I think before anyone considers replacing the 'skill players" I think serious consideration should be given to rectifying Charllie's mistakes. The Ticats are in dire need of an offensive line and the concentration should be on quality Canadians from Canadian Universities.
Some of the line is getting long in the tooth while some of the American trained players do not live up to expectation.
I don't understand why it's Charlies fault. He only put in the guys he had on the roster. Unfortunately he is the GM.
Everyone wants to blame the guy who left. If you look at our record, we still stank when Chuck left.
Please blame Obie. He was the GM and this was the best he could do last year even though we were sooooooooooooooooooooooo far under the cap.
I think our Can content is fine already on the O-Line.
We need only 3 starters from our group of Hage, Hudson, Dyakowski, Rempel, JP, Gagne-Marcoux.
Where the O-Line is desperate for help is two Import tackles.
Itend to agree that if you can improve at the tackles, the inside guys could be OK. Look at the 2007 Als. Gave up a ton of sacks, AC was getting killed. Add Bourke and Perrett and boom! Best O line in the league.
They Also lost the OC who Called the plays
He is now our head coach so there is another Reason
Montreal got Better
Onknight, you sure have become jaundiced in recent weeks. You are developing into a real Mr. Negativity, which isn't nearly as becoming as your former constructive self. I hope we make some off-season moves that will restore your positive attitude. Meantime, have a good weekend.
The Als add Bourke and Perrett and their line shows great improvement.Both players are Canadian and the Als OLine is all Canadian.I guess that blows up the argument that the Cats need American tackles.Calgary starts two rookie Canadian guards and the last time I checked the Stamps were doing okay.Bekasiak played a quarter against the Bombers front four and played well.If we start an all Canadian O Line then we get the flexibility to play Americans at linebacker and DLine when needed.
Next year we could see a line of Dyakowski and Hudson at tackle,Gagne Marcoux and Bekasiak at guard, and Hage at centre.Remember that Hudson has played tackle in this league and also backs up at centre along with Marcoux.Rempel and one more Canuck lineman for depth could solidify the line.
Lets stick with these young men and let them grow as a unit.Cohesion comes with experience and the only way to get it is to let them play.
Pat Lynch(the old guy in section 7) 
I rarely disagree with the old guy in section 7, but this time I do.
Montreal is the exception rather than the rule.
They do have a great collection of Non-Import O-Lineman....no doubt about it, but the fact that they have AC with the lightning quick release it makes their line lets say "less important" than that of other teams.
Montreal gets to load up their receiving core and defense because of their line....and Cahoon and Davis Sanchez aren't bad Canadian starters either!!!
I put Montreal as the exception, rather than the rule when building their O-Line and being All Canadian.
I like the B.C. model.
Get two BIG-MEAN Import studs to play Offensive Tackle spots, and fill out the rest of the line with Non-Imports.
That is my opinion anyways!
In Montreal, the big problem wasn't necessarily the tackles -- Bourke played for us last year, something most forget -- but the offensive schemes (Bellefeuille) and the protection schemes (Charlie Carpenter). Both were horrible, the team didn't buy into them, and when your team isn't buying in, there's no confidence that you can execute properly. Someone from the Als O-line (I think it was Lambert, but it might have been Chiu) said that last season, they were flying around trying to block everything that came through the line; it was chaos, no discipline, no organization. This chaos was magnified by the fact that Bellefeuille tried to change Calvillo's drop and footwork and called his usual crap-fest of plays that took way too long to develop.
This year, with Bellefeuille gone and Vince Martino in charge of the O-line, they're solidified on the inside (Chiu, Lambert, Flory). They concentrate on keeping certain areas protected but don't sweat it if someone comes in unblocked off the edge. Calvillo knows this and thus has confidence when making his pre-snap reads and then throwing the ball. It obviously doesn't hurt that A.C. has one of the quickest releases in the league, that Trestman runs a controlled timing offense built around the quick-passing game, and that our receivers, by and large, know how to read blitz at the line and adjust their routes to help the QB out. Hamilton has none of these things.
The way I see it going forward, the Cats have to do the following:
Incorporate a quick-passing game into the playbook. You simply can't have your QB taking five-step drops and waiting 3+ seconds for a receiver to get open on every player. It's suicide.
Bring in better talent across the line, and scheme for them. Pass-blocking has to be solid, and guys have to buy into the protection schemes. Only by doing this will trust develop between Porter and the O-line. If your QB doesn't trust his hogs to pass-block, he won't be effective, because he'll always be looking at the rush instead of downfield. Porter already has problems checking down, the last thing you want to do is give him one more thing to think about.
Acquire at least one possession receiver who can bail his QB out by running a hot route to beat pressure. Rodriguez is a phenomenal talent but he's a deep threat. You need a Cahoon-type player whom Porter can count on in second and long.
All receivers need to figure out their scramble routes when the play breaks down. Currently, they just run their designated routes even when their QB is running for his life and needs them to get open by any means necessary.
Couldn’t agree more. I beleive they had Dyakowski play as a tackle for part of the last game, which could give the team a little more flexibility. Hudson is starting to get old, but we pretty much didn’t have Gagne-Marcoux all year.
Regardless of the nationality, we need some tackles. Most of the sacks given up, can from the outside, not through the middle, and we generally ran between the tackles, so it shows that the middle 3 did a good job this year (ie. we led the league in rushing yards).
PJ
What he said.
Dykowski is a major disappointment. He is continually beaten, especially on passing downs.
As for Hage he is in the same boat.
I guess all of the experts in Hamilton like mediocrity and have accepted this fate.
The O line is the weakness of this team and I agree that if they could get some good Canadian tackles, they could concentrate on the back field with more quality players.
In respect of Chalie, he was doomed from day one when he brought in all of his coaching talent from the US. These coaches did not understand the Canadian game!
Charlie was a legend in his own mind!
Dykowski is not a disappointment at all. He is still quite green as he only has 2 seasons under his belt along with only playing about 6-7 games his first year. He is quite fast for his size (6’5", 290) and has the versatility to play both guard and tackle. The talent he has is really quite technical and precise when he is on his game. Has he made mistakes? Hell yes… but no more than anyone else with the same amount of experience at the pro level. O line is a lot more complicated and athletic than a lot of people think and it takes just as long to develop a good lineman as it does to develop any position. Going from college to pro there is a big upgrade in the speed of the game. The speed upgrade is felt most by the linemen on both sides of the ball. The trenches in pro ball are a brutal place and you have to balance a cool head, assignment and using 100% of your physical ability. He will be an all-star within 3 years… you heard it here.
As for Hage… well… he is not the player he used to be. He seems to be on the down sooner than most. A good centre will fly over and grab edge rushers once or twice a game. I have not seen Hage do this in about 3 years. I do really respect the guy though. He is loyal to the Cats and has a heart of gold.
Of the 8 teams in the CFL,only 3 use two Americans on the OLine( Esks,BC,TiCats). The Riders, Stamps, Bombers and Argos play one import on the OLine and of course the Als have an all Canadian line.
If the CFL is a league of trends, I sure hope Obie follows that to it's logical conclusion and starts an all Canuck OLine in 2009.
Pat Lynch(the old guy in section 7)
disciplineandpunish;
You said it all...good analysis. The only home game I made it to this season was when we beat Montreal. When you can see all of Montreal's offence (not the part you see on TV) developing... it gives a new appreciation of Calvillo's impact. There are guys open every play but the speed at which it all works at is really something to see.
I like see ticats Trade Printers for Wayne Smith .
Wayne has been been able to stay healthy with the Riders..
Would nice to bring him back home after that bad trade