The Evans experiment continues

Former coach John Salavantis spoke for 5 minutes about Dane Evans during his interesting segment of the club's TiCats Today feature, yesterday. You can drag the bar, here, across to the 8:35 mark where it starts:

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Interesting comments by coach Sal. He says it takes time for a QB to learn how to read defenses but Evans seemed to have little problem in 2019. It's hard to not to see this as a regression. I have to think the issue is more psychological than skill level. Do the Ticats have a sports psychologist on staff?

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If this comment is in reference to the overall Offence, I agree. As documented above the turnovers are unacceptable. They are drive killers; plus they put the Defence in a difficult position.

But if this comment is specifically referencing the play of the O-Line, then I disagree. I believe the O-Line has been solid since they lined up at BC Place. The only exception would be when Woodmansey had to slide over to the C position in the Montreal game to replace the injured Alex Fontana. I don’t think the O-Line is contributing to the troubles on that side of the ball.

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I have huge respect for Coach Sal
He says don’t give up on Dane

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I disagree. I feel that the O-line issues over the past two years have damaged our QBs - both physically and mentally. Look at Calvillo’s last year here.

The O-line has had constant turnover in personnel playing in different positions due to the multiple injuries of players that are, frankly, too old and/or too broken. There is porous protection, and almost zero running lanes. We saw that on 3rd-and-3 last game.

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I think Dane zigs when he should zag. Tucks when he should throw and throws when he should tuck.

A big change from what we are used to seeing from him.

I do watch the line play closely. pausing and rewinding multiple times.
I also do not doubt some of this is mental and can be corrected.

If you look at his fumble last game he had lanes but he loosly tucked the ball and ran straight into trouble where the D just grabbed the ball from him. Almost a handoff.

things seem busted and need fixed that is for sure.

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sledge

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2h

Does Evans have what it takes to keep his job in 2023.Or is this his last year with the Cats.Judging by his performance so far this year he,s done.Lets hope that Shiltz heals from his wrist injury and takes over from Evans.He,s a much better QB than Evans.Apparently Labour Day Classic,Cats/Argos is sold out.If Evans lays an EGG that day,,lots of fans will go home really upset.And the chances of Cats making the playoffs will be slim to none.

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First of all, as a rule I would prefer not to look at Calvillo’s last year in Hamilton. But even if I did, the quality of Val St.Germain’s performances back then, have zero relevance to how Brandon Revenberg (or Dane Evans) performs in 2022.

Respectfully, I disagree with the rest of your premise. You are attempting to blame Dane Evans’ struggles on the O-Line. While I would agree the O-Line contributed to the Offensive struggles for the first 4 games this year, I believe your hypothesis does not hold water since that time.

And with regard to your “too old / too broken” comment, who are you referring to? Definitely does not apply to the aforementioned Brandon Revenberg - he is a stud ! In my opinion Woodmansey is turning into another stud at the other OG position.
Perhaps you are referencing Darius Ciraco - apparently he had a wonky back last year, but I would not consider him too old. And besides that, he is someone else’s problem now. His replacement, Alex Fontana, sustained a knee injury during the Montreal game. This is an unfortunate development, because he had turned in several solid performances in a row . . . you are going to have to be much more persuasive to convince me that he is either “too old or too broken”. In fact I would argue those 3 players represent a solid interior O-Line now & hopefully into the future.

So this leaves the OT positions, and really you can only be referring to a single player, that being Chris VanZeyl. Yes he is approaching the end of his career, and yes, he has been injured. And while the O-Line has been playing solid football in his absence, I still believe that he has a chance to improve that O-Line further if he recovers from his injury . . . but that is pure speculation on my part, and remains to be seen.
Bottom line, Dane Evans deserves to take responsibility for the brutal turnover issues this year, and to his credit, he has done so publicly. I have not given up on our QB1 yet, in spite of his trajectory which is currently pointed in the wrong direction. I still hope that Dane’s game can be turned around, despite evidence to the contrary.

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Dont say that i didn,t tell you about Evans,yes the o-line is very weak and any other qb back there would be running for his life as well.Evans doesn,t react well under pressure.We,ll just have to see how he manages the next game.I,d like to see him get his act together and perform the way he should.

By the way, full disclosure, I had to cheat and went on line to determine the players on the O-Line in Calvillo's last year at IWS.

That team actually featured two "Saints" on that O-Line, and they still didn't have a prayer to win that year . . . in spite of having both Val St.Germain & Jude St.John on that O-Line . . .
Strange but true . . .

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I bet the pope would have liked them .

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:sunglasses: I doubt that very much !! :roll_eyes:

I belive Danny Gallivan referred to that offensive line as “canonizing”.

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Or could it be a Savardian Spinnerama ?

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This is exactly how i felt about Masoli.

Absolutely agree. Its time to stop making silly excuses. There were some terrible personnel decisions made during the off-season. Evans definitely has to go. Any other team would have already gotten rid of him. He has never demonstrated in any consistent way that he has what it takes to be a starter. Keep in mind that more than half of his 2019 TD passes were to receivers that the team deemed expendable. The team can’t do any worse with a QB change. The time is long overdue to make some serious adjustments.

They already are slim to none.

That is as good an explanation of whats happening. And add in receivers not helping him out by getting open , or coming back for the ball and bad play calls by the “affensive " (as per affended) , co ordinator, had to do that , and an"affensive” line, that cant protect or block,and you got it all in a nutshell.
I cannt blame the quarterbacks for the team losing , just that Dane needs to get over his panicking and help to find the solution to the problem.

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:sunglasses: Or as good old Danny used to say, "That was a cannonading shot by the Golden Jet…Bobby Hull :grinning:

Yeah, but it was an ENORMOUS save by Ken Dryden. :smile:

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