Steinberg’s MMQB: And then there were four

The first weekend of playoff football in 2014 gave us some pretty definitive answers, even if it didn’t give us a ton of drama. The Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Eskimos have very much earned trips to their respective Division Finals, and now we can look forward to the final three games of the season.

Enigmatic again

As we wrote last weekend, the one thing that was most worrisome for BC’s chances in the East Division Semifinal was the status of its quarterback position. Kevin Glenn has been enigmatic at best in his postseason performances in recent years. This weekend in Montreal, he just wasn’t good enough.

Losing 50-17 at any point is going to cast dispersions on a team’s defence at the best of times. But Sunday afternoon against the Alouettes, the Lions’ defence never really had a chance. BC’s offence was so ineffective through the first three plus quarters that no defensive unit was going to be able to hang in. It’s simple attrition: the longer one unit has to be stay on the field, the less effective it’s going to be.

I’ll give credit where credit is due. Glenn helped the Lions stay above water without Travis Lulay for the vast majority of the season. Had Lulay been able to play more football, Glenn would have been a very valuable asset on the team with his experience. But when the stakes are high, Glenn has shown an inability to get the job done. Unfortunately for BC this weekend, that was the case once again.

To hang it all on Glenn would be unfair, because blowout losses are always on more than just one player. There were letdowns all over, and of course, giving due credit to Montreal is pretty darn important too. Should Head Coach Mike Benevides have gone to Travis Partridge earlier than he did? Maybe, but the way that game was snowballing, it very likely wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

No storybook ending

Riders fans were all hoping Kerry Joseph would be the story of the West Division Semifinal, and he was. But not the way folks in Regina were hoping.

Much like Glenn for the Lions, Joseph was ineffective right from the get go in Saskatchewan’s 18-10 loss to Edmonton. At one point in the first half, Joseph threw three straight interceptions. And at no point did he ever look like a threat, as he finished with five interceptions. That number is just two fewer than the number of complete balls he threw.

Unlike the game out east, however, I wonder if Corey Chamblin and/or George Cortez could have salvaged this one. The Saskatchewan defence was getting the job done in an impressive way, despite trying circumstances. It held its team in it all afternoon long, and made it so the Eskimos could not truly capitalize on all those turnovers. So why did they leave Joseph in as long as they did?

I’m not saying Tino Sunseri would have won the Riders the football game, because Edmonton played lights out all day long defensively. But here’s one thing Sunseri didn’t do on his 15 passes: turn the ball over. Had Saskatchewan made the call to go to him, say, in the second quarter, who knows how this game would have turned out.

Hindsight is 20/20, I get that, but think about it for a second. Joseph was a liability each and every time he threw the football. If Saskatchewan could have eliminated even two of its turnovers, its would have had the ball in its hands a little bit longer. And it might have allowed their running game to exist, because it didn’t at Commonwealth Stadium.

As we’ve said before, the Riders should never have been in the spot to be forced to turn to a 41-year-old quarterback in a playoff game. Their depth at the position wasn’t good enough, and it clearly needs to be addressed this offseason. Joseph was the best option to start this game, I can agree with that. But I don’t believe it was the right call to stick with him as long as they did. By making a change much earlier, they could have given themselves a fighting chance.

Due credit

Now that all the critical stuff is done with, we need to give credit to the Alouettes and the Eskimos. In reality, we probably should have led with that, but we won’t be talking about the two vanquished teams anymore this season, so they can lead the way.

Let’s start in Montreal, where the Als were ready to play. I was really hoping they’d learn from their missteps in week 20, and they certainly looked to do just that. Montreal was out of sorts and couldn’t get out of its own way in a high stakes regular season finale just over a week ago, and it lost big time as a result. On Sunday against BC, the Als were sharp and focused, and it paid off.

This Montreal defence has been getting a lot of praise in the second half of the season, and it showed why on Sunday afternoon. While Jonathan Crompton and the Alouettes’ attack found their legs, their defensive counterparts allowed next to nothing when BC had the ball. Even when Crompton threw his interception in the first half, the Montreal defence was there to bail him out.

Offensively, Crompton started slow, but even while he wasn’t clicking on all cylinders, he was making smart decisions. He didn’t force things downfield, he accepted incomplete passes, and aside from the one turnover, helped the Als win the field position battle in the early going. Then, obviously, he got going . . . as did Montreal’s running game.

How cool was it to see Brandon Rutley finish with over 100 all-purpose yards in his first professional start? The Als have seen a revolving door at running back this season, and you wondered if it would catch up to them against BC. It didn’t, because Rutley was ready. For a guy who only had touched the ball three times prior, he looked like he’d been in that backfield a long, long time.

The Eskimos won their game with much the same formula. They were devastating defensively, and played the type of football Chris Jones has been preaching all season long. Edmonton flew to the football, disguised its coverages expertly, and made Kerry Joseph pay all afternoon.

And, much like Montreal, the Eskimos found their running game once again. We knew it was going to come back, of course, because we knew John White would be returning. He sat out Edmonton’s loss to Saskatchewan in week 20, but his 134-yard performance on the ground saved the Eskimos while their passing game sputtered in the first half. Had it not been for him running for the gains he did, Edmonton’s defence may not have been in the position it was to pick off the passes it did.

Last but not least, we saw Mike Reilly play, and play well. He didn’t start the game, but when he did come in, he looked accurate and engaged. The Eskimos have to play the Stampeders next Sunday, and for them to have a shot, they’re going to need their starting quarterback. Seeing him perform in a close game against the Riders the way he did can only be viewed as a positive sign.

Looking ahead

The Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats approached things a little differently in their bye weeks.

For Head Coach Kent Austin and the Ticats, it was all about rest before returning to practice to prepare for the East Division Final at Tim Hortons Field. Austin let his players go their separate ways, do what they wanted to do, as long as they took care of themselves and kept their focus on Nov. 23.

Calgary, on the other hand, didn’t even use the words “bye week”. For Head Coach John Hufnagel’s team, it was a work week. The Stamps were on the field with shorter practices, and they were trying to keep their eye on the prize. The Stampeders fully remember what happened one year ago in the West Division Final, when they were rusty and ineffective in a lopsided loss to the Riders.

The way the two division winning teams approached their week off may have absolutely nothing to do with what happens on the field this coming Sunday. But it sure was interesting to see the contrast in philosophy from two successful, Grey Cup winning coaches leading up to their home playoff dates.