Man, looking around here and some other sites and there it goes again, another round of "The Als Are Huge Trouble", dwelling in the cellar this year, no QB again .... etc. Man do people have short-term memory loss or something already?
As bad as they looked last night, they were in way worse shape last year, trust me. 1-7 and stinking at QB yet they turn the corner. Threads had even popped up calling for Jim Popp to get fired and Robert Wetenhall to resign as owner, yet somehow those 2 fixed it again.
I'm curious, if BC fails in Ottawa next week, are people gonna call for Wally Buono to get fired or call the Lions a hot mess?
Just seems like people keep forgetting that the real season starts after Labor Day and that's when people actually know which teams are for real and which ones aren't.
Montreal may be in another QB dilemma, but that's been the case now for the last couple years now and they still keep on making the playoffs, a streak that hasn't stopped since 96.
Thanks for this, friend. It's fashionable these days to dogpile the Als, but most of that dogpiling comes from people who don't have more than a surface-level awareness of the team's issues and challenges. We may well be basement dwellers this year, but one loss does not a season make.
I said well before last nights loss the Als would finish second in the east with a below .500 record, likely 7 to 8 wins. The loss of their #1 and 2 QB doesn't entice me to increase my expectations nor does lower them.
The Als will win no more than 7 or 8 this season, but 6-12 would be a surprise.
Als are a QB away from being a competitive football team. We all knew that going into the season. We will see how they manage that problem. What works against them is that Hamilton and Toronto are on extended road trips so the Als play one third of their home schedule in before August shows up. They won't recover if they start out like last year for that reason alone they won't be messing around. They pulled Crompton after a brutal half yesterday. They waited six weeks last year before making a move.
I see a few challenges with the Als. First one is, not unlike the Bombers, they are in search of a fixture at QB. After years of Khari and then Glenn, the QB was a revolving door searching for some stability and it's much the same in Montreal since AC was done. Defense may win championships, as the adage goes, but you still need a good QB to lead your offense.
Another is the D IMO. They have a good defense but 1. it suffers from lack of success on offense at times and 2. it seems to have lost some of it's identity. Chip Cox I think has lost some of that intimidating edge from years past and since Emery left there's been something missing I think. A lot of good pieces though and capable of holding their team in games more often than not still.
And lastly, management and coaching. Since Trestman left, the dynamic between Popp and the Wetenhalls has been off. First the hiring of Hawkins, then today I read reports that Higgins was hired without consultation or approval from Popp as well. Those same reports suggest Higgins' job is on a short leash with Popp. All the consultants they brought in trying to turn around last season, then Turk Schoenert holds out a while for an NFL job before taking the Als OC job as his fallback. It's a difficult task to transition to a young QB when there's so much instability like that.
Als are still a team capable of getting in the playoffs as they are in spite of last nights loss. But if they can get ownership, management, and coaching all aligned and settle in on a QB going forward they'll be back to that dominant team once again I think.
I guess I just look at things as a Bomber fan who's been all too familiar with fast starts and awful finishes. 2011 and last year being examples of that. I've also seen our organization push that panic button way too early such as 2012 when we fired Lapolice too early and caused the mess of 2013. I was no Lapo fan and thought if we didn't get things fixed at the end of that year that he should get fired, but we had the Buck Pierce problem and had just started under Elliot to get a little progress made after playing 4 straight road games to start the season and then ... Bam this happened.
I can only hope that our guys running the show now have learned from those mistakes because we have failed that lesson before and repeated history over and over again. Montreal often gets criticized early on in the season for these slow starts but many teams can do well to learn from Jim Popp how to fix things.
Anyway, here's to hoping things are different in the Peg this year.
Lets be clear. The ALS have had very, very few slow starts over the years where he "fixed it". Last year was the aberration arguably. And believe me he has taken credit for that turn around. The previous slow starts where he has gassed the HC and taken over, while holding the team hostage in his desire to maintain the HC job, he has been abysmal. But yes he wants Higgins gone.
Someone should ask Cahoon and Chui what it was like to be coached by this fellow.
And ask the assistant coaches while at it. Like Chris Jones. Tim Burke. Milanovich. Brady.
Or presidents like Larry Smith.
Oh my gosh yes. very short TCs and pre season's has every team feeling their way through at least the first half of the first 6 games.
After the first 3rd (6 games ) It will become a lot more clear as to whose who and whats what.
It's hard to say, but like I said, it just seems like every year this talk starts up, yet somebody in that Als organization always does something to get them in the playoffs. The cups may be off the shelf for the last 5 years now, but the Hamilton TigerCats hold on the east and playoff victories over the Als isn't gonna hold up forever. I'm just not going to count this team out until I actually see an "e" next to them in the standings bracket, and that has not happened in forever.
I'm certainly not counting anyone out this early.
Bridge should get the next start for the Als to allow Crompton and Lefevor some time to heal, IMO. He looked good for such little preparation time. Would love to see what happens after a week of 1st team reps.
Just a QB? their defense couldn't stop Ottawa from the 3 minute warning last night. They had Ottawa on their own 5 yard line but Ottawa marched up the field and took 3 minutes off the clock, not aided by any penalties. They have to figure out a way to stop the other team!
Next week they are at home to Calgary and Hamilton and Toronto have a tough road trip.
At the end of Week 2 it's possible that Ottawa will be 2 - 0, Ticats, Argos and the Als at 0 - 2 but things can change fast in the CFL and it's early.
I don't think anyone is counting out the Als it's all normal forum razzing by other fans, I am surprised how serious people take any little bit of criticism.
It's being reported that Lefevor suffered a dislocated shoulder and done for the year. Crompton with a sprain and week to week. Seems like it's either Cato or Bridge to start next week and as yet unnamed QB brought in to fill in the 3rd spot until Crompton recovers.
If that turns out to be the diagnosis, then I doubt we'll ever see Lefevor again. Too much time on the disabled list for anyone to take a chance on him in the future.