THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ticats.ca
Justin Dunk
Much speculation this week has surrounded Alouettes signal caller, Anthony Calvillo and his blurry right eye – suffered in a 27-24 loss to Saskatchewan on July 24. The injury caused some uncertainty as to whether the 18-year veteran would get the start on Friday night against Hamilton. Although, Marc Trestman confirmed after the Alouettes only real practice of the week on Wednesday that Calvillo will indeed be under centre — as long as we’re not being led astray by the Montreal bench boss.
If indeed Calvillo does start he will come to Steeltown with two of the biggest and most physical receivers in the league at his disposal. Jamel Richardson and S.J. Green, are well known for their playmaking abilities and provide big bullseyes no matter who is throwing them the football.
“To me when you look at Jamel Richardson he looks like he’s 6-foot-13,” defensive coordinator Corey Chamblin said, jokingly after practice at Ivor Wynne on Wednesday.
Richardson is actually 6-foot-3, while his look-a-like and running mate Green is 6-foot-2 and both weigh in around 215 pounds – all of which they use to their advantage on the field.
“Best physical combo of receivers in the league,” defensive back Bo Smith, who has faced the Montreal duo in the past, said.
Many philosophical changes have been made on the defensive side of the ball in TigerTown and one of the main goals during the off-season was to find taller, bigger defensive backs who would be able to run with physically imposing pass-catchers around the CFL.
“As far as I’m concerned this is our test as DBs,” Ryan Hinds said.
Players like Marcell Young and Carlos Thomas were brought in to solidify the secondary and help the Ticats match up more favourably against the receiving corps of the two-time defending Grey Cup Champions.
“We brought in some bigger sized DB’s so when they throw their weight we can try and throw our weight back,” Hinds said.
Hinds, Smith and company are well aware of the physical mentality that the Montreal receivers bring when the lights go on.
“It gets very physical at very key times, just when they come out of their break they tend to push off a little bit. When the ball is just about to come they tend to push off a little bit,” Hinds said. “Big guys like to use their size and push off a lot. We’re expecting and anticipating that.”
“It’s physical out there. They’re going to try and run through you and push off,” agreed Smith.
Chamblin believes there is no secret for his defensive backs in trying to slow down Richardson and Green — who have combined for 588 yards and four receiving majors on the season.
“I think it comes down to heart and how hard you are going to cover these guys each and every play,” he said. “They’re tall, they’re speedy, they’re rangy and they have good hands. But they have challenges when a guy matches their intensity.”
“You don’t see them do a lot of talking they just play fast every down. You want to be able to play fast with them.”
The Alouettes use a lot of different formations and motion within their offence to try and cause confusion for the opposing defences. All of the movement pre-snap by the receivers means that defensive backs could find themselves covering a different pass catcher each down.
“Certain teams have guys sticking to one spot on the field, but against Montreal you can go up against five or six receivers in the game,” Hinds said.
Because of the physical presence of numbers 18 and 19 in Alouettes colours, at times, their hastiness can be an afterthought.
“The size overshadows their speed — they’re fast,” Hinds explained. “We’re trying to get more hands on them at the start of their stem so that they don’t get into their full stride. Big tall guys like that, when they get their stride fully opened up they get going.”
Ideally the Ticats would like to keep Richardson and Green, the elite passing catching tandem, stuck in first gear on Friday evening.
