New system and more...

How about that offense. That is a great system by Bellefeuille. No points scored running or passing (Imoh did run well, I must admit). If that is a glimpse of the new system, it is awful. The new system was supposed to use play action to render the opposing defense less aggressive. Well, they only got 8 QB sacks and were in the backfield all night long. I think the Als failed on this. The new offense was also supposed to have a good running game, and the running game would allow big plays in the passing game. All of the passes by AC were short; he averaged 9.8 yards per completion and 6.9 yards per attempt. Again, this is a failing grade. The new offense was supposed to confuse the opposing defense. The only one who looked confused was AC.

AC had a trainer this winter and supposedly trained really hard. He now also has a QB coach who obsesses over him. He also has a coach to call the plays for him; so he does not have to think too much (he just has to execute). The CFL also brought back the old balls with the painted lines (last year AC said the new ball with the stitches gave him a hard time).

Well, AC did not execute tonight. He threw many "lame duck" wobbly passes (look at his first interception). He looked confused all night. He was sacked 8 times and threw 3 interceptions. His QB rating for the game is 57.3. Simply awful. With all of the help he has received (QB coach, etc), what does he need more? Maybe he needs someone to chew his food before he can swallow it.

He threw 3 interceptions at or near the the opposing end zone. He killed his team tonight. The defense was stellar (except for a few missed tackles on Kerry Joseph), but AC kept them (the defense) on the field.

Damon Duval shanked a punt, missed an easy field goal. Where was his head? Ben Cahoon, awesome as always. The only guy on offense who gets an "A" tonight.

I hope this is just a bad game where the offense is still learning. But, AC looked like a rookie when reading defenses, and he threw like an old man; not a good combination...

Question: how does a CFL fan applaud Marcel Bellefeuille for his great work?

Answer: WHAT GREAT WORK???

And this is why I've been hating on Bellefeuille since forever. If this is our shiny new offense, we are going to be the '04 1-17 Ti-Cats of 07. Atrocious playcalling that looked eerily similar to what we did last year. Predictable outs to the sidelines. Shotgun formation. Barely any play-action. The same old blocking formation for the run. And just some terrible decision-making from Calvillo.

Did we try even one crossing route? Shovel passes? Quarterback options with the RB as decoy, or vice-versa? That last INT made me scream in frustration, because it just showed Bellefeuille's utter lack of imagination. Okay, you've had a bit of success going weak-side with the quick outs. You're in the red zone. You don't think Saskatchewan's tough, experienced defense is going to jump on that play if you run it a THIRD consecutive time? But no, back to the well once too often and it's picked.

We could have hired Chapdelaine as O.C. and we didn't. We could have hired Chris Jones to be our head coach and let him hire his own assistants, and we didn't. We could have at least interviewed a series of qualified candidates for both positions, but we didn't. And here we are. Offensive schemes that couldn't fool a child, an aging offense that can't execute like it used to, and a head coach who knows zero about coaching, who let his own elephantine ego and desire for the spotlight cloud his judgment.

Calvillo's historically weak arm is even worse than before. Not much a team can do with lame duck passes floating into defenders hands.

Time to retire, Anthony, while the season is still salvageable.

Sorry Zog... but i don't agree with you at all! Cavillo is a top notch player, he always was until Belfeille stepped into Montreal last year, then he went downhill. Hmm i wonder why?? I blame this on Belfeille i mean what good does a 7-yard route on half your plays do?? Those have to be timed very good or else they are picked off like Davis' pick! I think the problem is in Belfeille not Cavillo, but you know that's just my opinion and you guys are the Montreal fans and know more about them than i ever will probably! But yea thats my opinion!

Just my opinion, too.

Their Grey Cup win was in spite of Calvillo, not because of him. Naming him MVP was an injustice to all the other Grey Cup MVP's.

With the teams the Als have had, any decent QB could have won his (or her) share of games. With an elite QB, they could have won a heap of Grey Cups.

IMHO, Calvillo peaked with the Las Vegas Posse.

Yeaa, you could be right, i guess the real test will be this year because he only has 2 solid receivers at the moment!

I bet he's gone by week 8. Too immobile and no arm. Hopefully his lame duck passes don't set up Cahoon for a serious injury.

It IS refreshing to see he isn't doing the backstreet boys arm wave dance prior to the snap this season. Man, that was lame. Was that supposed to instill fear in the defence, or make them double over with laughter?

Happy Canada Day!

Calvillo had a bad game but I think it's a mistake to call him a lame duck Quarterback with a weak arm. A lot of the blame has to be on him for this loss, but c'mon a 5 year old could craft a more creative gameplan. Quite fitting that they end the game on a 9 yard sideline pass when they needed 10.

Calvillo's past success gives him a mulligan this time, if his poor downfield throws continue you can start to blame him, but I think right now most of the blame needs to fall on Popp and Marcel. Popp should not be coaching this team while still retaining his other responsibilites.

Kerry Joseph tonight provided a great example of the reality that a QB who can run is a great asset in the CFL.His running was the spark in the Riders victory over the Als. Joseph passed when needed and the Riders were excellent on defense stalling any offense by the Als. He was, by far, the night's best QB.
The Alouetts were without offense this evening. What I perceived were the same sideline passes that were ineffective last year. Calvillo was off his mark and this has to be his worst outing since joining the club ten years ago. This season was to include a better offense with Calvillo being halped by having his plays sent in. There was to be play action and better use of the screen pass. Instead we saw the same old same old.
In fairness The Als were without Robert Edwards who is their best running threat. Without Edwards play action would be impossible. Imoh showed some speed. Perhaps when Edwards returns to action the team might develop the promised running attack.
The outstanding Alouette in thnight's game was Ben Cahoon. He was magnificent!. I liked Kerry Watkins end around play which gained a first down early in the game. For some reason this effective play was not tried again.
Calvillo stuck with the sideline pass throughout the game and the strike down field was missing. This has been a play Calvillo had success with in previous years but it was rarely called tonight. In addition, one of the weak points of the team last year was at the receiver position. This was the year when Popp, who had success at recruiting, was to uncover some speedy wide receivers to provide the team with a deep threat. Perhaps Popp was so busy with his many duties that recruitment might have been missing with American players as it was in the inept Canadian draft this year.
For the first time in ten years the Als stumbled and did not demonstrate offensive power early in the their opening game. I hope we will not have more of the same as the season progresses.

Well you sure dont know what you are talking about.

  1. many times a floater is thrown on purpose!
  2. This season, AC should become the 2nd highest yardage QB in CFL histoy, behind only Damon Allen.

Allen passed the 50,000 yard mark in his 16th season to take the lead from Lancaster. AC will do it in his 14th

Calvillo passed for 5,000 yards in 5 straight seasons, he's what? The 4th QB ever to do that?

I was at the game Friday, I don't think Calvillo played bad at all. He completed 29 of 39 passes. 2 of those incomplete passes, had some clear obstruction on them. About 90% of the completed passes, Calvillo put it right where the receiver can get it.

For me, it was a new system the Offense is running on. Complete new playbook. Of course you're going to make mistakes.

It's like learning a new system in Math. When you just learned your Multiplications, you learn Division next year. You understand the system and know what to do, but you will make mistakes at the beginning.

Montreal sports fans are known for jumping on and off the bandwagon, but don't do it this early... It's just 1 game.

Saskatchewan is a good team on top of it. You can't take credit away from their Defense either.

Ryooon, while I agree that Calvillo didn't play as badly as people think, I disagree that this was a new playbook. What's new about it? Those quick outs, the running plays out of shotgun to a stationary running back, the complete absence of the long ball, the unwillingness to throw crossing routes to counter the blitz, the predictability of the playcalling ... this is last year's offense, but worse. Apart from that one end/reverse play, I didn't see anything new out there on Thursday night. I saw the same old tired plays called over and over again.

Wow, the emergency rooms must be full with all you people falling off the bandwagon. Everyone should have expected a slow start. When you go from the same offensive system for five years to a new one, it will take time to get the timing down.

Blaming Calvillo is ridiculous. Two of the three interceptions were more a result of timing than actual errors by the QB. In general he looked sharp, despite spending a good part of the night running for his life. One thing you have to remember, with a complete new offense, it means new blocking schemes for the O-Line. Receivers and QBs aren't the only ones who have to get their timing down, the linemen do as well. One thing I can say with certainty is that there in nothing wrong with Calvillo's arm. The wide side out is one of the hardest throws in the CFL, and he was zipping them in there.
As for the gameplan called by Bellefeuille, I will reserve judgement until he has his full starting lineup in there, and the team has had a chance to gel more. What I saw in that game was a team that probably put in a basic gameplan that the players were comfortable with. A new O is a work in progress, and I think week by week they will implement more of the plays, so that the deeper we get into the season, we will get better and better. That way we will peak come playoff time. Unfortunately, that means some growing pains in the beginning, so I would suggest a lot of the "fans" on here wear helmets and padding to prevent serious injury falling off the bandwagon.

Oh, please, I'm not falling off any bandwagon. I've seen the 'offense' that Bellefeuille ran in Saskatchewan and it was putrid. Ask any sane Roughriders fan and they'll tell you the same. I wasn't expecting perfection, or even consistency, but I WAS expecting some good things to hang our hats on. I saw nothing good. That was an unacceptable performance.

I am going to reserve final judgment until a third of the season has passed, but I don't expect anything.

Noone is jumping off the bandwagon here. At least none of the real fans are.

Just take a look at the number of the posts of the complainers!
They sign up just to complain and wil prob never be heard from again