Which Team will Trip up the Als this year?

They're like the Atlanta Braves of MLB--best regular season record year after year, but...

Your thoughts?

Either the Eskimos or the Lions. The eskimos because theyre the next best team in the league right now or the lions because it's always the lions that mess them up.

Hamilton has the best chance.

Leos LOL! huh NO

In an 8 team league, anything can happen.

Who even knows if the Als will make it out of the east this year. It's how you are playing at the end of the year and not at the beginning.

The Als have been shut down after a few weeks. Talent wise, they are ahead of the curve but it's all about the coordinators watching for holes in both offense and defense. The coordinator that comes up with the best schemes to stop Montreal will have the chance to beat them.

Not so sure about that. The record over the past 4 seasons between the teams have been :

05 BC 1-1 Mtrl 1-1
06 BC 2-0 Mtrl 0-2
07 BC 1-1 Mtrl 1-1
08 BC 1-1 Mtrl 1-1

Overall it’s 5-3 so pretty close.

In any event I think Montreal is not the juggernaut that a lot of ppull seem to think they are. I think that they’ll probably end up 13-5 ish. The west is still stronger and I think that by the end of the year we will see this. Another cross-over this year. I think any one of the west teams is capable of beating them and will.

oh preisst you used ppull again hide here come the grammer police

Gosh I hope not, I was praying that they were embarrassed back to the school halls. :lol:

Yes its the people who CAN read and write are the ones that are embarrassed.....Sure!

We tend to have trouble with B.C. in their ballpark, but really, it could be anyone. Calgary's offense is on fire now, Edmonton defeated us convincingly at Commonwealth, and I wouldn't rule out the Tiger-Cats either.

In this league.....anyone can beat anyone

Agreed…but Edmonton scares me the most because of Ricky Ray. That guy is as tough as they come and is as cool as a cucumber under pressure.

I see the Als finishing 15-3 or so now. They are just way too dominant in all aspects of their game against most of the teams they have played this year. Look for their next few loses to come late in the year when they have nothing to play for with first locked up and McPherson and the backups are in. The playoffs are a whole different story though.

If history is any guide (and they'll argue it isn't), the Als have a habit of coming screaming out of the gate, and then limping home. Their first-half records since returning to Montreal far outpace those of the back half. So even a 7-2 or 8-1 start could translate into a 12 win season. Hamilton is much improved, but they probably don't have the horses to run with Montreal the whole season. And Toronto and Winnipeg, well.....

So it;s not inconceivable that Montreal plays the last 4-5 games with really nothing on the line, and that's a less than ideal way to head into the playoffs.

I was expecting at least ONE Als fan to proclaim that 2009 is THE YEAR they will win.

I can think of 2 possible causes for the Als underachieving:

1)Anthony Calvillo: He reminds me of Charlie Brown, the lovable loser from the Peanuts cartoons. Who would dare wear #13 with his record in big games???

2)The Als coaching philosophy. I was listening to some of the Als' players before they stumbled over some roadkill (aka the Blue Bombers) and they all sounded as enthusiastic as undertakers. To them, football is just a job (how sad). It's like the players are just cogs in a machine Trestman built which slowly sucks the joy of football out its players. Come playoff time, the other teams have figured out Montreal's schemes and the Als players seem to lack the freedom/passion to improvise and let their skills and athleticism take over.

How do you see it?

I blame part of it on Calvillo, as he has been with the Als for all of their Grey Cup struggles this decade. With him being one of the few constants throughout all of their struggles it is hard not to put at least some blame on him. I know that it is difficult to do so, as AC is money in the regular season, but it just seems like he always makes a few key mistakes in GC games, or fails to take advantage of high pressure opportunities to win the GC game.

2000 GC: Overthrown pass by Calvillo on a 2 point convert with 44 seconds left to tie the game. Lost to the 8-10 Lions.

2003 GC: After keep the game close in the first half, 24-21 at half for the Esks. Calvillo and the Als offense put up only 1 point in the second half. The esks take the game 34-22.

2005 GC: Keeps the game close going back and forth with the Esks until overtime. With immense pressure to match or do better than the Esks FG in the second overtime possesion, Calvillo throws a pass that bounces off a player, he catches it and tries to throw it again. 2 passes by the same player on the same play is illegal and the Als are moved back 10 yards. In a 1st and 20 situation Calvillo is then sacked for 13 yards without having the presence of mind to throw the ball away to avoid the sack. Als are way out of field goal range at this point. An incomplete pass on 2nd down. On 3rd and 33 AC attempts to scramble and punts the ball downfield to try keep the play alive but they fail to get a first down. Esks win.

2006 GC: 49 % completion percentage for AC compared to Dickenson's 62% was a huge problem for the Als offence as they struggled to move the ball nearly all game. With chances late in the game with 4 minutes and 1 minute left Calvillo marched the ball down the field but failed to plug it into the endzone.

2008 GC: Leading 13-8 at halftime, the Als once again put up only 1 point in the second half(similar to 03 GC). Als offence fell apart completely in the second half as AC threw two key INTs. Stats wise the difference in the game appeared to come down to the play of the QBs, specifically Burris ability to scramble and keep his offence moving and ACs previously mentioned 2 INTs. Burris 28/37 for 328 yards, a TD and an INT with 9 carries for 79 yards rushing. While AC was 29/38 for352 yards 0 TDs and 2 INTs with 0 carries scrambling.

2000 A non-call Pass interferance kept AC from tieing the game.
2005 AC comes back to tie the game, takes the lead in the 1st overtime only to have the defence let him down by allowing edmonton to score
2006 A fumble by Robert Edwards on the 1 yard line prevented the Als from again comming back

Things can always change!..

nobody can predict what will happen this season! for all we know, Montreal could match up against Saskatchewan! :stuck_out_tongue:

but seriously… there is that possibility that the Als don’t falter.

This is where Trestman can really prove himself as a coach. The tendancy has been for teams that start fast to be reeled in as the trailers start to feed on the NFL castoffs, whereas it is hard to sell making changes to a team that is off to a fast start. This is one place where the saying "if it aint broke don't fix it" may not be quite true. B.C. and Wally coached teams in general have been notorious for collapses after a fast start, but don't look to the last couple of years as B.C. has been a team without a great and healthy starting QB., loo instead at his years with Calgary and the early years with B.C.

If Trestman, resists the urge to stand pat, the Al's may be contenders. If he stays with the status quo, it will be another long winter in Montreal.

I don’t really want to get into a long debate, just wanted to present some little fact tidbits about AC in the GC(as well as my collective opinion of them). Don’t get me wrong he’s one of my fav. QBs in the CFL(along with Ray), but his GC record will always be one of the only blemishes on his outstanding career. It really is too bad because he is a humble, hardworking player and I wish he would have won a few more of the GCs he’s played in(except the ones against the Eskies :stuck_out_tongue: ). But I will add these few last comments before I pack 'er in(not a fan of long internet debates).

2000: To be honest I haven’t seen that game since it was on ESPN classic a few years ago and would have to take a couple more looks at the clip of that play before declaring it a non-call PI(tried looking on youtube and couldn’t find it).
2005: The esks only got a FG their second possesion, essentially inviting the Als to take the game. Starting in FG range and with Duval, at the very least they should have got a FG and took it to round 3 of overtime. But for the above reasons that didn’t happen.
2006: True their was a fumble that was probably the play of the game. But the fact is, it was definitely not one of Calvillo’s better games. My point being that Calvillo statistically does not seem to bring his A game to the GC(especially compared to his regular season stats) , or if he does put up big numbers, there seems to be a key play or two where he falters.

And I am in no way saying that because the Als have messed up a good deal of Grey Cups the past decade that they will again this season. In fact, if the Esks don’t win this season, I’d like to see Montreal win so Cahoon, Calvillo, and Chui can retire champions, or Hamilton because they’ve sucked so bad lately.

One could argue that a no-call could change the outcome of any game, doesn’t amount to anything but sour grapes, whether it was you or I stating it. Fact is you, me or, anyone else will view a single call or non-call that goes against their team as crutial yet conveniently dismiss the ones that go in our favour. It is also highly asumptive, even if the non-call(if it in fact was) was made, there is no guarantee they would score.