RIDERS-ALOUETTES PRIMER

By: Luc Mullinder

C’MON MAAAN!!!!!!  That’s all I got for you today Rider Nation.  I’ve been looking at this screen for the better part of 11 minutes, and all I can muster up in regards to one of the CFL’s most storied franchises visiting Mosaic Stadium this afternoon, is C’MON MAAAN!!!

What a debacle.

You know it’s bad when you have 3 QBs listed on the depth chart and the only one that fans and media are speculating about is Jeff Garcia, and whether or not he’s going to suit up.  C’mon Man.

You know you’re in trouble when you have incredibly talented players on both sides of the ball, but the only marketable storyline that comes out of the locker room is a “This is what Chad Johnson did today…” update.  C’mon Man.

The Owner, Advisor, GM and Coaching staff, situation is like a “C’mon Man” soap opera!
We can almost imagine the last scene of the most recent episode:

Setting: It’s night time, on a dimly-lit cobblestone path in Old Montreal.

Scene: Jim Popp and Bob Wettenhall are sharing a smoked meat poutine and bickering over who should be taking the blame for the coaching staff situation and the abysmal record…and then… (Just as they reach the crescendo of the argument)…*cue the dramatic music*…Anthony Calvillo (after a 7 show absence) walks out of a dark alley wearing a Joseph Aboud suit!  Calvillo stops.  The trio exchange fiery glances.  Wettenhall nervously places the poutine on the nearby bench.  The camera fixates on Jim Popp who grins cunningly and utters, “Well…this just got interesting.”

This is potentially an Emmy Award winning year for the Alouettes!

No Rider Nation.  Unfortunately this isn’t the Montreal Alouette organization that you’ve come to know.  The mystic and marvel that travelled with this team in the past, has been replaced by confusion and chaos.  But if one takes a peek behind the curtain, there are still some things that give this team (the Als) a chance.  If the Roughriders come out of the tunnel more concerned with how they look in their new Oregon Duck-ish uniforms than on the task at hand, they’ll be in for a dogfight.  If the Riders run onto the field this afternoon with a steely-eyed aggressive focus on going 1-0, they’ll come out victorious.

Montreal’s strength is in their defence, but they do have the offensive weapons to hang with the Riders for a quarter or two.  In the end, we can review past success in order to find keys to a victory.  Look for Saskatchewan to keep creating pressure based on turnovers on D, and establishing the line of scrimmage with their run game on O.  Sounds simple and plain, but it’s not a complicated sport when stripped to the essentials.

Offence:

The Men Up Front
• Corey Chamblin has a cool little “Thunder and Lightning” thing going with the two RBs the Riders deploy at this point.  Will Ford can use his quick feet and vision to utilize the wide CFL field in the screen game and in getting to the edges of the Defence during the run, and Jerome Messam is a big powerful back with surprisingly good cutting ability.  Saskatchewan can really use Messam to wear down a defence physically, and we saw that last week in Willy-Peg.  The nice thing is, that whoever Cortez chooses to employ on downs, and whatever package that the Riders run on the field with, the Offensive Line is playing at a different level.

What’s more is that if one takes a look at the Rider roster, and compares it with the lineups of other teams across the league, Saskatchewan also has the deepest pool of talent at the Offensive Line position, and it’s not even close.  Dan Clark and Cory Watman have played really well under the conditions that they’ve been asked to, and by all accounts, if Rider Nation ever gets a solid look at OT Levy Adcock, you guys might be really impressed.  It is unheard of that a team can travel 7 or 8 O-linemen and be able to play all of them at any given moment, and this fact cannot be understated.  It’s a problem the Alouettes wish they had at this point.

Josh Bourke, their mainstay for years and one of the best tackles in the league for as many, is just coming off an injury and if something happens to him or any of the Montreal O-linemen today, they have to deploy Ryan White, who is absolutely NOT ready for the likes of Chick, George, or even David Lee at this point (no disrespect to Lee at all, he’s played well).  The Green & White are sitting pretty here, and if you’re a stats person, you already know where Saskatchewan’s advantage lies.  This is a team that is 1st in the league in running the ball, versus a team that is 2nd last in stopping it.

The Als, much like last week’s opponent, would rather have a team in 2nd and 6+, than 2nd and 4-5.  If the Roughriders come out with a steady dose of the big fellas upfront, the strategy will really pay off as the game wanders into the 2nd half.  The present and the future look very promising for the men upfront.

To Make Matters Worse
• It’s hard enough for a defence to play against a solid front five guys.  What makes things worse is when the five guys often come with backup!  It’s no secret George Cortez has often used an additional O-lineman as a blocking Tight End (and sometimes pass catcher to keep defences honest).  What has been really fun to watch this year is the way that the receiving core has bought into their roles when it comes to the run game.  Brett Swain and Chris Getzlaf (to name a couple) have done a great job this year motioning from their slot positions into the formation and then sealing off a defender or providing hole opening kick-out blocks for our RB to utilize.

The Rider Full Backs have also done a good job of this, and thus far, not a lot has been mentioned of their efforts.  Just think about it for a minute, do you really think that Getty or B. Swain work on blocking fits during the off season?  No.  And it takes a lot of heart to do a good job of it consistently.  I’m sure the coaching staff and their teammates really appreciate their efforts on film during review the day after a game, and you guys should check for their contributions in this area of the game, just as much as their catching stats.  It’s good to the poster boys getting dirty from time to time!

Defence:

Do What You Do
• Montreal really, REALLY, needs to get Brandon Whitticker going.  He needs at least 20 touches a game in order for them to be successful moving forward.  That being said, the Defensive task this week will be to ensure Whitaker is constricted to not being a factor on the field and keep Montreal in 2nd and 6+ downs.  They’ll be plenty of opportunities for INTs and sacks if the Riders take the RB out of the equation today.  By no means is this an easy task, however, with MTL seemingly not being able to get any cohesiveness from a QB/WR stand point, it is a necessary task, if anything.  Really, nobody is asking the Riders to do anything out of the ordinary.  The defence has been lights out in sticking to what they do best.  I can hear Richie Hall in the day 4 meeting room… ”Just do what you do fellas, just do what you do.”

• We might see some different packages and personnel groupings today with the anticipated return of Chad Kilgore.  Although, he doesn’t have the CFL experience, many around the organization have been impressed with what they’ve seen, and are waiting to see where he fits into the defensive story line from this point on.  Macho Harris will also play a new role, which speaks to his versatility, as he lines up in the spot vacated by an injured Weldon Brown.  This may be a spot he is more suited for in a Richie Hall defence, knowing what is required from that position, and one shouldn’t be surprised if he is in on a lot of plays today.

• There’s not really anything more to be said here … Rider Nation is enamoured with John Chick and has really seemed to buy in to what the Defensive unit is about.  The Alouettes may come up with a couple big plays against the Green & White, however, this is one of those games where the old adage “bend but don’t break” comes into play.  This should be business as usual for the Riders.

It’s unfortunate that the anticipation of a clash between these two squads isn’t what it used to be in terms of storylines.  Montreal is going through a phase that they haven’t seen in 20 years.  No AC.  Calvillo was more than a QB in that city.  He was iconic.  More importantly, he was a tremendous leader.  From the film room, to the practise field, to the mental preparation, Anthony Calvillo exuded professionalism, and it rubbed off on everyone in the locker room.  He made it easy for quiet guys like SJ Green to reach out to struggling players and give them reasons that they haven’t thought of, as to why they belong in an Alouette uniform.

He gave vocal guys like Jamel Richardson a blueprint on how to turn his personal enthusiasm for the game into something that everyone could get behind.  AC made it easy for hard working blue collar players like Chip Cox to keep their head down and go about their business not having to worry about stringing all the others along.

From the outside, leadership looks to be a real problem in Montreal, starting from the Head Coach.
Thankfully, that’s not a problem for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.  The Riders have a chance to take advantage of a team that is struggling within itself, and continue building on the momentum that is now bursting at the seams.  No opponent, regardless of their struggles, should ever be overlooked.  Championship calibre teams know this.  The Riders need to start fast in all three phases of the game and not leave slight openings for a team with its back against the wall to pounce on.  You can’t let struggling teams catch breaks.  Otherwise we’ll all be looking at the game, like I was looking at my screen earlier, muttering under our breath, “C’mon Maan”

#ProPerspective