Hey Johnny Italiano what happened to your beloved Montreal Alouettes they imploded against Calgary? How does a team have a 24 to 0 lead and blow the game? Enough about Jeff Rienbold as our Special Teams coach in Hamilton what about your Al's, Jeff would be a huge improvement over your current head coach right now?
I hope the Fans in Montreal continue to support the team, it's interesting though this is one of the first times in Montreal that I can recall that the team has played so bad at the start of the season and I hope that all fans in Montreal don't just give up but support your team? Maybe Jim Popp will take over as head coach again if the situation doesn't change? Anthony Calvillo has been used to stability with Mark Trestman as head coach and now he has to change to a new system with Hawkins that is not working. It could be a long season in Montreal??
[i]Hey bigkitty, watch how you talk to a paysan! Well what’s wrong with Johnny’s Als? They suck! If you go to the Alouette forum, you will see that Johnny started a “Fire Hawkins”, “Fire Miller” and “Fire Verducci” threads. Yup, it’s time to clean house. You won’t get no argument from Johnny there.
But, that don’t mean that Reinebold (or that Joe Mack) is the greatest thing since sliced bread! Just moldy bread… And what about that 37-0 pasting your declawed tiger kitties got from them Riders?
There is plenty of SUCK to go around in the East division right now…[/i]
that first qtr was a fluke. I knew calgary would win the last 3 qtrs, just wasnt sure if it would be by 25+. Stamps just forgot to show up for the 1st qtr.
Paysan is too Italian. Careful or the french language police will be after you too. They’ve already gone after pasta.
Funny thing is that when I said in preseason discussions there were question marks about how this montreal staff will function I was told they had Doug Berry and all this support staff and everything will be fine. Well… did Doug Berry encourage them to hand off to Messam in the backfield on a 3rd and 1 play instead of the QB plunge that is customary in the CFL? That’s a typical NFL/NCAA play that doesn’t work here anymore. I’ve read complaints that there are too many NFL type routes that have low probability of success in the CFL. So are Hawkins and Miller just sticking with what they know and tuning out Berry? Is Berry just letting them bury themselves?
The opening game win was likely the worst thing that could have happened to the Als. Humble pie may have helped, because it is not sounding as though the staff is too receptive to CFL experience at this point.
Dan Hawkins has never coached a professional football team in his life. Don't blame his stupidity on the NFL influence - - Hawkins comes by it naturally.
But its not hubris. Just too much of a learning curve and teams are so much better coached and organized than when Trestman came into the league. The bar is set much higher, in part because of Trestman. He had an strong influence on Toronto and Winnipeg at minimum. Calvillo is also struggling. Not sure if its a slump, age or a combination of factors. This weeks game is critical to some of their jobs IMO. But then again they win the next two and lead the division. Still could go either way right now.
No, I agree with depop. Definitely hubris involved. Not saying I expected the Als to be 4-0 and annihilating the opposition but there is NO reason for this offense to be in the pitiful shape it's in. On the Berry subject, I was very wrong, but I genuinely believed that Hawkins and Miller would have the intelligence to use him as a resource. Unfortunately, judging from some news reports in Montreal, Berry is barely involved in the offense, relegated to working with injured players and practice roster players. Sad... :thdn:
Doubt that very much. I’m sure his contract with TSN is for the season. I don’t think the changes will be that deep. At most they will replace Miller as OC, probably by Berry. There is economics involved here as well.
There have been many ex coaches in the past who have been hired by teams while being a broadcaster. I’m sure any contract would have an out for that. Just canning one of Hawkins/Miller and replacing them with Berry solves nothing. Having Berry more involved, and replacing one with Lapo gives the Al’s much more CFL experience. He should have been the man to begin with, mistake by Popp.
At this stage I’m not convinced that Berry or Lapolice will make much of an impact. Lapolice never got his offense moving in Winnipeg he does not excel in any area, not a great motivator, disciplinarian, X&O genius. Berry has been there since mini-camp and the teams still cut Porter and making terrible decisions all around from personnel to game day. If Berry could not convince Hawkins about the lunacy of starting the season with a 40 year old QB and no backup then he does not deserve the job. He keeps saying “I’m just an adviser” Well a good adviser makes sure that when his client does not hang himself.
Again, the authority of the advisor is in question. It seems like a very iffy power structure where Berry could make his opinions known, possibly, without having any authority to push them through. What if he told both Miller and Hawkins not to cut Porter but they ignored him? You honestly think Doug Berry, a coach who has been in this league for years, would have let the team hit the regular season WITHOUT A QB SNEAK option in their playbook??? That's the lunacy, arrogance, and incompetence of Hawkins and Miller loud and clear.
It’s not like the Winnipeg offense has gotten better without LaPolice, though. After this many years of being bad offensively, I think it’s time to admit that they just don’t have the personnel to be good in that area right now. That starts at QB, since Buck Pierce’s record in Winnipeg is playing somewhere around half the games. The rest of the time they’ve been relying on inexperienced backups, and the results have been what you get with inexperienced backups in the CFL.
…Fire Verducci, Johnny…do you want to end up swimming with the fishies :lol: …The Als. are doing a repeat of when they put Popp behind the bench…Changing the system of a qb.(A.C.) so set in his ways…DISASTER…The offensive schemes are also rivaling Crowtons in the Peg…more disaster
I think you’re right in a lot of respects and it starts from the owner on down. Wetenhall has a lot of input on the HC decision I once Popp comes up with a list of prospects. There was already talk about disagreements between Popp and some of the players Hawkins wanted cut in training camp. How much or how little the Hawkins-Miller-Berry troika works together is a big question mark it seems. Trestman worked to learn the CFL game and adapt to CFL football which is why he was successful. Hawkins and Miller so far seemed to be trying to use NCAA/NFL concepts and putting them into the CFL game which is what Andrus tried to do in Toronto and it didn’t work. What all this means is … fire Dinwiddie! He’s the offensive quality control coach! Just kidding. It’ll be interesting to see if they can work together and if not, who goes? Do they dump coaches during/after the season or start switching up players because the guys who have been getting it done under Trestman don’t fit the Hawkins/Miller system. One things for sure, if the season wears on the way it has, Calvillo’s retirement decision becomes much easier this time around.
Agreed on all counts, and I honestly don’t know how it will end. (if I knew that, I’d be clairvoyant )
Whoever replaces Hawkins in the long term (I feel it’s a question of when, not if, the axe falls on him) needs to be someone with a good work ethic and some humility, someone who’s capable of managing people but also running a tight ship. Hawkins is getting a crash course now not only on the Canadian game but on the substantial difference between coaching men and coaching boys. The latter will obey you because they’re kids who haven’t proven anything yet; the former are professionals whose respect and trust you must earn by proving yourself to them.
I haven’t seen morale this low in Montreal in over a decade. It’s not just fiery types like Hebert showing their frustration. When John Bowman and Anthony Calvillo, two of the least combustible Alouettes to ever don the jersey, are lashing out in the media, you know something is very, very wrong.
