Mr Dee

Injury tried to pay Turner a visit last night, Bryant wouldn't open the door.

The defense gave up 29 points, actually ... not 38. And on top of that, let's see just how Montreal scored those points.
 
7 points off a drive that started in field goal range after a Buck Pierce INT on the first offensive possession ... so the defense gets NO break after a tough stop to start the game.
3 points off another Buck Pierce INT that gave Montreal the ball starting in FG range
3 points on the NEXT drive (again no break) after a Chad Simpson fumble AGAIN giving Montreal a chance to start with the ball in field goal range.
 
There's your first half. 13 points off turnovers and realistically, the lowest they were going to give up was 9 considering Montreal started in field goal range on every one of those drives and had only two plays off in between possessions on two of those.
 
3 points off a 12 play, 85 yard drive.
7 points off ANOTHER drive starting in field goal range after Burke's awful decision to punt in the end zone.
3 points off a 10 play, 49 yard drive.
3 points off a 6 play, 38 yard drive.
 
So basically, what it boils down to is that they held Montreal to field goals every single time they had a whole field behind them and even when the offense / coaching staff set them up for failure, they still held all but twice.
 
So yes, I'd absolutely say it was a dominating performance that was robbed by the offense. 29 points allowed, 13 of which were off turnovers that gave Montreal the ball in FG territory and you can even tack on the other 7 that resulted in them starting in FG range because of a bad coaching call. That leaves 9 points that Montreal actually busted their ass to earn.

JJ was part of that awesome D effort that shut down Montreal's receivers. He deserves some credit.

LOL!  Yeah it was amazing how the ball just threw itself to him too.

At this exact moment, Buck is the best we have. He proved it last night with some really tough throws. Couple of side-arm bullets over the middle, the one to Denmark on the goal line, and the from-the-bootstraps bomb to Kohlert were all pretty tough throws. He fought off the blitz pretty good, for the most part. 
 
I'm willing to wait till Labour Day and see where the offense is at. I personally expect Buck/Crowton to have this thing getting better each week...incrementally...

I was a KG supporter before he left, and I still think that was a mistake back then, but that was several years ago.
 
I don't think that there is much future in KG, and I think that the cost would be too high to bring him in.  He is nearing the end of his career, and I don't see a big benefit here.
 
I also believe that too many people put too much on the QB, and overlook the faults of others.  Buck was inconsistant last night, no question, but he is not solely responsible for the offensive ills.  He personally had a fumble, and threw a pick (off a deflection).  The other turnovers couldn't logically be placed on him, and those turnovers killed drives.   Our RB's didn't do a good job of picking up the blitz.  Matthews didn't have his strongest game either, and dropped catchable footballs.
 
IMHO, I'd stick with Buck, and continue to rotate Goltz in to run some wildcat to continue his development.  Virtually every #2 in the league last year got a start at some point in the season, so developing a #2 is critical.

Brandon London 3 catches for 36 yards in two games yeah getting beat every play. SMH blind hate.

offense always behind the defense in terms of the learning curve....that's just how it works. They're a work in progress, and as long as they continue to get better as the year goes on, I'll be happy.

I fault Crowton a fair share tonight. 1st half we had great success with quick hitters and slant patterns to counter the blitz, yet never went back to it in the 2nd half. It's not like Montreal did anything to take that away from us.

It's been said by some of us, that even if we had average QBing, we could win some games...tonight was proof.

Tackles can be read any way you want.  Doesn't mean he was good but it also doesn't mean he was bad.  Gotta look at it on a play-by-play basis to truly know.
 
Chip Cox racks up big tackle numbers at SAM every year and he's one of the best there is.

I promise not to confuse inept with bias if you promise not to confuse excuse with accuse.

I promise not to confuse inept with bias if you promise not to confuse excuse with accuse.

Pontbriand

Could be the hit of the year.
He got absolutely "Ferried" on that hit.
Ferried without mercy.

The question for us would be.....can we go on with Goltz as the starter?
IMO, he could do no worse in his 1st start than Reilly did in his.
And he would be learning.
Have to have guts to make that call.

So when Picard would give his approval for an order by saying "make it so".....you would hear " make it iso"?

There is WAY too much negativity in this thread from not having got the 2pts at the end of the night. I dunno, but from what I watched, considering it was the first time this team (as a whole) has played together, I felt really good about it. They're going to get better as they go, and win more games than they lose. Lotta talent, and I even felt pretty good about Buck. I've never been one of those who beats the drum for Pierce as The Man, but I'm more than comfortable with him going forward. They were shaking off some rust, no question, and if the reffing (which shouldn't ever be an excuse...) is a little more consistent, things look different at the end of the night. 
 
I choose to take a lot more positives outta the game last night. I thought all 3 phases took turns looking good and bad, but they'll get that cleaned up. They'll get more consistent as the season goes on and that's going to lead to wins.

Why KBF, I'm shocked you'd think I fool around like that when somebody's safety is at stake.

I must have blinked.....I missed it.

Hamilton:
 
Is Kent Austin a proven HC? I suppose to some he is and to some he isn't. He won a Grey Cup as we all know but that season as a whole was fairly average and they did run into some favourable circumstances. His NCAA career was fairly lacklustre but that probably has little to do with how successful he will be in the CFL. In my heart, I believe he will be an upgrade over Cortez (but how could he not be?) but I also thought Cortez would be a good fit last year. They have a rookie DC in Orlondo Steinauer and as terrible as Cortez was last year, the one thing no one can dispute is that he ran a great offense. It is probably a good thing for the Ti-Cats that he is gone, but they will be implementing a new offense which could easily not be as potent as it was last year, especially considering the fact that their offensive personell is not nearly as good as people make it out to be.
 
I'll start with Hank Burris. No one can dispute the career year he put up last year but that's the thing, it was his best statistical year in his career at age 37. The years prior to his change of scenery had been a steady decline and he is only becoming less and less mobile with age. People talk all the time about Calvillo being primed for a down year but I have heard little speculation that Burris will struggle. Frankly, a mobile QB at that age who had a "resurgance" after a few bumpy seasons is a prime candidate to disappoint. Of course I could be way off here but all those facts combined with the loss of Chris Williams and Avon Cobourne (who as underwhelming as he was as a runner, was a great blocker and an above average receiver out of the backfield) leads me to this possible conclusion.
 
I am also not even remotely sold on Chevon Walker as an every down RB. He had a sensational start to the season using his premiere speed but between getting hurt and becoming VERY underwhelming after the first few games, leads me to believe he isn't the second coming that TSN wanted us to believe. When compared to Cobourne, his blocking is atrocious and he isn't the between the tackles runner that is generally successful in the CFL. He does have great speed and is a good receiver out of the backfield but in my mind he is in a race with Hugh Charles for the worst starting tailback in the CFL and it's not really close.
 
At receiver, without Chris Williams these guys are not scary. I'd like to remind everyone that their number one import receiver is Bakari Grant. He's solid as a number two or three I suppose, but does he compare to Edwards or Matthews? He may even be just barely on par with Denmark. Fantuz was a sure-handed but slow SB who wasn't so sure-handed last year. Signs do point to a bounce back from him, but as of now he is not the dominant SB he was in his one great season. Giguere is no better than Poblah at this point in his career and Onrea Jones is the epitome of painfully average import receiver. Greg Ellingson had a good pre-season but does that mean anything at this point? Questions galore here.
 
I won't go into too much detail about the O-line. The interior should be good with Hage, Wojt and Dyakowski backed up by Husband and O'Neill but import tackles Marc Dile and Brian Simmons have been average for the couple years they have been around.
 
All I've been hearing is how much the defense has been improved this offseason. Sure, they couldn't get much worse than they were last year but other than McCollough, I don't really see it. They added Shomari Williams and Brian Bulcke to the defensive line. How those additions get anyone enthused will be an eternal mystery to me. As of right now, as far as I can tell the starting ends will be Greg Peach and Brandon Boudreaux. Both are decent if unspectacular players but both were also the ends for most of last year's debaucle on defense. Williams and Bulcke should sub-in at some points but as of right now, they are both overpaid NI spot starters. Terrence Moore looked good in spurts at tackle last season but the season before, so did Robert Rose and he washed out of the league last year after the obligatory couple of games for Saskatchewan. Torrey Davis is starting the year on the injured list but he will also be in the mix at tackle.
 
I have an immense amount of respect for Jamal Johnson at linebacker and he is really one of only a few really solid spots on this defense. Markieth Knowlton was once the premiere SAM in the CFL and was a deserving defensive player of the year a few years back. The last two seasons have been rough on him, however and he is at this point merely average at his position. The good thing about this group is that they no longer employ the abomination that was Kevin Eiben, but the third LB spot will either be Simoni Lawrence and MLB or if Johnson plays MLB, Ricardo Coclough at SAM and Knowlton at WIL. Both of them are former Eskimoes and had some success last season but neither are the big name free agents that everyone always hopes Joe Mack brings in.
 
In the secondary, I'd first like to discuss their starting safety James Patrick. I realize this guy is a "big name" and that gets people all hot and bothered but I can't stress enough how atrocious this guy was last year in Saskatchewan. He was never a strong tackler and made his money on turnovers much like Jovon Johnson. When the INTs stopped, the poor tackling became a bigger issue and his cover skills are in decline. He is most certainly a shaky part of this secondary. Evan McCollough and Dee Webb are both good players and should be solid parts of the secondary for the new few years. I imagine Ryan Hinds will probably start at corner and two years ago when he was a regular starter, he was a real nice place to attack every game. Based on what I read on the roster, the other starter at DB will be Delvin Breaux. I'm not saying this guy is not going to be good, but how in the hell would we know at this point? At least Demond Washington has some CFL experience.
 
I didn't even realize how many potential problems the Ti-Cats will have until I went through in all in my head. This is a team that many people have fighting for first place in the division (as per usual). I personally just don't see it. I realize that some of these questionable spots will probably work out for them but looking at the big picture, other than QB and mayyyyybe LB (but that's questionable) where are these guys better than the Bombers? And don't say Punter even if it's true.
 
Riders next.

Good to see someone can look at the blight side of things.

I believe we have a pretty decent roster overall and last night's game was used to evaluate who the missing pieces are.
That is all I really care about from that game.

would someone please explain how a qb that wont be playing getting a bad shotgun snap from a center that won't be playing going through the hands of a reciever that won't be playing actually reflects on the actual team that will be playing.

Actually, I like the fact Buck isn't playing.
At the very least, it gives us part of what we wanted (backups getting playing time) even though it's not under ideal conditions.