Q & A with… Coach Bellefeuille
Q: Let’s start off like we always do with a recap of last game, obviously a bit more positive this week with a big win.
Marcel: The offence played really well. We moved the football and scored points and that’s always critical. We did a lot of good things in the passing game, our protections were more sound and our quarterback was seeing the field well and we moved the ball around quite a bit. We need to eliminate the turnovers we had, especially the unforced ones, we let Montreal back in the game when we committed those. So we’ll have to correct that this week.
Defensively we held them to nine points in the first half, we really did a good job. We turned the ball over in our end to start the game, I thought that was important for us and allowed us to get off to a good start. We really hustled and limited a lot of the gains. We have to be better tackling in the second half. We gave up some yards in the second half in terms of that, but we played well and got the stop at the end of the game when we needed it.
Special teams needs to be special for us to have a chance to win every week. Our return game set up a touchdown with one long return, any time you can have a short field thanks to a return that takes a lot of pressure off the offence. We also did a good job of being able to spread the ball around in the kicking game despite Nick battling through an injury.
Q: There were a lot of big performers, was it tough deciding who the game ball was going to?
Marcel: It wasn’t really. We gave the game ball to Nick, based on the fact he got hurt early in the game on a kickoff, and really could have shut it down for the night and put us in a very precarious situation, but Nick gutted it out and showed that type of grit that we need to win, so it was easy to give it to him.
Q: Today in practice you tested out a few of the legs in case that situation ever arises again. Who is the emergency kicker or punter?
Marcel: Well Chris Bauman does a pretty good job punting and Ray Mariuz does a pretty good job on the field goals. We knew who those guys were prior to this game, but it’s always good just to reestablish that and make sure you’re cover in that situation if it happens again.
Q: Were you surprised at all by the Quinton and Prechae show?
Marcel: Those guys are good young players and now we have to make sure we can be consistent and they can go out and do that again, but they certainly showed what they are capable of and we hope to see some more of that before the end of the season.
Q: It’s going to be the second week of preparing for the Als, what do you expect this week from Montreal?
Marcel: They are an excellent football team and they showed that last week. We have a lot of respect for them. We expect them to be even better than last week, and that’s saying something because they were pretty good against us at Ivor Wynne. So it’s a big challenge for us to go in there house and play a team that is the class of the East right now. We’re going to have to play as well as did last week and clean up some of the mistakes and errors we made.
Q: How much different is this road game taking the train out to Montreal versus taking a flight like the team does to all the games out West?
Marcel: It is different, I mean I used to drive my car down to the Stadium in Montreal for the last two years so it’s very much different (Laughs). The train is a nice opportunity for us to bond as a team and spend some quality time together before and after the game.
Q: Will it be tougher going against Montreal without the home crowd behind you?
Marcel: It’s always tough to play on the road. It’s tough to win in this league period, and definitely tougher on the road. They’ll have a full house there. I’ve coached there, so I know what it’s like, the fans will be excited.
Q: How good was it to get your first win as head coach last week?
Marcel: It felt good to validate that we’re doing the right things and if we keep doing these things, we’ll continue to have success.
