Matthew Cauz
CFL.ca
So have I been overrating the Montreal Alouettes just a little bit this season? Probably.
Listen, the team has won back-to-back Grey Cups and for the past decade have been the best team in the CFL. Can you really blame me?
Before their Labour Day game against Hamilton I was on the TEAM 990 in Montreal declaring the Alouettes would easily defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. I just couldn’t imagine a world where the Als would be in third place by the time kids were going back to school.
Clearly I know nothing, nor should I be invited on any radio shows posing as an “expert”.
So yeah, let’s just say my sense of reality was a little more than rocked while watching the Tiger-Cats dismantle Montreal. As I wrote in my rankings column, how often does a team win the turnover battle, have two defensive touchdowns in the same game and still lose?
Obviously this called for a closer inspection. Thankfully through the power of PVR and constant hitting of the rewind button I was able to get a clearer picture of just what happened on Monday.
I’m going to use my favourite technique of copying and pasting a wide array of critical plays from the game log and give my `expert` opinion.
Let’s start from soon after De’Audra Dix’s fumble return touchdown. Who knew that Montreal had peaked at that very moment, with the game only a minute old?.
Let’s begin:
1st quarter
(10:41) K. GLENN Incomplete Pass intended for C. WILLIAMS PENALTY MONTREAL: D. ANDERSON Forward Pass Interference (39 yds)
This will not be the first time I mention Chris Williams in this piece. You know a defensive back has been burned when he is flagged for interference and he doesn’t complain to the officials.
Williams simply torched Dwight Anderson and if Kevin Glenn had put a bit more air under the ball this easily could have been a touchdown. Oh, in case you’re wondering this won’t be the first time I will be highlighting an Alouettes penalty.
(10:19) A. COBOURNE Run (3 yds) – Touchdown PORTER AT QB
The most striking element of this game was the complete domination of Hamilton’s offensive line, especially in the running game. In fact, on both sides of the ball Hamilton was winning the battle at the point of attack. I’ll be honest; this is what surprised me the most, just how over-matched Montreal’s lines were.
Now it’s time for some individual honours. Jason Jimenez and Simeon Rottier just dominated Moton Hopkins and Ryan Lucas on the scoring play.
(5:48) A. CALVILLO Incomplete Pass intended for B. BRATTON
This was the first time you could see that it would not be Anthony Calvillo’s day. At this point, the game was tied at seven. Montreal had the ball on the 12-yard line and was facing a very manageable second down and five.
Bryan Bratton was wide open on this play. If Calvillo throws an accurate pass this is at least a first down if not a touchdown. Calvillo clearly looks frustrated as the team would have to settle for a field goal. This would not be the first time Montreal would struggle in the red zone.
(2:55) A. CALVILLO Incomplete Pass intended for B. BRATTON
A couple minutes later Montreal is facing a second-and-10, a difficult conversion, but the kind that Montreal has converted with stunning regularity during Calvillo’s tenure. The Alouettes are leading 10-7. This is the time to put together a long drive, get a double-digit lead, take the crowd out and force Hamilton to a pass first and often offence.
Instead Calvillo severely over throws Bratton. I’ll give some credit to cornerback Marcel Young’s coverage for forcing Calvillo to make the perfect throw, however he badly misses the target. It’s punting time.
(1:12) A. COBOURNE Run (23 yds), Tackle: D. ANDERSON
Time to give credit to another member of Hamilton’s offensive line. The key to this run was Peter Dyakowski sealing off Ryan Lucas and creating a massive lane for Cobourne. The line did such a good job you could tell the moment Cobourne got the ball that he was due for a big gain.
Speaking of Cobourne, he did an excellent job of reading the blocking and making that one decisive cut up field. To say that Jeff Hecht was over matched in the open field trying to bring down Cobourne would be a massive understatement.
(00:34) K. GLENN Completed Pass to M. MANN M0 (16 yds) – Touchdown
This was just an unbelievable catch by Maurice Mann, who found a massive hole in the middle of the field. Not sure what the Alouettes secondary was thinking as three defensive backs went wide leaving the middle of the field exposed. Not sure if it was miscommunication or missed assignments, so let’s just agree the team misses Mark Estelle.
2nd Quarter
(12:28) A. CALVILLO Team Loss (6 yds), J. HICKMAN Sack (6 yds), A. CALVILLO Fumble H55, J. HICKMAN Forced Fumble, S. BAGGS Fumble Recovery, S. BAGGS Fumble Return (0 yds) , Tackle: J. PERRETT
I really don’t mean to pile on individual players so I’ll just say that maybe it wasn’t Josh Bourke’s day either. Bourke was beat with a good old fashioned speed rush by Justin Hickman who easily got to Calvillo.
I also loved Stevie Baggs paying tribute to Otis Floyd by doing his machine gun celebration upon recovering the fumble. Of course I’m a bit torn on how I feel about celebrating a great play by simulating shooting a machine gun. Let’s just move on. The Baggs recovery would lead to a Justin Medlock field goal giving Hamilton a 17-10 lead.
(5:35) A. CALVILLO Incomplete Pass intended for B. BRATTON
Stop me if you have heard this one before. Montreal fails to convert on second down because of a breakdown in their offensive line and Calvillo’s inaccuracy. Hamilton’s pressure forced A.C out of his comfort zone leading to another off-the-mark pass to Bratton. At this point the Calvillo to Bratton connection has about as much chemistry as Matthew McConaughey and insert whatever B- `Starlet` you like.
(2:29) K. GLENN Completed Pass to C. WILLIAMS M11 (47 yds), Tackle: D. ANDERSON
Holy lord what a catch. I rewound this play about 20 times and I still can’t fully understand how Williams came down with the ball. It was such an impressive combination of body control and hand-eye coordination. Basically he tips the ball with his outstretched left hand, somehow keeps it alive and makes a great catch while Anderson is all over him.
Remember Anderson had perfect coverage on this play. That tells me that Glenn has complete faith in Williams to make a play. What a text book bounce back for Williams after his fumble against Winnipeg.
(2:22) Q. PORTER Run (1 yds) – Touchdown PENALTY MONTREAL: J. BOWMAN (Offside – Declined PORTER AT QB
I’ll keep this one short. Good things happen when ball carriers run behind the right side of Hamilton’s offensive line.
And now it’s time for the most critical three plays of the game, the goal line stand to end the half. I may be getting a head of myself with this hyperbolic statement, but this sequence could define the regular season for both teams. Alright that sounds a little overly dramatic, even for me. Let’s get back to the analysis.
First and Goal: Brandon Whitaker stuffed just short of the end zone. There was an opening but Hamilton quickly closed it up. Bo Smith was the first one to get to Whitaker with Renauld Williams right behind to stop any forward progress from Whitaker.
Second and Goal: Adrian McPherson is now in u
nder centre. He’s the best short-yardage quarterback in the league, but again Montreal’s offensive line could not get the job done. Credit Hamilton defensive tackle Albert Smith who was right in the middle of this impressive play.
Third and Goal: Montreal goes back to Whitaker and the result is the same! Kyle Jones and Luc Mullinder were in the middle of action while Hickman knifed through to slow him up.
3rd Quarter
So, with all the momentum on Hamilton’s side just how would Montreal respond to start the third? Well considering the team is assessed an unnecessary roughness penalty on the opening kickoff that ended up negating an excellent return by Diamond Ferri, I am just going to play the role of spoiler and tell you it doesn’t end well.
(14:50) K. WATKINS Run (-2 yds), Tackle for Loss: S. BAGGS
Baggs continues his strong play by just blowing up this run by Kerry Watkins. Baggs strings out the run, fights off a couple of blocks and makes the tackle. The only way he could have done more would be if he had sold a round of beer to the Box J Boys.
(14:07) PENALTY MONTREAL: J. PERRETT Procedure (5 yds)
At this point it should be noted Montreal has nine penalties for 104 yards while Hamilton has yet to commit a penalty.
(13:47) A. CALVILLO Incomplete Pass intended for B. WHITAKER
Calvillo couldn’t even hit Whitaker on a simple short swing pass. Both Montreal’s offensive line and Calvillo seemed confused about what Hamilton’s front seven was going to do. In the end they generated a pass rush with just two players.
(12:45) K. GLENN Completed Pass to D. STALA H45 (49 yds), D. STALA Lateral to M. MANN M41 , Tackle: B. PARKER
Before any astute analysis let me first say, that was a fun play! Love the lateral so much athat I’m demanding a minimum of two laterals per game. This play is all about Glenn’s bravery. He hung in the pocket for an extra half second then got smacked by Jon Bowman.
That extra half second was needed for Stala to get open. Once again Montreal’s secondary looked confused in the middle of the field.
(10:39) Q. PORTER Run (20 yds) – Touchdown
Not sure what I enjoyed more, the play call or Porter’s 360-spin into the end zone.
(8:44) A. CALVILLO Team Loss (8 yds), J. JOHNSON Sack (8 yds), A. CALVILLO Fumble M37, J. JOHNSON Forced Fumble, A. WOODRUFF OT Fumble Recovery, Tackle: J. HICKMAN
At this point Calvillo looks old. I swear he aged about eight years since the beginning of the game. Before I talk about the sack it should be noted that just one player earlier, Calvillo is nearly picked off by Markeith Knowlton in a pass intended for Watkins. Is there a better linebacker in pass coverage in the entire league? If you didn’t see the number you would have swore it was a defensive back on Watkins.
Once again Bourke just can’t get the job done protecting Calvillo as it’s now Jamall Johnson’s turn to sack Calvillo.
(5:47) K. GLENN Completed Pass to C. WILLIAMS M25 (26 yds), Tackle: D. ANDERSON PENALTY MONTREAL: C. COX Roughing Passer (7 yds)
Another example of Glenn’s courage and Williams` explosive ability. You can’t really fault Anderson considering Montreal came on the all blitz leaving him one-on-one with Williams in the middle of the field.
(5:16) A. COBOURNE Run (7 yds) – Touchdown
I’m guessing this is the only column that has mentioned Rottier twice. The Cobourne touchdown was set up by Rottier just mauling the Alouettes offensive line. I know there is still 20 minutes left to play but at this point the game is over.
Re-watching this game I was amazed by Hamilton’s ability to control both lines of scrimmage, the number of mental mistakes and penalties committed by Montreal and how uncomfortable Calvillo looked.
Of course, next week could tell a whole other story considering the up and down nature of Hamilton and the level of parity that exists this season. But on this day in Hamilton, the Tiger-Cats looked like the kind of team they have been striving to be since their playoff loss to the Argonauts last season.
