Next Up. . . Toronto

Alouettes de Montréal
#1

Okay our next game is Saturday in Toronto vs. the Argos. Hamilton will likely have beaten the Afro-communists the night before, so we'll need this one to keep our share of first place. Mrs MadJack and I will be in attendance.

So, what to look for?

Here's a few things I'd be looking at doing, were I to be paid the big bucks to make these kinds of decisions. But, sadly, I don't expect any of these to occur, but I can dream, can't I?

  1. Chad Johnson. . . thanks for stopping by, but here, take a seat, and watch as Kenny Stafford takes your roster spot. He can hardly contribute less than you have.

  2. Jonathan Crompton. . . here, let me introduce you to Kenny Stafford, SJ Green, Dave Stala, James Rodgers, and Tyrell Sutton; just so you know, you are permitted to throw the ball to them. Not every pass has to be thrown to Duron Carter or Brandon London, as well as those two have been playing. You can bet your bottom dollar that Tim Burke will have his defence double-teaming Carter, so be aware that you do have other options out there.

  3. Bear Woods. . . terrific season you are having sir, you've removed any regrets anyone may have had about Shea Emry taking his act to Toronto. And get a haircut.

  4. Ryan Dinwiddie. .. the game officially starts with the opening kickoff, not with the start of the second quarter. So, please, dial up some plays for Crompton to run in the first quarter for a change.

  5. Mike Edem. . . young man, you start on Saturday. Ricky Ray is a surgeon of a QB, and I think we need you in the middle of the secondary.

  6. Winston Venable; keep up the good work man, you are making it easy for us to part ways in the offseason with Kyries Hebert.

#2

All good points, Jack.

I'm not sanguine, though. Short week facing a future Hall of Fame quarterback and a receiver (Owens) who has made our life miserable for years now. We could afford to waste a quarter at home against SSK starting a QB who wasn't trusted to throw the ball. We start that slow against Toronto and they will bury us. Tim Burke always plays us tough.

If I had any advice to Noel Thorpe, it would be to go blitz retro for the opening quarter. Zone blitz, man fire, HB blitz, overload looks, you name it. Dare him to make the correct hot read and perfect throw against different looks and fronts. Let him know very early in the game that regardless of whether the play succeeds or not, you will smack him in the mouth and force him to pay a heavy price to move the chains. Ray's no spring chicken and he doesn't like getting hit. You smash him early in the game and he will get very tentative and start checking down, at which point you can start dropping off into different coverages. Turn that defense loose and let them attack Ray. If we get beaten on the deep ball, who cares? Better to give up a quick TD and let our offense back on the field than a long, agonizing, clock-chewing TD drive that keeps Crompton cold on the bench.

#3

Merci MadJack! Je me sens moins seul, subitement. :thup:

2. Jonathan Crompton. . . here, let me introduce you to Kenny Stafford, SJ Green, Dave Stala, James Rodgers, and Tyrell Sutton; just so you know, you are permitted to throw the ball to them. Not every pass has to be thrown to Duron Carter or Brandon London, as well as those two have been playing. You can bet your bottom dollar that Tim Burke will have his defence double-teaming Carter, so be aware that you do have other options out there.
Bon conseil. Mais il faudra avoir une certaine indulgence avec Crompton. Il mange ses croûtes et s'améliore un peu chaque fois.
3. Bear Woods. . . terrific season you are having sir, you've removed any regrets anyone may have had about Shea Emry taking his act to Toronto. And get a haircut.
Surtout pas! Rappelez-vous Samson.
4. Ryan Dinwiddie. .. the game officially starts with the opening kickoff, not with the start of the second quarter. So, please, dial up some plays for Crompton to run in the first quarter for a change.
Oui, mais il va falloir que Crompton et sa bande les exécutent comme il faut. Crompton me semble toujours commencer ses parties avec une relative nervosité, ce qui lui amène une relative imprécision.
5. Mike Edem. . . young man, you start on Saturday. Ricky Ray is a surgeon of a QB, and I think we need you in the middle of the secondary.
Ça s'appelle une prière, ça.
6. Winston Venable; keep up the good work man, you are making it easy for us to part ways in the offseason with Kyries Hebert.
J'aimerais mieux garder les deux. Ça fait une rotation terrifiante chez nos secondeurs.
#4

Hey, valid point. I never thought of that !

Well, if you peruse the Off Topic forums at all, you'll quickly realize that I am most emphatically not a religious person.

#5

As we say in English, LeStaf, he doesn't have a prayer... :wink:

#6

Interesting article from Dave Naylor and I couldn't agree with him more. Maybe that will play in the Als' favour?

[url=http://www.tsn.ca/naylor-toronto-is-not-a-football-town-1.105964]http://www.tsn.ca/naylor-toronto-is-not ... n-1.105964[/url]
#7

Beating Montreal is a source of pride for Milanovich just like it is for Chris Jones. This is a big challenge and for me would be an upset.

#8

Battre les Alouettes de 2014 est un gros défi?

Je crois que les aspirations de Milanovitch visent plus haut, tout de même. Qu’on le veuille ou non, les Alouettes gagnent leurs parties de façon bien étrange. L’attaque ne fait rien d’extraordinaire, rien de si impressionnant dans la qualité de son exécution, mais elle réussit à gagner des parties. Quand elle n’y parvient pas, c’est la défensive qui fait le boulot. Je crois que les Argonauts et Milanovitch asiprent plutôt à rivaliser avec les Stampeders ou les Eskimos. Les Alouettes, c’est se niveler vers le bas.

Je ne minimise pas que les Alouettes ont probablement la défensive de l’heure dans la LCF. Mais ils n’ont rien de très solide par ailleurs.

Disons que c’est son défi de la semaine à défaut d’en avoir un plus exigeant.

#9

I think what he's saying is that beating us is always something special for Als alumni like Milanovich and Jones, not that we're any great shakes as a team in 2014.

#10

No, beating Toronto on the road is for the Als.

#11

On s'entend là-dessus.

Et si les Alouettes parviennent à gagner cette partie en muselant l'attaque des Argonauts, je vais réellement commencer à croire à leurs chances d'aller en éliminatoires.

#12

To make it Montreal needs to go 3-1 the rest of the way and that means stealing a game in Toronto or Hamilton... Tough road and the defense will need to play lights out football the rest of the way.

#13

I still don't believe that the Als are post-season bound and agree with Hfx that they have to go at least 3-1 over the last 4 games to have a chance. They have experienced success of late, but with a "rookie" QB still making rookie mistakes. We won big on Monday, but a few of his tosses could easily have been picked. In a close game, this often ends up being the difference between a W and L.

This is the CFL, so anything can happen before the season ends, so I won't count the Als out just yet. We have great players in many key positions, but the issue has been at the key position - QB. Will Crompton rise to the occasion?

As a fan, my heart always wants my team to win, no matter what. My head, however, tells me something else.

#14

Très lucide!

Vercheval a souligné la même chose au sujet des passes "interceptables" de Crompton. Bravo!

Pour poursuivre dans la veine de ce commentaire, je dirais ceci. Avec Smith, nous serions certains de ce que la tête croit. Avec Crompton, nous croyons que la tête peut se tromper.

#15

I don't think they're postseason bound either. It's a tough schedule down the stretch and we still haven't proven that we can play 60 minutes of football in all three phases. On the plus side, if we miss the playoffs, I hope that spells the end of Ned Flanders in Montreal.

#16

Well I tend to agree about not making the playoffs. . . but let's take it one game at a time.

To beat Toronto, let's face it, Ricky Ray's most dangerous weapon is Chad Owens.

So to stop him. . .how about, regardless of whatever scheme Thorpe dials up play by play, we take one defensive guy out of the scheme, and put him on Owens man-to-man on every play. And make it someone who is our best cover guy and has speed.

#17

Cox?

#18

Well I was thinking about either him or maybe Parker. But what I want to avoid is having the WILL LB, Venable, isolated on him one on one with no help, as happened to Hamilton last time against the Argos, when he burned Eric Harris who couldn't keep up with him and gave Toronto the win.

#19

Owens is such an amazing player, gets knocked down, injured, but keeps coming back. He looks as quick as ever.

With the waggle it`s hard to jam him, but I would say you have to double team him, Cox and a DB.

I also would expect Ray to work on Mitchell White on the far corner.

#20

Chiles is excellent and he's back to health. Killed the Tiger-Cats last week with 8 catch for over 120 yards. 8 guys caught balls every from Ray every game the last 3 weeks, they couldn't even dress Brazill last week.

Their offense is running on all cylinders. Their last 3 games they put 40, 34, 33 points on the board...