Good points, Discipline. I hear ya.....
Once again the team has been reading the press releases. There is very little defense in the CFL. A team with a good defense could go along way. Sadly, I cannot remember when the Cats had even a half decent defense.
"Building a good offensive line takes time and patience."
I don't know how you can build any line, D or O if youre going to retool year after year with the
As an Alouettes fan
I can't help being pleased you think your new running back is so great
You might want to get Burris drunk and ask what he thinks
IMO your ONE problem on O last night was that Burris had zero time to make his reads
And when he got pressured he rarely had an effective escape valve
Hmm...a great blocking back and someone who knows when to release to give his QB another option
Who does that bring to mind?
There's no doubt young "Chevy" has loads of talent at running back
But there's so much more to the position than running and catching the ball
It was more than apparent that the Cats got blinded last night by their own glitz
Successful football franchises have "glitz" and "grunt" in more or less equal measure
It may not be as "hypeful" for your fans
But then if you win...you stand less chance of them turning on you at mid-season
Hopefully you all can wipe some of the stars out of your eyes
Before it's too late
But as an Als fan I have to say:
"Yup that Chevon Walker...some talent that kid"
Either that and you do what Taman did in Sask:
[url=http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/02/16/brendon-labatte-heading-home-to-join-the-saskatchewan-roughriders/]http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/02/ ... ughriders/[/url]Labatte gets $200,000
and
Picard gets $150,000
“Make it so Number One”
:wink:re O-linemen... Apparently Obie tried to resign Rottier, who had developed into a decent NI lineman, but like Fantuz, Rottier was determined to play closer to home in Alberta (Edmonton).
How is Hamilton “closer to home” for Picard? He’s from Quebec. Sure, Hamilton is closer to Quebec than Saskatchewan, but that’s not at all the same as LaBatte going back to province he was born in. Also, do you have any proof that Picard wanted to sign with Hamilton? A link to an interview or anything?
And why would the Ti-Cats want to get rid of Hage? He was a league all-star and finalist for top lineman in 2010. He probably would have been at least a division all-star had he not been injured last year and would have been in the discussion for top lineman. Not exactly the type of guy you go out and replace. Hage is working his way back from a knee injury; he may not have looked great last night, but he’ll get back to being one of the best centres in the game soon enough.
But comparing LaBatte going back to Saskatchewan when he was born in Saskatchewan and Picard potentially signing in Hamilton when he’s from Quebec are hardly the same thing. Rottier going to Edmonton and Fantuz coming to Hamilton are people going “closer to home.” A guy who is from Quebec and played college ball at Laval signing with the Ti-Cats is not really staying “closer to home.”
Of course there’s uncertainty, there always is when a player returns from an injury, but it’s also foolish to say the team should have let Hage go and brought in Picard based one game’s worth of evidence. One game versus a body of work that suggests he’s a great player and he should be put out to pasture? Every time Obie brings a new guy in cuts an old guy, I see you are your buddy talk about how terrible Obie is for doing that. Now you say he should have gotten rid of Hage because he had one bad game after not playing since last Labour Day and signed Picard? You can’t have it both ways. You can’t throw dirt on Obie when he does get rid of someone and then throw dirt on him when he doesn’t. I think Obie has made some bad decisions in his time as GM, but I’m not about to say he should have let Hage go because he played poorly in one game. That seems more than a little knee-jerk to me.
I am still bewildered why Corzez would not throw the challenge flag, especially when the riders were trying to hurry the next play in knowing that it wasn't a catch or call a time out, or at least one player has a leg injury. There were so many options to delay the next play to get a good look at it. :roll:
8) According to Cortez, he was trying to find out from his coaches in the press box if they got a good look at the play in
question, and they couldn't give him a quick accurate answer !!
Cortez stated this on his post game interview on CHML.
He also admitted, that in hindsight, he should have simply thrown his challenge flag immediately.
What I find ironic is that none of the other coaches on the sideline could confirm it was an incomplete pass either !!
If the fans on that side of the field could see that the pass was really incomplete, why couldn't any of his coaches,
or even some of the TiCat players see it ????
Even if his challenge was overuled, what did he have to lose, other than his future challenge ??
I guess it was a Rookie head coach mistake and he admitted it. With his experience thats a muligan !! Texas :cowboy:
Finally, it's not Hage in isolation. It's the neglect of the offensive line that bothers me. Obie has done good things in Hamilton. But his failure to build a consistent, championship-quality offensive line after four years as GM is troubling.This is definately a problem not just for the Ticats but I see the same problem with Winnipeg and the Argos. Teams trying to juggle the Import/non Import ratio and trying to get the best players on the field but it is obvious that there are just not enough NI OLs out there. We have some great offensive players, best receiving corps, great running back and a great QB but if the QB can't be protected, can't get rid of the ball fast enough, then there is no Offense.
Yes, you’re absolutely right, it’s a problem that afflicts Hamilton, Toronto, and Winnipeg. Toronto is particularly egregious. They have no respect for their Canadian content and clearly just threw together a bunch of cast-off Canadians on the O-line for ratio reasons. They don’t field a single dominant Canadian starter at any position – their best players are all American. Obie has done a better job in Hamilton, but there are still problems to fix.
I didnt get to watch the game...thank god. I got updates all night I could not believe what I was reading. This is a huge letdown after all the hype. Lets hope Cortez can get this team prepared for the Leos next week. No need to hit panic button yet...but we all have the panic button in mind now which is never a good thing.
…have to agree that the o lines on all of the mentioned teams are lacking…I doubt you could put together one good unit out of all three teams :lol: …The team that corrects this problem will start seeing some success…
Like him or not
You have to respect Jim Popp’s approach
By his own admission…his first priority was/is an all Canadian offensive line
And there’s no doubt we’ve had one of the best for about a decade
Granted…it’s pretty much going to be a priority when you’re QB has lead in his boots
But even a scrambling QB like Burris quickly runs out of options when he’s surrounded by hostility on every play
I may have questioned Popp’s tactics/decisions at times over the years
But there’s no doubt he knows you need to build your team from the core out
And your core strength or weakness starts on the offensive line.
I think we can all agree that having a solid offensive line is important. Whether a team’s best possible offensive line would consist entirely of non-imports is a separate question.
I think the philosophy Obie employs here (as he did in B.C.) is that top-notch Canadian offensive tackles are hard enough to find that unless you can assemble exceptional depth, the dropoff from a top Canadian OT to his backup would be too great. I think the theory is that import offensive tackles are easier to replace in case of injury. And of course, the scarcity of elite Canadian OTs allows them to command a pretty penny, which is another complicating factor in trying to field an all-Canadian O-line. Not that it can’t be done, but you need to have some good fortune in avoiding injuries, having your draft picks live up to their potential, and retaining free agents. In recent years the Cats got burned by Zac Carlson (bust) and Rottier (ditched the team to go back to Edmonton). It will be interesting to see what happens with Petrus and Rockhill in the long run.
I know alot of us are thinking this is just a bad dream. That the cats will go into BC and beat the Lions or at least make
a good game out of it. We looked so good on paper and were ready to take on the world. We knew that our D was lacking,but
we thought that the O would make up for the D until it came around.
I have been a Cat fan for Fifty years and this is the worst Defence I have ever seen.I don't think Peach will be much of
an improvement. Without sustained pressure on the opposing QB our mediocre secondary has no chance in hell.
There is how its going down against the Lions. The cats will play very hard against the LIONS because of their
embarrassing lost to the riders , but because of their lack of talent they will accumulate alot of penalties and get
blown out again.
That's how I see it!
Its no different than any other position. The drop off behind a Sanchez, Emry, Cornish, Hinds…
Durant did a great job of getting the next play off. Also, why did no on field player inform the coach it was not a catch?