Tensions in locker room?

Alouettes de Montréal
#1
[url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Zurkowsky+Frustration+starting+show+among+Alouettes/10092521/story.html]http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Z ... story.html[/url]

Apparently, some Als players consider Duron Carter selfish, while others are noticing that one Chad Johnson is basically allowed to do what he wants without any repercussions.

[i]The latter source, a player who shall remain anonymous, said Johnson has displayed a lack of effort, accusing him of not knowing the playbook.

“We’re trying to win here. This isn’t some slap-d— vacation league,? the player said. “Put the best players on the field that want to play.

“One position (receiver) has free reign to do whatever they want and aren’t accountable to anything. It doesn’t matter what they do or how they perform.?

On Tuesday, Higgins again admitted Johnson, the former NFL standout with the Cincinnati Bengals who came out of retirement to play in the Canadian Football League, is treated differently. Higgins compared Johnson to veteran Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray, who has reached an unparalleled status and remains unchallenged at training camp.

But Higgins also was quick to admit, if another player didn’t have Johnson’s credentials — and had caught only four passes — he might not have the same luxury. In other words, he probably would have been benched by now.[/i]

Why the eff is Johnson still in the lineup? He does squat, he’s alienating other players, and if Herb’s anonymous source is to be believed, he doesn’t know the playbook, which is a criticism that Johnson has received at other times in his career. Not knowing the playbook will fly if you produce. But he’s doing nothing at field WR. But I guess he sells tickets, so he has to play? Awful.

#2

genie bouchard getting eliminated tonight might help ticket sales a bit for friday :stuck_out_tongue:

got my fan train ticket for october 18. 7th in a row. never lost yet in TO in 3 trips. :thup:

#3

This is from today's Toronto Sun Insider column, quoting a CFL front office person,

. I've coached, and I'm tired of you media guys buying ( Jim) Popp's crap that the problem is coaching over there. We all know ( Marc) Trestman was a great coach, but the talent level in Montreal has been going down year after year. Fired ( Dan) Hawkins. Blamed him. Now it's Higgins' fault and Popp's bringing in Matthews, Schonert and Garcia. He can bring in Marv Levy next. They won't win six games. They have a few players who are good, but their overall talent is average at best. Their quarterbacks are terrible. That's on Popp -- not the coaches ....

I could not have said it better

Our website slogan is "Strength in Numbers" I didn't know it was referring to the coaching staff roster!

Ps - how many votes for London being the unnamed source? I can see where he'd be irked.

#4

Finally. Turn up the eat on the grifter.

#5

Declining talent still doesn't explain the complete systems failure on offence. That's clearly a coaching issue that anyone can see from our pre-snap motion, patterns, and playbook. Smith and Marsh both looked a lot better last year and that's why IMO the consultants have been brought in. Dinwiddie, on his own, is simply not up to the job of being QB coach and OC at the same time. It's debatable whether he's even up to being a position coach at this stage in his young career.

Can you post the link to that Toronto Sun article, BTW? I wouldn't mind reading the whole thing.

#6

I found it myself. It's from the Winnipeg Sun, actually, Penton's column. If you're going to quote unnamed sources around the league going ape on Popp -- and might there not be an element of sour grapes there, from years past? -- you should also quote what sources are saying about, say, Kent Austin: "(Kent) Austin’s act is getting old. It’s embarrassing. Bitching at his players, screaming at the officials every series. Same crap in league meetings. Rolling his eyes, pissed off when we don’t do things his way. I didn’t say anything but I probably wasn’t the only person in the room thinking hope this guy leaves the CFL again …" and "Not impressed with Hamilton’s offence. Every pass is a curl, an out or something short. No vertical game"

To me, GMs and execs are always going to talk smack about their opposite numbers on other teams. Popp's track record hasn't been great recently -- and I'm one of the people who feel that his game has fallen off in the past few years -- but I'm not going to take the GM of some other team at his word.

#7

You will never hear Popp talk shiat about another exec or coach anonymously. At least he's up front when he talks to the press

#8

Je n'ai aucune difficulté à croire que Carter se la coule douce parce qu'il ne veut pas se blesser une autre fois avant de faire le grand sot dans la NFL. Mais si c'est ça l'image qu'il veut laisser dans son CV, je ne suis pas certain que les équipes de la NFL vont courir après lui.

Pour ce qui est de Johnson, si Higgins n'a pas les couilles pour le laisser sur le banc avec les performances qu'il a, Higgins n'a plus sa place comme entraîneur. Dans ses meilleurs jours présentement, Johnson est au mieux mauvais. Il a réussi UN jeu depuis le début de la saison. Oui, j'aimerais bien voir Johnson être ce que vous appelez un "healthy scratch", que Higgins fasse avec lui ce que Belichick (peu importe comment ça s'écrit) lui a fait. Au mieux, ça lui remettrait l'ego à la bonne place, au pire ça ne changerait rien mais le message serait passé à tous.

Je n'étais pas entiché de voir Johnson venir avec l'équipe et il me donne raison depuis le début de la saison.

Un millionnaire qui se fait saisir son auto après un mois à cause du nombre inimaginable de contraventions impayées, c'est pas une 20 watts. Persistant dans sa stupidité, il veut rencontrer le maire à ce sujet. Qu'est-ce que vous pensez qu'il lui a dit, Coderre? Paye tes tickets, ti-gars. Plus profond dans son ineptitude, il dit que c'est à cause qu'il comprend pas le français. Heille, le smatte! C'est plein de gars dans l'équipe qui comprennent pas le français, pis si y pognent un ticket qu'ils comprennent pas, ils savent qu'il y a plein de gars dans l'équipe qui peuvent lui traduire et lui dire ce qu'il a à faire.

S'il est pas fini, qu'il le montre en devenant au moins ordinaire. Sinon, qu'il fasse ses bagages pis qu'y retourne en Floride. Je m'en sacre totalement de ce qu'il a fait dans la NFL. Ici, il fait rien.

Johnny, SVP, part une rubrique FIRE JOHNSON!!!!

#9

I agree with LeStaf. If Higgins doesn't have the stones to bench Johnson, he's useless and should be fired. He's the head coach. There is no way that the organization would have mandated that Johnson play. Higgins himself openly admitted that he's giving Johnson preferential treatment based on his CV. It's just not professional. People can invoke the Popp Conspiracy Theory (tm) all they want, but there is no evidence to suggest Popp is forcing Higgins to play Johnson. We've brought in ex-NFL guys in the past and usually they've not survived training camp. From O.J. Santiago to Quincy Carter to Ahman Green to Jerry Porter to the recently-departed Chris Wilson, past coaches have had no hesitation in cutting a player regardless of his NFL credentials. You can see that on the defensive side of the ball, Thorpe isn't afraid to cut a player for underperforming. Wilson was released. Gainey lost his spot in training camp to a rookie. On offence, if Dinwiddie isn't up to the task of fielding the best team he can, it's on Higgins to step in. And so far, he hasn't stepped in.

#10

Gentlemen,
Please watch the video “Week 7 build up” on our website featuring Higgins.
I have tried to some small extent to mitigate Higgins failures.
I am now signing off of that mission after watching that interview.
The man has no clue as far as the direction that this team is headed. He rambles on for 7 minutes and is clueless. Nothing he said gave me any hope moving forward.
At least he is enjoying the story telling with the new additions. Milk and cookies, anyone?
I can only imagine what a staff meeting is like inside the BigO.

He actually admits to wanting to replace our retired 42 year old QB with a 44 year old QB. OMG.

#11

Sad, isn't it?

We certainly know what Bomber fans felt like the Mike Kelly year, or Argo fans in the Bart Andrus year (and it was the same year).

We have little to no hope. This season is a write-off.

Really not much else to be said. . .

#12

Il y a tout de même une différence par rapport à l'an dernier. Popp sera DG à la fin de la saison et il sait qu'il ne sera pas entraîneur-chef. Ça semble un détai, mais c'est un détail qui aura ses conséquences à la fin de la saison. Cette fois-ci, Popp aura le mandat de rassembler le bon personnel d'entraîneurs et j'ai peut-être idée qu'il est déjà en train de chercher.

À mon sens, Speckman et Campbell ne sont pas du niveau des pros. Campbell plus que Speckman, mais je ne suis pas impressionné par le travail de Campbell. J'estime qu'ils seront à remplacer.

Ensuite, le travail de Higgins avec les nullités spéciales donne des résultats pitoyables. On a réussi à trouver quelqu'un pire qu'Andy Bischoff à ce chapitre. Faut le faire! Encore là, il faudrait trouver quelqu'un qui ait un tant soit peu le sens de cette facette du jeu.

Nous connaissons déjà le prochain entraîneur des quarts-arrières, et malgré la sympathie que j'ai pour Dinwiddie,je crois que Calvillo sera beaucoup plus en mesure de faire progresser les quarts que RD. Peut-être que Dinwiddie ferait mieux que Campbell avec les receveurs?

Du côté défensif, je ne questionnerais que le travail de Quick. Il me semble que les secondeurs ont un peu perdu de leur mordant cette saison.

Higgins fait face à une crise et il doit la régler. Il doit la régler maintenant. Si quelqu'un s'imagine que Chad Johnson fait vendre plus que 12 billets à lui seul, je pense que cette personne est très naïve. Ce sont les victoires qui vendent les billets à Montréal, pas les deux de pique, si connus soient-ils. Higgins a laissé Johnson se prélasser, c'est maintenant à lui de mettre les points sur les i et les barres sur les t avec lui. Il doit lui dire :"Quatre-vingt-cinq, tu travailles, tu produis, ou tu retournes en Floride." Il ne peut se permettre de garder un poison dans le vestiaire, et il semble que c'est ce que Johnson est devenu. S'il ne le met pas sur le droit chemin maintenant, Higgins va avoir complètement perdu le vestiaire.

Je ne crois pas que Higgins va avoir le courage de le faire et c'est ce qui va causer sa perte.

Bref, oui, ce sera une saison à oublier, mais l'après-saison sera moins cahotique le dernier.

#13

A real bunch of clowns. Remember when we used to laugh at Hamilton and Winnipeg. Well karma comes and smacks us right in the face. Got rid of my season tickets today!! Good riddance!!!

#14

Mike,

You are as wise as I am foolish. I will be attending the 'game'.

I do have an interrogation: Should I wear a paper bag? Posters feel free to help me here.

And should I wear said bag, should I:

  1. Put it on after the national anthem;
  2. Wait until Edmonton leads by 10 points;
  3. Wait until Edmonton leads by 30 points;
  4. Wait until Higgins, the former head of CFL officials, blows yet another challenge;
  5. Wait until the DisfunctionAlz have accumulated 100 yards in penalties
  6. Just fall asleep from lack of stimulation and over-consumption of Stella.

Thanks for your help folks,

Phil

#15

Wear it after the 10th punt.

#16

Eeeeesh. I now don't want to watch that video, because just reading your recap is already depressing enough. :frowning:

I think they will ride out the year with Higgins as the figurehead HC who does nothing, while the consultants and other coaches do their best with what they've been given and we figure out how best to reload for next season.

#17

I was struck by a few things in the Higgins interview
-the total lack of clarity as to the del with Garcia. Higgins said he may be only her or a week or two. Maybe longer. It depends on whetherGarcia wants to be away from his family. He says maybe Garcia can help with some roll 0ut plays
-he "thinks" Schonert may be here for the season.
-Mathews has been entertaining with his stories several of which he has heard before.
-The consultants "can't hurt"
-There are no real roles clarified yet
-Higgins struck me as the quintessential "company man" who is trying to explain things he rally isn't sure of because he isn't in the know. That it is not in his nature to say anything negative but he really doesn't know.
-he talked to Popp a long time ago about Garcia as perhaps an active QB. No real indication that he brought him in as a coach/consultant. Made me think he was worried about Smith early on
-got the distinct impressions that none of this was his idea ultimately
-I kept wondering why Popp hasn't been involved in a similar Q&A as the architect of this.

#18

This is insane. They had better get everyone's roles figured out by the end of the week. I don't care how it gets done, as long as it's done. How difficult is it to have these meetings quickly and decide on a clear chain of command and hierarchy? Why does everything this organization does have to be slower than molasses?

As for Higgins, if none of these consultants were his idea, it's a sad commentary on how out of touch he is. He fired Worman, and genuinely thought Dinwiddie could carry the load on his own? He didn't once think, "Hmm, maybe I should try to bring in someone to help Ryan out."?

#19

All this makes me feel really bad for players like Chip Cox and John Bowman who really pour everything they've got into the team. I know Bowman actually voiced his frustration earlier in the season about some players not putting in the effort. We might have found the culprits.

#20

I certainly agree on the outside one might say Higgins thought Dinwiddie could carry the load. But I do know this. Montreal (The Ws) do NOT like paying DOUBLE for anything. Popp is the person high on Dinwiddie ( or was at least). Higgins knew Dinwiddie for 15 minutes before he fired Worman. Popp had him last year AND REWARDED him with a new 2 year deal this off-season that promoted him to QB coach from quality control.
Worman HAD to go by all accounts. Lets say Higgins WANTED to replace him, but the GM says, “no, we’re going to give RD a try. You messed up with Worman and the club isn’t going to pay for a replacement”. Well, we test drove that vehicle and it wasn’t road worthy. At that point the club cuts its losses, opens it’s wallet a bit and goes the consulted route. Higgins, his credibility at an all-time low, has ZERO say in the air lift of consultants, all of whom say they were contacted by Popp.
I certainly agree that the consultants were needed, I just feel that Garcia eliminates the need for Turk. WHO is talking to the QB? 1, 2 or 3 guys? Do we think Higgins is coordinating that? I didn’t get that impression from the Week 7 video. I am super anxious to see if we find a new wrinkle or a little life from the new contributors, although it might be a bit early.