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Posted

I think Montreal has way more problems than Hamilton. The team couldn't or wouldn't adjust to the weather conditions & I refuse to believe that their OL was THAT BAD. I think most of those sacks are on Collaros for not getting rid of the ball quicker. He look terrified out there. Almost a deer in the headlights reaction to his first start with his new team. Troy Smith was horrible with just the wind to contend with at McMahon Stadium on Saturday. But I think Hamilton is still the better team.

Posted

I think Montreal has way more problems than Hamilton. The team couldn't or wouldn't adjust to the weather conditions & I refuse to believe that their OL was THAT BAD. I think most of those sacks are on Collaros for not getting rid of the ball quicker. He look terrified out there. Almost a deer in the headlights reaction to his first start with his new team. Troy Smith was horrible with just the wind to contend with at McMahon Stadium on Saturday. But I think Hamilton is still the better team.

 

True enough.  I'm not gonna defend Smith per say, I've seen enough of him over the years to know he's been wildly inconsistent and likely will finish his football career as merely a college star, and not a pro star.  But I think you can pinpoint a lot of bad things within Montreal's offensive structure.  Just was looking at some of the highlights from that game again today and while I'm not an OC, those routes those receivers were running, as well as the underutilization and complete abandonment of the run game on the Als part just was all wrong.  Calgary brought the blitz once they saw it was working and with Charleston Hughes already causing enough trouble up there, the Als shoulda had some kind of hot read play to try and counteract the blitz.  That's on Dinwiddie and him being unqualified to OC, also on the Als organization for not having a viable backup plan with the whole Worman situation.

Posted

Popp fired Rick Worman for whatever reason & dumped everything on Dinwiddie's lap which is unfair as I'm sure he was unprepared. Popp really wants to be the HC of that team & I think that he is the "De Facto" head coach undermining Tom Higgins. To me, it's becoming apparent that the only way to give stability & order to the Als is to fire Jim Popp. 

Posted

Popp fired Rick Worman for whatever reason & dumped everything on Dinwiddie's lap which is unfair as I'm sure he was unprepared. Popp really wants to be the HC of that team & I think that he is the "De Facto" head coach undermining Tom Higgins. To me, it's becoming apparent that the only way to give stability & order to the Als is to fire Jim Popp. 

 

I've been thinking the same thing.  Even though he's been out of coaching 7 years, Higgins is not one that makes bonehead moves, his teams have all had 500 or better records (except 2007), and 2 Grey Cup appearances, so yeah I'd have a hard time believing he'd be pulling weird stuff like that around here.  Popp on the other hand seems to love trying to pull the strings around there every chance he gets.  I will say this, over the years he's brought a lot of good talent to Montreal, but whenever someone that's been running a high profile and successful coaching campaign there steps away like Matthews or Trestman, the worst in Popp and someone higher up the food chain always comes out.  Wetenhall is responsible for this too, Anthony Calvillo retires, and they just go into cahoots thinking they're going to find a way to just keep doing things the way they were always done with coaching, instead of trying to address other areas of the team.

Posted

I have found Popp getting lazy the last few years, as they have been bringing in a lot of retreads and old NFL burn-outs rather than recruiting younger guys. I guess every franchise goes through cycles but Montreal definitely seems to be going into a down cycle. Just as we're heading up. Could have dominated the East this year. Oh well.

Posted

 

 

People knock Bishop.. Wasn't he 12-1 with Toronto and wasn't he the only one who moved the ball under Kelly?

We've seen much worse qbs then Bishop.

Come on man, that's just annoying. You know why Toronto was 12 - 1.

Because Bishop isn't as bad as people made him out to be. He had 22 TDs and 11 ints that year.

You don't play ten years in the league if you are awful.

Guys like Max Hall who flame out with no wins are awful.

Bishop was simply mediocre... Hall , Boltus, Goltz were awful.

 

 

He'll win if Defense and ST's score the points for him.

Posted
It's not about life without Calvillo.  Montreal found out what life without Calvillo was like last year.

 

It's the perfect storm in Montreal.  They took forever to sign their HC.  They fired the OC in the middle of TC after the offence had been designed and partly implemented.  The gave the OC job to an unqualified Dinwiddie who doesn't look like he has any understanding of how to run it.  Smith got injured and couldn't practice or play in the first pre-season game.  They start on the road against one of the top 2 teams in the league.

 

It amazes me how many folks complain about young QB's being inconsistent.  Smith will be inconsistent just like almost all first time starting QB's are, especially those with only 1 TC under their belt (Ray is the only one I can think of who wasn't inconsistent in his first year).  If he doesn't improve his accuracy he won't become a good starting CFL QB.  If he does, then Montreal will be fighting for 1st in the east.

Posted

I have found Popp getting lazy the last few years, as they have been bringing in a lot of retreads and old NFL burn-outs rather than recruiting younger guys. I guess every franchise goes through cycles but Montreal definitely seems to be going into a down cycle. Just as we're heading up. Could have dominated the East this year. Oh well.

 

We were wondering out loud if he is too concerned with getting himself into the NFL that he's kind of lost interest in the Als and is just half assing it. Might be time for the Als to shake things up at any rate. 

Posted

 

It's not about life without Calvillo.  Montreal found out what life without Calvillo was like last year.

 

It's the perfect storm in Montreal.  They took forever to sign their HC.  They fired the OC in the middle of TC after the offence had been designed and partly implemented.  The gave the OC job to an unqualified Dinwiddie who doesn't look like he has any understanding of how to run it.  Smith got injured and couldn't practice or play in the first pre-season game.  They start on the road against one of the top 2 teams in the league.

 

It amazes me how many folks complain about young QB's being inconsistent.  Smith will be inconsistent just like almost all first time starting QB's are, especially those with only 1 TC under their belt (Ray is the only one I can think of who wasn't inconsistent in his first year).  If he doesn't improve his accuracy he won't become a good starting CFL QB.  If he does, then Montreal will be fighting for 1st in the east.

 

You'r right overall....but there are some degrees between "inconsistent"......and "terrible".   For a 30 yr old QB  Smith seems to have problems executing the most basic of fundamentals, throwing the ball.   The lousy O scheme,  certainly didn't help. 

 

Yes, hiring a HC who hasn't coached in 5 years and a OC with virtually no experience, whatsoever, to some extent..... does set up some players for failure.  Not sold on Marsh, but we may see him, soon enough.

 

Brink to the rescue!

Posted

 

 

 

People knock Bishop.. Wasn't he 12-1 with Toronto and wasn't he the only one who moved the ball under Kelly?

We've seen much worse qbs then Bishop.

Come on man, that's just annoying. You know why Toronto was 12 - 1.

Because Bishop isn't as bad as people made him out to be. He had 22 TDs and 11 ints that year.

You don't play ten years in the league if you are awful.

Guys like Max Hall who flame out with no wins are awful.

Bishop was simply mediocre... Hall , Boltus, Goltz were awful.

 

 

He'll win if Defense and ST's score the points for him.

 

 

Well if Smith keeps playing like he did then sure.... but if he manages the game and has more TD's then INT's then clearly they can win some games.  

 

If Bishop back in the day played like Goltz and couldn't even manage 100 yards passing after 3 and a half quarters then Toronto would of lost a tonne of games.

Posted

 

 

You'r right overall....but there are some degrees between "inconsistent"......and "terrible".   For a 30 yr old QB  Smith seems to have problems executing the most basic of fundamentals, throwing the ball.   

 

 

I think this was the most alarming thing for Als fans....  he had time to set up his throws and he still sailed the ball way over the receivers heads....  he also seemed very content throwing bombs to the sidelines... I'm not sure if this was designed plays or not?  

 

I would think that a few dump offs to Whitaker would of helped immensely in the game.

Posted

Like I said, there is something foul going on in that Als organization, and Popp probably had better be out the door by year's end for their sakes.  Course, good old Rob W may be the biggest meddler with the team atm, but either way, those big cigars need to realize that a team going through growing pains needs continuity and stability to try and help them.  You probably aren't going to get a winning record out of this year's Als team, but firing OCs before the season even starts and putting up reeky offense schemes that can't adjust to blitzes are a huge recipe for disaster.

 

It's true every year someone's gotta go to the basement while the other teams go on the rise, but I've seen basement teams at least show some competitiveness out of them at various times, like the 2011 Argos, and the 2012 Tiger Cats to some degree.  What's going on in Montreal right now is a huge organizational meltdown.

Posted

I don't know how you rip an offensive scheme apart when the quarterback showed the ability to miss every type of throw consistently.

 

The only thing I'd rip is the decision to start Smith and keep him in there for 4 quarters.

 

Those routes receivers were running were setting defenders up for picks and were long time developing.  Calgary was bringing all out blitzes and Smith most of the time had nowhere to go with the football thanks to no hot reads available and no plays to get a few mismatches out there with runningbacks or other players coming across the way for him to throw to.  That is most certainly a bad offensive scheme.

Posted

 

I have found Popp getting lazy the last few years, as they have been bringing in a lot of retreads and old NFL burn-outs rather than recruiting younger guys. I guess every franchise goes through cycles but Montreal definitely seems to be going into a down cycle. Just as we're heading up. Could have dominated the East this year. Oh well.

 

We were wondering out loud if he is too concerned with getting himself into the NFL that he's kind of lost interest in the Als and is just half assing it. Might be time for the Als to shake things up at any rate. 

 

If you had any current head coach in the CFL who could step up to being A GM, it would be Higgins, with Doug Berry backfilling.

Posted

Aways liked Higgins better as GM as opposed to coach.   However, when your best pure passer is Alex Brink.....

In related news, the Higg threw Smith right under the bus, in Montreal media, today.....

Posted

Rid of Popp?  Hell, he may be coaching this team again, soon.....

I think that's his plan - he didn't want Higgins in the first place and now he's trying to knife him in the back. But it should be Popp going, not Higgins.

Posted

Perhaps Wettenhall should just sell the Al's to Braley. Three down, six to go.

 

Or just follow the other CFL model and let local Montreal stockholders buy them and have BOD run things like other teams.

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