Vets cut...

…Don’t know that we have any ‘weak’ linebackers…BUT Hefney was only considered briefly for SAM until Burke came to his senses :lol: Hefney definitley is a premium cover guy…doesn’t get beat that often and if you’re throwing in his area you better be on the money or it’s going back the other way…Our D will be a factor to deal with again in 2012… our offence is definitely going to be better…We should see how much come FRI. :wink:

No, no, you misunderstand me. :slight_smile: I wasn’t saying anyone was weak. I was saying that relatively speaking, your weakest cover DB – i.e. the weakest of that particular bunch of 5 – is the guy you move down to SAM backer, because your secondary should be composed of the absolute best cover men you have. The SAM linebacker also needs to be a good tackler, since he’s also tasked with run support playing so close to the LOS. I don’t know Hefney well enough to know whether he’s a good tackler or not. On the basis of cover skills alone, he’s better off staying where he is and ball-hawking opposing QBs.

our offence is definitely going to be better...
Not sure about that, LaBatte's departure might be more significant than you think, and the new OC is also new to the CFL. But it's certainly possible.

.....Ah yes....the newbie angle....Probably what i said about Trestman when he first came up here and how did that turn out :wink: ...AND any improvement on the offence will be better than last year :lol: ...I followed Labattes play pretty close last year and believe me he did NOT have a banner year...He still has lots of upside but I can see his replacement having just as good a year with the effort he gave us last year...certainly no MVP performance.. :wink:

These are the same basic 2 things that worry me about the bomber O. New center who seems like he won the job by being a bit better than the other options and not by taking it with an oustanding camp. New LG, although Greaves has gotten in some game action and isn’t entirely inexperienced. New LT for at least one week, a guy a lot of fans were sure would be cut at the end of camp because wasn’t that great. One starter that resumes his spot from last year in Morely. Another potential returning starter in January if he can get healthy enough, although I’m curious to see how Swiston fares in regular season game action. A strong Lions pass rush vs an Oline that is young and hasn’t played together as a unit much could be trouble. I think they struggle early on in the season but come on as the season wears on. It will help them to be away from the pressure of home fans for the first few weeks if they were unable to get the job done.

Crowton is new to the CFL game and the comment weeks ago that they will build the offense as the season goes along which is unusual. Gives me nightmarish flashbacks to Kelly who’s offense never really seemed to know what was going on week to week. That said, I remember that Trestman was also new to the CFL in his first season and the Alouettes really took off and I feel good as a fan after watching the preseason game vs Hamilton. The offense took a bit to get going which isn’t good, but I liked seeing the quick reads and having the QBs get the ball out quickly which will help compensate for any Oline deficiencies and a quick tempo to stress the fitness and decision making on the defensive side of the ball. Work in progress but progressing IMO.

With no disrespect to Buck and the rest, Trestman inherited a much better offense than Crowton is inheriting.

i enjoyed hearing he was cut. deserves him right. million dollar talent, 10 cent brain. I would not consider that a surprise tho, got into a bit of a twitter war with this guy and told him in a few weeks you will be #cut #released #seeyouinthearenaleague.

;)

for all the talk around here about losing labatte, he was not a cfl all star last year.. January was and he will be back. Quite Frankly, none of us here can claim to be experts when it comes to oline play, what we see may not be what the coaches are looking for..

Now, with that being said.. January,Greaves,Kowal,Morley,Swiston(i hope atleast).

Compare that too, January,Labatte,Khan,Morley,Douglas.

is Greaves better than Labatte? i dunno, but i do know that the guy has sure come along way in 2 years since being drafted as a dlineman that they converted to OL. Must be something there as the guy got some playing time last year also and didnt look out of place. We all know Khan wasnt the greatest.. is Kowalczuk really a downgrade there? It can be argued that the weakest spot of the line last year was the center position. So really, nobody knows for sure. Swiston being canadian automatically is an upgrade over douglas, altho im hearing Taormina gets the start this week, i dont know why to be honest, perhaps they are trying to injure pierce? but that one boggles my mind. Like i said tho, none of us are really experts here, just fans, media says one thing, coaches say one thing... media dont really know either.. The coaches know best and whatever oline they decide to go with, eventho the rumor or staring Taormina over Swiston makes me shake my head considerably... Being just a fan and not really understanding what exactly they are looking for from the oline.. well, I'll have to trust the coaches on this one. I will say this, from a fans perspective, last years oline definitely werent as athletic as this years group. Not very often last year did u see an Olineman upfield making blocks for guys.. This pre-season, well, I have so again, i guess if you want them to sit there and just block block block.. who knows, but if the idea is to get them involved offensively a bit more thann your average olines.. throwing blocks downfield and etc.. Then, i guess we'll have to wait and see.

The thing here is.. it will take time for them to gel for sure, but it will also take time for everyones oline to gel.. Reality here is, I suppose if Douglas plays once healthy, we really have only changed 1 part of the oline, the center position... so for as many changes to the line that people think we have had, really.. 1 guy, and he was around the team all of last year.. is the only real change.