Way to go, Adrian!

Red Zone prudction has been a problem with the Als, if we consider that only a TD is an acceptable result. This is why the FG specialist must be on his game. I would define poor RZ production by coming away with 0 points.

The D was red hot yesterday, which they needed to be with a new (or rusty!) QB at the helm. With FGs being racked up, that keeps a point-spread between us and the opposing team. At some point, this means that they become more predicatble, and the LBs & co. can pin their ears back and go after the QB all day. Result? Hurried passes, picks, sacks...etc. which is essentially what we saw yesterday.

Honestly, what is your problem? Why are you trying to start a fight when I am essentially agreeing with the points you’re making?

If you had bothered to read my post carefully, you’d have seen that I acknowledged that running can be a good complement to passing in the case of a mobile QB like Adrian. And I have given Adrian full props for his performance yesterday. I was only pointing that as much as it’s fun to watch Adrian terrorize defenses on the ground, that element of his game was less of a question mark to me compared to his ability to stand in the pocket and make those difficult completions on second or third down. Maybe it’s not a surprise to you; if so, congratulations. You are a veritable Nostradamus of football prophecy. :roll:

Scrambling ain’t worth jack if you can’t complete passes, whether in the pocket or on the run. It’s what separates QBs like Durant and Burris from QBs like Porter and Zabransky. That is all I’m saying.

A Scrambling QB also is down on oxygen on the next play which has an impact on concentration and strenght/accuracy. Also a running quarterback is more likely to be injured, it also requires a completely different mindset for the coaching staff.

I’ve often thought that myself. Running a lot must have an effect on the QB’s ability to concentrate and get himself correct in the huddle.

Also a running quarterback is more likely to be injured, it also requires a completely different mindset for the coaching staff.
And this is why I'm happy with how Trestman and Milanovich managed Adrian yesterday. They let him run when needed, but they also made him stand in the pocket and throw the ball. Lost in his 100+ running is the fact that he threw for over 230 yards and 1 passing TD, and could have had at least 2 more passing TDs if things had gone his way (Green's 'out-of-bounds' TD non-catch, no PI on Watkins, Adrian missing Richardson with the long bomb).

I don’t believe that the Als would have invested three years in developing Adrian if they thought he wasn’t capable of directing the offense as it exists today (i.e. primarily West Coast). Yes, his mobility adds a wonderful dimension to our attack, but in our system, Adrian has to demonstrate his ability to take the offense down the field and score with his arm primarily. And I think he demonstrated just that yesterday.

Coach and coach gave Adrian some nice stuff for the first two series and it allowed the team to take a 10 point lead and this in turn allowed the team and coaching staff to let the game come to them, take what the Ticats were giving them and pull out a win and with 3 practices on the facility of the day is awesome stuff.

Nice job by our coaching staff, they admitted they needed to balance the offense better and do a better job for their players and they did. I love the humility and the work ethics of these guys.

I was pretty harsh in Milanovich early days and I was completely wrong about him. He's going to have a long career as a pro coach, he's part of that crew of great young coach, we have in the CFL right now.

Good points raised here. The running game was surely on track yesterday, but it was primarlily accomplished by Adrian. I quite agree that that increases the chances of injury to the pivot role on the O - the QB! The coaching staff therefore has to prepare him to use his weapons, and by that I mean the FB and the TB, including, of course, himself when the opportunity arises.

I will give him credit on his runs - he either went out of bounds or slid before taking a punishing hit. All in all, a very clever running game by Adrian.

I agree JKM with the above thoughts- AM headed for the sidelines for most of his runs. I believe Adrian must add the hook slide to his runs up the middle. Its fascinating to watch him run- it seems that he is not a speedster but it is with his size and long strides that the quickness is evident.The management might consider examining his contract to ensure he is paid with respect to his evident skill. We don't want AM to consider free agency in the future!!!!

As noted above, for a while last season, the Als did have red zone problems and, in the last game this season this problem was there also. The strategy here is to play three down ball, at times, in the redzone looking for more Tds and less fieldgoals. Play for the TD. Last season Trestman did respond to this problem finally by playing 3 down ball in the red zone and, the team responded. To rely on FGs to win games is not a good strategy! AS noted, despite their overwhelming offensive play, this game was in doubt until late in the 4th quarter. It was only with their 4th Q TD that the game was an obvious win for the Als.

As far as RZ production is concerned in the Als-Ticats game, the Ticats had tremendous problems also, due to Glenn being less than stellar in this one, and a very aggressive Als D.

I'm not worried about the RZ production. It was McPherson's first meaningful game action this year and he still produced 1 passing TD, no RZ interceptions (unlike Cleo Lemon, LOL), and might have had more if the zebras had gotten their heads out of their asses and actually called PI on Hamilton's DBs.

And another thing. . . if there was any hint of a developing mini-controversy over who is our QB of the future, McPherson or Leak, McPherson emphatically ended that. Leak had been on the active roster all season, had a lot more full pratice time before his start, and despite that McPherson, without having been on the active roster all season and with only a few practices, outshone him by a country mile.

McPherson est notre prochain quart s'il veut être notre prochain quart. C'est aussi simple que ça.

Mais est-ce qu'il veut être notre prochain quart? On va le savoir en décembre.

D'un autre côté, les postes de quart ne seront pas si faciles à trouver. McPherson ne changera pas d'équipe pour être un réserviste. S'il faut être réserviste, autant l'être derrière un quart légendaire de 38 ans plutôt que derrière un quart un tout petit peu moins légendaire de 35 ans.

Alors pour un poste de partant, où pourrait-il se retrouver? On élimine tout de suite Calgary, Edmonton et Saskatchewan qui auront le même quart l'an prochain. Certains croient que Ricky Ray n'a pas ce qu'il faut pour gagner, mais c'est plutôt le système de jeu et la qualité des joueurs qui l'entourent qui est en cause. On ne changera pas Ricky Ray pour autre chose qu'une valeur sûre, parce que Ray est tout un passeur et peut démolir une bonne défensive avec des joueuers qui répondent à l'appel. Si Printers retrouve sa touche (et ça semble être arrivé), il demeurera le partant à BC. De toute façon, si McPhreson veut avoir une carrière, il est mieux de ne pas jouer pour Wally parce que depuis quelques années, tous les quarts qui lui passent entre les pattes finissent démolis. Reste donc Winnipeg, Hamilton et Toronto. Lapolice a emmené Jyles avec lui à Winnipeg. C'est une bon jeune quart qu'il a formé à Saskatchewan et je crois qu'il le voit dans sa soupe pour l'avenir de Winnipeg. Les Blue Bombers ont embauché Pierce après l'embauche de Jyles, mais je crois que Lapolice va se tourner de plus en plus vers Jyles, compte tenu de la fragilité de Pierce. Il y a donc peu de possibilités pour McPherson d'y être partant. À Hamilton, les contrats de Glenn et de Porter ont tous deux été reconduits l'hiver dernier. Les chances de McPherson de percer l'alignement y sont donc réduites. Finalement, Toronto : là, il y a une possibilité. Lemon se débrouille bien, mais il n'a pas tout à fait l'étoffe d'un quart dominant. Disons qu'on le voit mal mener une équipe à la Coupe Grey pour l'instant. Alors Barker pourrait être tenté de changer pour McPherson si l'occasion s'offre à lui. Elle pourrait s'offrir à lui à la fin de cette saison.

Alors en fin de compte, nos chances sont bonnes de le garder, mais il y a une réelle possibilité de le perdre aussi.

One more thought about RZ production. Adrian's timing was a bit off on longer routes (not unusual for a rusty QB), and veterans like Richardson and Green dropped balls, some of which were very catchable, and in at least one case - a sure TD! The other dropped (TD?) passes would have been harder, but still possible.

With better accuracy on timing routes (which can only be accomplished with regular reps under center - Marc Trestman, are you listening?), and his weapons being better acquainted with his style, I'm sure we'll see passing TDs on medium and deep routes very, very, soon.

I'm still very pleased about the awesome D display yesterday. I hope they can bring that kind of intensity week in, week out. They still have to work on downfield coverage and blocking schemes on returns, however.

I make a point of listening to CJAD before the games
I’d like to find a way to record EVERYTHING from CJAD, but with the audio/timing delay issue it’s just not possible to watch TSN and listen to CJAD.

Be that as it may…CJAD interviewed McPherson’s agent and former high-school basketball coach, Elliot Washington:

Moffat: “Now Adrian tells me, Mr. Washington, that he’d be VERY happy to extend his contract. He loves Montreal and has found a home. Do you think you and Jim Popp can get that done?”

Washington: “Yes sir, I think so. I think it’s just a matter of, uh, me and Jim sitting down and discussing some things and um, finding out, you know, what would be the best situation for Montreal and Adrian. Of course, he does love the organization. He loves coach Trestman. He’s been definitely a great mentor and coach for him so, the whole situation is good. I think it’s just a matter of ironing out some details and I feel real positive about that situation.”

Moffat: “After some controversy that abruptly cut short his college career…”
(and I have to interject here that according to some sources Adrian was HOSED by his college coach, abandoned when he needed him most…after he and his family were promised that he’d be like a second father to him)
…“he found a home in the Arena Football League (humbling enough) but he found a football friend in Steve DeBerg, the former 49’ers quarterback…was his coach in the Arena League, and he says, ‘I haven’t felt the trust from a coach that Steve DeBerg gave me until coach Trestman came here to Montreal’ and that’s one of the things he loves so much about being an Alouette.”

Washington: " Yes, definitely. Steve DeBerg was obviously a great, great mentor and quarterback coach for Adrian as well…he was the guy that taught him the game: the PRO game. I mean, you have to remember, Adrian was only in at Florida State for a year, so Steve was the first to give him the opportunity to get into the film room and give him the opportunity to do what other quarterbacks was able to do for three or four years at that high level. So DeBerg was very “hands-on” with him, and you know was really a guy who stepped out and helped Adrian get through the maturation process. You know, coming it to build with coach Trestman, he saw the same qualities from coach Trestman…had at a lot of other NFL outlets where he was able to sit Adrian down and kinda mentor him and go step-by-step on a lot of different things…on the field AND off the field. So that’s the kind of relationship he’s used to with me as a high-school coach, and I was a point-guard at the University of Alabama so I was very hands-on with Adrian in a lot of things, so those relationships…of course blossomed with coach DeBerg and of course with coach Trestman. That’s why he’s in a comfort zone in Montreal right now."

McPherson…for all his bad luck in the past…has been fortunate to have caught the eye of some great people…Steve DeBerg, Warren Moon, Elliot Washington and now Allouettes coach Marc Trestman. From the sound of things, he regrets asking to be traded…and is looking to a GREAT future with the Alouettes.

For anyone who missed the interview with Ed Phillion on CJAD:

[url=http://www.cjad.com/player/player?mediapath=&type=mp3&fi=files%2Fmedia%2F86%2Fmcpherson%20after%20win%20at%20hamilton.mp3&nid=1203087&]http://www.cjad.com/player/player?media ... d=1203087&[/url]

Way to go Adrian!!!

:thup: :thup: :thup:

God, I hope we can get Adrian re-signed to a long-term contract. The kid is just a stud and will only get better with time, reps, and patience.

Merci Senior!

Ça donne beaucoup d’espoir!

Now that's what you call a backup QB and it looks like he's the future.
Solid even when cold , can u imagine when he gets a few practices in line.

It actually a thrill to watch him play and run the ball. :thup:

Maybe Leak hasn't shown us his full potential but it will be hard to get another start unless someone gets injured from now on...

Thanks for posting that interesting interview Senior.
Lets hope that he isnt offered starters money elsewhere and that we can keep him. Its certainly going to be an off-season topic of discussion.

Jim and Coach will figure a way to make this work. This is a nice situation for Adrian, he's being given an opportunity to grow in the position there is no better way to have a long successful career and if he wants to lead Montreal for the next decade a little patience is worthwhile.

I guess I should “make nice” here too.
Frankly…it’s been a struggle here and elsewhere getting people to realize Adrian’s innate talents, and growth potential.
I’ve gotten a bit combative, I guess…a bit frustrated waiting for McPherson to get his chance.
Sorry about that.
It’s taken a while, but that’s not all that surprising considering the GREATNESS of an Anthony Calvillo.

I’ve been reading up on Sonny Wade a bit. While a mediocre quarterback in a lot of ways, Wade just went nuts when it counted the most: winning 3 Grey Cups…a few stats lifted from the Alouettes site:

Grey Cup MVP
1970, 1974, 1977
Sonny Wade and Doug Flutie are the only three-time winners of the award.

Grey Cup Individual Kicking Records
MOST PUNTS: 4th - 47
MOST YARDS PUNTING: 4th - 1857

Grey Cup Individual Passing Records
MOST PASSES THROWN: 3rd -119
MOST PASSES COMPLETED: 6th - 58
MOST YARDS PASSING: 5th - 780
MOST TOUCHDOWN PASSES ONE GAME:
Tied for 2nd - 3 Mtl. vs. Edm., Nov. 27, 1977
MOST INTERCEPTIONS ONE GAME THROWN:
Tied for 2nd - 3 Mtl. vs. Cal., Nov. 28, 1970

I lived through that era. I guess I’ve come down on Calvillo a bit hard for being unquestionably the BEST all time regular season passing QB…and occasionally falling flat come Grey Cup time.
However…he’s been showing some REAL class mentoring McPherson while he’s been injured…really stepping up for the team.

Watching Burris last weekend, and those two rushing touchdowns I couldn’t help thinking what fun it’ll be watching McPherson grow into a mature, confident quarterback. All prophecy aside…it is at least my most fervent hope.
For a very fine young man…and our Montreal Alouettes.

Go Als Go!!!