teams are not motivated to win? Really? They dont want to make the playoffs with a home game and bonus money…they are happy losing?
Well how many years does it take? 2? 3? 10? In 2023 the east was stronger than the west and it is reflected by the record…Will it hold up? Who know…but right now…The west is the weak division no matter how you try to spin it…WPG won the cup 2 years in a row but we did not hand them the third year did we…they had to earn the title again Same with Mtl 2009-2010 or Toronto 96-97
Same here…The west could have been stronger for 15 years…well they still have to earn the 16th. It is not handed to them because historically…
How long are you going to milk that? Its been 2 seasons with 1 less interdivision game. Odds are that had they been played last year, the east would have benefited by it.
This reminds me of quite a few years ago when this was being discussed.
One west fan claimed that in order to be considered stronger, the east would have to win 80% of the interdivision games AND would have to win by and average of at least 21 points!
Imagine that…Team A has a record of 9-1 against team b but Team B is still stronger because Team A only won those 9 games by an average of 15 points!
I’m not going to prolong this discussion which we have had before.
I will say that I didn’t adopt the theory that the East doesn’t try as hard as it is easier to make the playoffs (which it is). I did specifically said that I have read that many times on this forum and that I didn’t agree with it. You are responding as if I advanced that theory and believe it.
I agree that this year is a new year and that either the East or West will be stronger. I also agree that the East had a better record in inter division play last year. What I don’t agree with is your attempt to extrapolate one outlier year into the future. You also take the position that history, such as 9 years out of 10 the West is stronger, is irrelevant. Yet you also use last year (history) to crown the East as the stronger division. So which is it? Ifs history important or not? If it is clearly the West should be considered most likely to be better this year and every year until the East proves over time they can sustain what likely was a fluke or outlier year. For how long must they prove that? I don’t know, but two years in a row would be a good start.
I’m not sure how you can conclude that the crossover favours the West. In fact it favours the East. Even if the schedule is as balanced as can be as it will be this year, the West must still finish ahead of the Eastern team to oust them. What’s up with that? This is especially egregious if the West is stronger as it usually is which means the West plays a tougher schedule. The set up favours the East across the board, particularly the all important right to host a Grey Cup play in game when it isn’t earned. Thankfully it was earned last year by Toronto and in 2019 by Hamilton, but most years it is not. Inexplicably playoff seeding is all too often determined by geography which is outright silly and arbitrary and a huge blow to competetive integrity.
And I know nothing of the opinion you cite from many years ago and certainly wouldn’t support it as you have written it. That has nothing to do with my position.
WOW…you want to go with that? Last year is history so I am contradicting myself?
Im done arguing with you…
Some binary oppositions being set up in this discussion. I don’t know why we can’t honour both the long-term statistics and the short-term ones. Yes, we have to pay attention to the data over the long term – that the west has been historically stronger for many years. We’ll have to see this year whether 2023 was an aberration or a sign of a longer-term trend. Having said that, the east was the better division in 2023. So all the fans who love to trash the east for being weaker should swallow that for a while and acknowledge that their talking point was empirically untrue last year.