Also, I never understood the desire to go American at safety. That's a position where it's easy to find a good Canadian to do the job. I'm happy that Ackie is getting his shot finally. He's going to make mistakes, sure, but he plays hard and physical and I would bet money that he has a better nose for the ball (i.e. interceptions) than Brouillette ever had.
I agree, and it’s a position where they actually have some depth with their new rookie built some depth. Kavis overcomplicated matters.
I"m really interested in seeing the 42 man roster because according to the depth chart, I don’t see ONE spare import DB on there. that means anyone gets hurt in the backfield we are going to see a domino effect of position changes.
I suspect that’s Chap showing his rookie HC status. He’ll find out quickly enough that you can’t have just Canadians backing up Americans in the secondary, particularly at inside halfback.
This team has overlooked the Canadian receiver position for years. I really don't believe Haidara would be appropriate if needed. Pieszchalski has limited game exprience with the Als. Is Giguere playing? He did practice with the team yesterday. It will be very interesting to see how Ackie plays the safety position. We have not seen too much of him to date. However I recall the final game against Sask in 2015. Ackie, was starting his first game in the defensive backfield and I recall thinking he had a good performance and, I do remember him buzzing around the RR QB on that day. Two seasons ago I recall Boulay was angry when faced with a potential salary decrease which means the team had mixed feelings about him. However, Boulay has gone up in my experience and, had decent play last season. Would he be up for the MLB position if called upon? We are starting without Cash, an all star player and, looking at a newcomer at MLB replacing last year's all star at that position. We will be able to judge the appropriateness and wisdom of this today. Playing with one all star LT and, another import at RT, one can expect better protection for Durant and, better opportunities for our RBs to run up an increased running game. We will have a great opportunity to witness the results of all these changes against one of the weaker teams in the CFL. This has to be a must win!!!!
I believe when the Als rush 3 on defense, they are not putting in Nicolas Boulay at LB. Instead, they move Travis Hawkins to LB and insert rookie Dondre Wright into the secondary.
T-Shirt's defence gives up 10 points in last last two RR drives of the half ......... to KG?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Nic Demski had a fairly big 1st half for the Riders. Wonder if he was being defended by the same person.
Als looked bad on that big run. Now Travis Hawkins is hurt.
Live from Mcgill, this defence is total poopoo
I do not think Travis Hawkins returned on that last series as Dominique Termansen was in.
Als are fortunate and lucky to come out with a win.
Defense only had minimal pressure on Kevin Glenn. I also question why Jacques Chapdelaine said they would insert a Canadian LB in a 3-4. Maybe he should have asked Noel Thorpe first. Thorpe never even considered inserting Nicolas Boulay or Frederic Plesius at LB even when there were injuries on that side of the ball.
Glad we now have a defense that cant stop kevin f. Glenn so we can field an offense that posts ... 17 points at home. :oops: :oops:
Lucky win tonight. Ugly year ahead.
I don’t agree, there were some gross officiating errors that flipped the momentum completely. Even Suitor who’s in the bag for the Riders admitted so. Nick Lewis was clearly down by contact. Bede better get his head on straight. I don’t know what is wrong with this guy’s game but it is clearly mental.
Yup I agree about some tough calls.
I thought O-line was great. Was Durant even touched all night? That's a good sign.
Bede still a headcase. Run d still awful. Run game still under-used. Team still needs D to hold other team to fewer than 20 points to win. Same old so far.
If it is representative of what that offense can produce I agree. It’s a really small sampling and there are a couple really weak spots with this team. When you compare Demski’s production to Piedcelery, you see the lack of capable Canadian receivers on this team can cripple this offense. We also saw that Kavis front four is crippled at the DT position. This teams needs a quality Canadian receiver and needs to develop a Canadian to play RT. Basically, the front four is paying the price to play Simmons.
Early in this game our offensive team showed plenty of frustration, Sutton was running well and Durant went for a short passing game. There were few first downs as the team was unable to maintain its offense. Yes there were some very good running plays and, there were a few short passes completed by Durant but, the team was unable to get much yardage nor first downs with this effort. Frustration was the dominant feeling I felt as I watched a team going no where offensively. This turned to horror when I watched Bede miss his first FG of this season, thankfully he was later to connect on 1 FG. He also demonstrated his ability to shank a kick and, his kicking average was just under 40 yds. What's to come?
On defense Jon Mincy was the MVP in our game. He was successful against the run and the pass and, he was able to keep Devon Carter from scoring nor ( with one exception ) was Carter able to rack up much yardage. Mincy had a key interception late in the game stopping a RR drive.Glen had a good passing game and, his best receiver Dempski was the RR's best offensive player in this defensive game. We still don't have Canadian receiving strength, Pieozchaiski dropped a few passes although he did manage one short completion. Finally Cunningham took a long pass from Durant and, added much yak yards for a TD. I would rate him as our best long ball receiver to date. He was demonized in this Forum as being guilty of drops, although I haven't witnessed this. Since his first long TD reception in the last game of the 2015 season, Cunningham has show this long ball ability. He and Lewis have been our best receivers. Cunningham also tonight showed his lateral speed and drive mirroring the end around play twice for good yards. Our passing game was brutal, Durant thew several passes into the dirt. I will be pleased to have Giguere back in action.
In the final Q our defense could not stop a RR surge. Glen was completing easily and their RB was moving well.but, the clock stopped this and, we lucked out with that last second missed FG. The RR's had moved well by throwing an unusual formation of two receivers going into the same receiver zone, sometimes teams have to utilize unusual means at achieving some success. It fooled our defense.We were lucky to win this game.
Has the insertion of 2 imports at tackle improved our running and passing game? Not in this game!Has the two Canadian DT's been up to the speed of Cash last season. We have not the answer to these questions based on this game. Likely we will get these questions answered in future games and, after the coaches have studied this game on film and, after much pre game practice.
The star of tonight's game has to be Jovin Johnson. He was in the mix all evening, intercepting, tackling, batting down some of Durant's passes. Jovin was the veteran glue that helped our two young corners last season. We now have a couple of newcomers in defensive background. Perhaps JJ's experience might help the young defenders this season?
Between Bede and the officiating. They fought off a lot of adversity. We need to find better at the Canadian receiver position very quickly. Now its off to Edmonton where both of our lines will be very well tested.
With the benefit of a replay and the PAUSE button, I now realize that I was wrong about how the Als changed personnel when swithching from the 4-3 to 3-4. What the Als did was remove a non-import DT, move Chris Ackie from Safety to WILL LB, and insert rookie Dondre Wright at Safety.
After Travis Hawkins was injured, the Als used Dominique Termansen at Field Corner. So in the 2nd half, the Als were using 4 non-imports on defense.
Dondre Wright had a big game for his first Pro Game. 2 ST tackles and 2 DT in a half of football…
This makes the Plesius for Shorthill trade even dumber. Shorthill could play outside, Plesius can’t. Hopefully, Raymon Taylor is ready to go next week.