Week 3 Winnipeg Vs Montreal

Alouettes de Montréal
#1

This should be a great game. Bombers offense tops in the league right now against our defense that played very well last week. Should be a big test for our secondary and their oline.

Notes from Bomber fans forum. Looks like Winnipeg is already forced to adjust their roster. Howard will be replacing Greaves on the line forcing them to insert Donovan Alexander and sit one of Legget or Unamba. Lots of blocking work by the RB and Tight end sets using their fullbacks.

This game will likely come down to our defense being able to break down their protection.

Als have 3 practices this week and roster appears to be the same as last week with the exception of Pietrowski going on the 46. No idea who will be coming off to make room for him since the transaction link was moved and the information ends at June 2n, 2013 with the announcement of Ryan White’s retirement !

Found this on the CFL site.

Practice Roster
MTL ADD IMP Michael SIMONS (OL) Central Connecticut State
MTL REM SGD NIP Jake PIOTROWSKI (OL) Guelph

#2

I like IMP and NIP much better than International and National! CFL website should have been the first to change the terminology but obviously haven`t yet.

#3

Same here, will keep using the old terms.

#4

I agree that it will come down to our ability to impose our will defensively. Winnipeg is off to a hot start, but they're on the road, and their O-line is patchwork right now due to injuries. If we can get after Willy early and often, we can keep it a low-scoring, grinding, ugly game, which is to our advantage.

It's going to be a big test for Troy Smith this week, facing The Etch and his wacky fronts. If Dinwiddie is smart, he'll emphasize the running game again, maybe show some double TE sets (with White and Lumbala) out of which we can run Whitaker, QB option Smith, or play action. The thing with Etch is that IF you can dial up the right running play at the right time -- i.e. by running right into a space vacated by a d-lineman on a stunt -- you can potentially gash his D for big gains on the ground.

Edit: If I were Higgins, I'd put Dave Stala on the PR to make room for Piotrowski.

#5

Also have to be perfect on cover teams. They are very good at returning kicks.

#6

Int. WR/KR Bo Bowling has already been transferred to 1 game injured list-to july 18,2014- to make room for OL Jake Piotrowski on active roster. There are presently 23 Int. players and 23 Nat. players on 46 player roster. If roster was as such for friday’s game, 2 Nat. players would be healthy scratches,most probably Kyle Graves and Jake Piotrowski.

Richard

#7

The most impressive Bomber to me so far this season has been their RB Grigsby. He has great acceleration and we can`t let him get outside of containment.

I think Willy has a bright future, but he is still basically a rookie and has taken a pounding the first 2 games which hopefully we can continue. They had a weak o-line to start, now compounded by the loss of Greaves. They have a very well respected o-line coach in Bob Wylie, but he has his challenges.

And their Canadian talent suffering from the Joe Mack neglect.

#8

Penalties aside, our cover teams have been pretty good so far. It's our blocking for Taylor that has been lackluster.

I'll be very interested to see how this game goes. We have a pretty good run D. Most games, it is very difficult to run the ball on us consistently. If Winnipeg can't run the ball, it will make Willy one-dimensional...

#9

Les Bou! Bombers seront une bonne mesure de la progression des Alouettes. Ils forment une équipe bien rodée, présentement, et il faut avouer que O'Shea et ses adjoints font de l'excellent travail avec leurs joueurs. Depuis que le temps que leurs supporteurs attendent une bonne équipe avec une attaque qui peut mettre beaucoup de points au tableau, il faut être contents pour eux que cette année semble la bonne.

La grosse différence entre les Lions et les Bou! Bombers, à mon sens, c'est leur nouveau porteur de ballon Grigsby. Ce gars est autrement plus menaçant que Harris ou Logan parce qu'il court en puissance. Mais les Alouettes avaient assez bien contenu Cornish (jusqu'à ce que la fatigue se fasse sentir), alors ils devraient être capables de limiter Grigsby.

L'autre différence, c'est que Willy est en pleine possession de ses moyens. C'est comme s'il avait fait l'apprentissage de son équipe et il conduit très bien cette attaque. Ce n'est pas encore le cas de Glenn, qui a joué avec une ligne offensive pitoyable. Reste donc à voir si la ligne des Bou! Bombers pourra continuer son bon travail avec des nouveaux sur le terrain.

Les Alouettes ont relativement bien composé avec le solide front défensif des Lions. L'attaque manquait de fini, mais elle a pu soutenir ses séquences. Cependant, je crois que Etcheverry est un meilleur coordonnateur que Washington et cela pourrait faire une sérieuse différence pour Smith.

Je ne m'attends pas à une victoire des Alouettes mais garde espoir que ça puisse arriver.

#10

Overall, I'd say the key matchup is Etcheverry vs. Dinwiddie, and on that basis I am not holding out a lot of hope. I think Thorpe can scheme such that we can limit the damage their offence will do against us, but on the other side of the ball I am not confident at all. Hopefully I'm wrong.

#11

Until and unless the Als get some traction, especially on O, the D will have to stand on its head, at least in the first half of the season.

I have to think that the Als will be considered underdogs for most games, again until/unless they begin to show some spark, creativity, and good execution in their O-schemes. Keeping the D on the field longer than they should be there is always a recipe for disaster.

Smith and the O showed some patience with the underneath stuff and an effective running game last week. While not spectacular, it was effective, and prolonged drives. No doubt all DCs are studying game video as we speak and will devise D-schemes to counter this. This week, we have to see Smith being able to stretch the field a little more to keep LBs/DHs guessing.

The stunts we saw on the D-line were highly effective; Paxson in particular had a great game. We need more of the same and an effective pass-rush on Willy. A rushed throw, more often than not, will be an ineffective one. The Bombers have been impressive so far and will be a significant threat. I hope we prepare accordingly.

#12

Betting odds actually have the Als as 2.5 point favourites... Pretty crazy.

#13

Not sure, the grand concept behind Etcheverry's defense is not nul pre-snap reads. I don't think we use any :lol:

#14

C'est délirant. À moins que la ligne offensive des Bou! Bombers s'écrase aussi souvent que celle des Lions vendredi dernier, les chances des Alouettes sont plutôt minces. Etcheverry aura plus de matériel pour se préparer, et il est un bien meilleur stratège que Washington. J'ose à peine imaginer ce qu'il ferait avec le personnel des Lions.

Également, la tertiaire de Winnipeg me semble plus aguerrie que celle des Lions, même si on retrouve Marsh, Philips et LaRose dans celle-ci. Washington, Sears et Randle me semblent plus constants présentement. Je crois qu'ils pourront faire une meilleure couverture des receveurs des Alouettes. Etcheverry va probablement paqueter la ligne pour forcer Dinwiddie à choisir la passe plus souvent. C'est le genre de truc qu'il aime bien.

Il faudra peut-être un peu plus d'imagination pour rivaliser avec eux.

#15

Probably the "home field advantage" edge. IMO, the Als will rarely be/should not be favourites until they earn that right fair and square with good execution and the ability to rack up Ws on a fairly regular basis.

#16

According to RDS,from Herb,Troy Smith did not practice. Problems with his knee.

Richard

#17

Oh boy.

#18

This is going to be a good one. Crazy just a couple years ago it was you guys with the superior offense coming into these games going against our strength as defense, now the roles are reversed. Kinda lost in the talk of our team has been how good a job of playcalling that Marcel Bellefeuille has done for us. I could never understand why people were always jocking that guy, especially after he took a Hamilton team that was nothing but a door mat in the East, to at least being a respectable franchise again during his tenure there. But him being here has been just as big a factor as Willy's great play, as more aggressive play calls have been made, WRs are running better routes, personnel have been utilized better, and guy seems to know how to make adjustments to his gameplan overall, something that Lapolice and Crowton even more so could never do.

Gonna be expecting the pressure to pile up a bit heavier on Willy with Greaves out, but I'm wondering what MB is going to be calling to counter that. But anyway, best of luck to you guys on Friday, hope it's a good game.

#19

Congrats to John Bowman on being named Defensive Player of the Week -- 5 tackles, 4 sacks, in a dominant performance against the Lions.

#20

These are the 2 tweets from Herb:

Troy Smith has removed the tape from his knee and has a helmet on - but isn't practising.

Herb Zurkowsky @HerbZurkowsky1 · 1h
#Als' QB Troy Smith has his left knee taped up now and isn't running the offence. He was, earlier. Smith, of course, had knee issues @ camp.