Argos @ Als

[USABomberfan]

Well, interesting story here is the two QBs who these teams traded for in Franklin and Manziel have failed to live up to expectations while two unknowns in Bethel-Thompson and Pipkin have shown some great potential to be league stars.  No doubt the Argos will keep rolling with MBT if he keeps winning, and even though the Als spent a fortune on Manziel I'd say they'd be foolish not to consider Pipkin as their future.  The guy showed some great poise while under pressure last week, and if he played for any other team I believe his star would rise fast.

Shame on Mike Sherman and Kavis Reed for their stupid QB evaluations and not starting him over Willy right out the gate.

[Booch]

funny part the dumped Pipkin and he was just brought back a few weeks ago...and has appeared to look the best of the bunch

[M.O.A.B.]

At QB - 1st yr starter vs 1st year starter - I'll give edge to the Argos though because Trestman > Sherman & K.Jones

I give Als an edge on D, I believe they have a better personnel than the Argos. 

I picked on the Argos on this match but I wont be surprise if Als pull off a win on this one. 

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by M.O.A.B.

[JCon]

Wait, Manziel has failed to live up to expectations? What expectations were there? Everyone in the media said he was going into a terrible situation with barely any reps behind a bad oline. 

 

I pick the Argos based on the fact that the Als are dumpster fire. 

[SpeedFlex27]

I feel bad for Manziel as I think he had his heart in the right place finally & was honestly giving his best to get back to where he was before. This year may be a wash for him but he could come back next year wiser with more experience & have a great season.  I bet there isn't a day that goes by where he wishes he hadn't flushed his NFL career down the toilet.  Montreal is the worst possible place for him to end up. The team is in turmoil & management is running around constantly putting out fires on a daily basis.  The Als are far from being professionally run. They sure remind me of the Bombers in 2013. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by SpeedFlex27

[rebusrankin]

Argos with a chance to win 3 in a row and get to 4-5 and a tie for second place headed into Labour Day.

[USABomberfan]

2 hours ago, JCon said:

Wait, Manziel has failed to live up to expectations? What expectations were there? Everyone in the media said he was going into a terrible situation with barely any reps behind a bad oline. 

 

I pick the Argos based on the fact that the Als are dumpster fire. 

Umm well, if the expectations were low why spend all that capital on him?

[USABomberfan]

3 hours ago, Booch said:

funny part the dumped Pipkin and he was just brought back a few weeks ago...and has appeared to look the best of the bunch

I had said this before and man ... It's just got me wondering who was the dumb person who ordered him cut.

If it was Mike Sherman, then he definitely should be done after this season because he should have enough coaching experience to be able to evaluate QBs better than that.  If he can't ... then Lord Almighty he has lost it big time as a coach.

If it was Reed/Wettenhall who ordered him cut, well it would just confirm my suspicion that Sherman is simply a figurehead doing nothing but taking his marching orders from upstairs, and Reed buffoon antics are being put on display full force.

[JCon]

21 minutes ago, USABomberfan said:

Umm well, if the expectations were low why spend all that capital on him?

The expectation is that he'll sell tickets, create excitement, and, in time, become a great QB in this league. 

Also, Kavis Reed... 

[Mr Dee]

CFL.ca 

2018 CFL GAME NOTES WEEK #11 

• TORONTO AT MONTRÉAL Game #49 

MACBETH 2-0:  👁‍🗨Ha!

McLeod Bethel-Thompson has started and won the last two Toronto games; he is one of only THREE Argos QBs to win their first two starts for the club in the last 30 years. The only others were Trevor Harris 2014-15 and Kerwin Bell in 1998. Only Trevor Harris and Gilbert Renfroe have won their first 3 starts for Toronto since 1972.

Before 1988, you have to go back to Gilbert Renfroe in 1987, Mark Jackson 1980, Matthew Reed 1976, Chuck Ealey 1975 & Joe Theismann in 1971, and Tobin Rote in 1960 for consecutive victories off the top for the club.

-327 QBs who have ever started at least 2 CFL games, only 119 have made it to 18 starts or the equivalent of a full season, 1 QB in 3.

👁‍🗨And no, these stats do not mean that these are only Bomber stats..

QB Starter Change From Previous Week:  Overall teams are 49-69 .415 in those games where they were forced or decided to make a change from the previous week:

- Consecutive 10+ point Toronto comeback wins: The Argos have won their last two games by overcoming double-digit deficits. In the last 26 years, they have accomplished that feat only 3 times: 2018, 2013 and 2010. The 2013 set was extraordinary as they overcame 10+ point deficits in 4 straight games to win each time.

-1-19 in the last 20 games / 9 in a row at home: The Alouettes have won just once in their last 20 games. This 1-19 record in a 20-game span is the worst by any CFL team since Ottawa went 1-21 across 1988-89.

Montreal comes into this week having lost their last 9 home games - the longest home losing streak in Montreal history and back to 1958 matches the 3rd-longest ever CFL home losing streak (Ottawa 1987-88: 14, Toronto 2009-10: 10, Hamilton 2002-03: 9). 

The current Montreal run is the only time in CFL history that a team has lost 8 consecutive home games by 10 or more points.

- 1st half vs 2nd: The Argos have been outscored by a margin of -85 points in the first half this year; they are +3 in 2nd halves.

- Stat to Watch - 1st Down Runs: The Argos trail most of the CFL averaging under 5 yards (4.96) per 1st down rush. Montreal is at the other end averaging a CFL-best 6.26 yards per attempt on 1st down. 

- Four in a row 500+ yards allowed: The Als have allowed 500+ net yards in each of their last 4 games. This is unprecedented in CFL history as NO team had ever gone 4 straight games before at that 500+ allowed level. Only three clubs before 2018 ever allowed even 3 games in a row at 500+ net yards (OTT 1990, BC 1992 & SSK 2000).

- Recent Toronto Red Zone: The Argos have been amazingly efficient lately in the Red Zone. They went 7-of-8 over the last two games (88%) compared to just 3-of-7 in the previous 3 games (43%)

- 44.5 points per game at home: The Als have allowed 178 points at Molson Stadium in their first 4 home games for an average of 44.5 per game. That is CFL record pace and ranked with the following all-time:

Across the CFL, there have been 18 different QB starters in just 38 games to date. The A/T single-season record is 28 set in 2015.

 

[Mark F]

Herb Zurkowsky on pregame Montreal, speculating about who will replace Kavis. Pretty interesting.

[USABomberfan]

On a side note, I am shocked Trestman and Popp are bringing Carter in.  He just seems like exactly the kind of player they would not want.

Well, I don't expect they'll have him play corner, but I would hope they keep him on a very short rope.

Although I will say this, I hope he does torch SSK when he plays against them.

[SpeedFlex27]

Hamilton might be in the mix now with Williams out with a suspected ruptured Achilles.  Don't know if they are but I wouldn't be surprised.  Losing Willimas is huge. 

[USABomberfan]

Man, someone should tell MTL conservative play calling like that will always knock you in a hole.  SMH.

[Mark F]

I wonder where Khari will end up after this season. Can't see any of these coachs staying on in Montreal.

Trestman switching Thompson and Franklin, is an example of something that might not happen with the Bombers.

Edited August 24, 2018 by Mark F

[USABomberfan]

12 minutes ago, Mark F said:

I wonder where Khari will end up after this season. Can't see any of these coachs staying on in Montreal.

Trestman switching Thompson and Franklin, is an example of something that might not happen with the Bombers.

Meantime Pipkin continues to impress me.  Feel bad that he's being handcuffed by poor play calls and awful play designs.  Put him in Ottawa or BC and he'd be wreaking havoc out there, I think he's even better than Reilly but just doesn't have the talent around him that Reilly does.

[Super Duper Negatron]

Just now, USABomberfan said:

Meantime Pipkin continues to impress me.  Feel bad that he's being handcuffed by poor play calls and awful play designs.  Put him in Ottawa or BC and he'd be wreaking havoc out there, I think he's even better than Reilly but just doesn't have the talent around him that Reilly does.

Seriously?

[USABomberfan]

10 minutes ago, Super Duper Negatron said:

Seriously?

Yes seriously, it's too bad drops like the one Cunningham just had have to show up as incompletions on his stat line.

Not to mention Reilly has a rock solid OL in front of him and WRs with sticky glue hands while Pipkin has butterfingers out there he's throwing to.  You seriously don't think his numbers wouldn't shoot up with Reilly's support cast?  His throws have looked pretty damn accurate to me.

Edited August 25, 2018 by USABomberfan

[USABomberfan]

See, butterfinger Cunningham strikes again.  Switch out Duke Williams for him and down go Reilly's TD numbers.

[Mark F]

cunningham....matt thought it should have been caught. 

[USABomberfan]

1 minute ago, Mark F said:

cunningham....matt thought it should have been caught. 

It should have.  I'd say just about any of our guys as well except for Lankford could go up and get it.

[MOBomberFan]

Pipkin is doing okay for himself. Best of the worst, at the very least

[USABomberfan]

Beautiful throw there evading pressure and throwing Lewis open.

I mean there ya go.  If the rest of his guys would learn to catch like that he'd have way more than 16 points on the board.

I'm standing by my point that he has just as much of Reilly's capabilities.

[SpeedFlex27]

3 minutes ago, USABomberfan said:

Beautiful throw there evading pressure and throwing Lewis open.

I mean there ya go.  If the rest of his guys would learn to catch like that he'd have way more than 16 points on the board.

I'm standing by my point that he has just as much of Reilly's capabilities.

Pretty small body of work to say he's as good as Reilly. I suggest we come back in 3 years & discuss. 

[USABomberfan]

13/19 is pretty damn good for 172 yards

 

He'd have over 200 already if his butterfinger WRs hadn't dropped all those balls.