Rogerio Barbosa
Alouettes fans have good reason to be optimistic for the CFL new year even if saying goodbye to 2013 means saying goodbye to Number 13.
“Being out for the whole year was a crushing blow to me and my family…it was hard to watch not being able to do anything for the team,” admitted Jamel Richardson in the rushed chaos of Garbage Bag Day in Montreal.
| Nearing the End? |
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Following his team’s loss to the Tiger-Cats in Sunday’s Eastern Semi-Final, Anthony Calvillo announced Monday that he may have taken his final snap. |
“Come on back, take a ride at it,” Richardson urged Anthony Calvillo minutes before the future Hall of Famer revealed his ongoing post-concussion symptoms have him “favouring” retirement and boosting a job in coaching on his list of future priorities.
Simply put, it was that kind of year for the Als. Even when they were at their heartfelt best, the timing was off.
Richardson had been gone so long; his promise to lead a 4 X 1,000 receiving yard team was long forgotten. He is, he claims, two weeks ahead of rehab schedule with the crutches he once used now long gone.
“I think I got caught up in a whirlwind of rebuilding phase,” Arland Bruce lll tells me.
“I blame Calvillo, (Richardson) and (Brandon Whitaker),” he said, tongue planted firmly in cheek.
“Imagine if they would have been on the field? We would have been more of a threat.”
Bruce, of course, suggests that Jim Popp shield him from the upcoming Ottawa Expansion Draft.
“Anything could happen. Hopefully they protect me. There’s no such thing as a ‘Franchise Tag’. I think I put in my work around this league to get a Franchise Tag. If I audition for the REDBLACKS…you never know in this league.”
Protected list priorities have to include the humble leader Troy Smith and the exuberant Duron Carter, whose numbers projected over a full season would have grabbed him 80 catches for almost 1500 yards.
If ever there was a franchise player, that honour of course would have had to go to Calvillo at some point. In previous year-end scrums he’s said coaching was a low as “5th on my list” of things he wanted to do in retirement.
Recently, however, Calvillo has had more than enough time to think about the future. The exemplary job Scott Flory has done as the team’s unofficial O-line coach since his longterm injury brought results on the field, and perhaps some clarity to Calvillo, as well.
“To be honest with you, (the thought of coaching) has changed,” Calvillo said of his views on a coaching career.
“(Flory’s experience) excited me. There’s an excitement to help an individual go out there and have success. Coaching has definitely jumped up higher on my list.”
Flory’s input helped keep Calvillo’s most-likely successor, the Heisman famous Smith standing. After giving up 11 sacks in their first two games of the season, Montreal’s bolstered blockers gave up a paltry two sacks the last six weeks of the regular season, one of which was actually the result of a bad snap on a running play.
“We started out in complete chaos,” says Flory, the 37-year old bodyguard who tore a tendon in his arm in the early weeks.
“I’m still a month away from where I could play, but I couldn’t be away from the guys and the organization wanted me to help. I love the tic-tac-toe, the chess match.”
Popp, meanwhile, had only good things to say about Flory’s work.
“The intelligence factor that Scott has, he probably would be a very good coach,” he conceded.
“And people forget that Anthony probably called his own plays for 10 of those years so I think both men have a great career in it if they want it.”
In past years when I asked Marc Trestman, the former Als coach expressed no interest in Calvillo exploring a dual role as coach and player. Popp does not close the door fully.
“He would have to be a coach first even if he was a player-coach,” says the GM/Coach-for-now.
“It could always be a possibility. It would have to be worked out with the league office because of the Salary Cap too.”
Meanwhile, at least one other warhorse is galloping toward a career in coaching: Anwar Stewart.
“I’m out, I’m done, I’m finished,” Stewie gushed all smiles.
“I’m going to be 38 and the league is evolving. Young guys like Duron Carter, all the little knuckleheads (said within obvious earshot of the son of the Pro Football Hall of Famer, now’s a great opportunity for me to take what I’ve learned and help them achieve whatever goals they set for themselves.”
“I’m going to be looking at getting a coaching job…the last couple of years I’ve been contacted by several teams and coaches…I’ll wait it out a few months and see what may be coming up soon.”
I won’t be surprised if Flory, Calvillo and Stewart’s Alouette hearts and minds lead them to the staff for whoever Wetenhall and Popp hire as new head coach.
Their combined 812 CFL regular season, playoff and Grey Cup games highlighted by nine combined Grey Cup rings will be invaluable assets.
They can’t all be as lucky as Walter Spencer.
The special teams demon who returned from “civilian life” for the late season push to the playoffs speaks aloud of his dream.
“I feel good, I’m running, my body feels good…I can play til I’m 50, man!”
