From the Lark's Nest

Bad. B is for brutal, A is for atrocious, and D is for dismal. That's this latest 'effort' in a nutshell.

I believe I stated last week that I don't mind losing when we lost fair and square to a team that was better on the day than we were.  That's the case in the Calgary game.  It is most definitely NOT the case for our match with the Argos.  We gave them that game, gift wrapped with a nice little ribbon on top as well.

Bottom line is our defence did not allow an offensive touchdown until the 4th quarter.  When that happens, you should win the game.  We didn't.  Why? A few rather obvious reasons jump out at me.

First, Calvillo was off, to put it mildly.  One nice 95 yard drive in the first half, but other than that, brutal.  Worst performance he's ever displayed in an Alouettes uniform.  Five, yes five, interceptions!  Not what we expect from AC.  All year he's seemed a little off his game, this game he was so far off his game he was in another time zone.  He played some bad games when he thrown in the deep end as starting QB for the late, not lamented, Las Vegas Posse.  That's excusable; he was a novice QB playing in an unfamiliar league with a NFL style coach in Ron Meyer who knew as little of CFL nuances as he did.  Then he played some bad games as a Tiger Cat when he was again thrown in the deep end when Dunigan went down with concussions.  After his Hamilton experience AC had a choice between going to Saskatchewan as their starter or coming to Montreal to understudy Tracy Ham.  Fortunately for his career, he chose the second option.

But at this stage of his career to lay an egg like that?  Inexcusable.  I'd be generous and say everyone's entitled to an off day (although that only seems to apply to sports; can you imagine an assembly line worker at Ford screwing up and telling his boss "I’m not just "UP" for this today, or a lawyer in Court saying to the Judge "sorry your Honour, I'm just not 'UP' for doing this trial today”??), but that was more than just an off day.  That was horrid.  Worst passing I've ever seen from him.  He's been a little off this year, and from this game it seems like it is getting worse.  He'd better bounce back against Calgary or we may, hopefully not but may, be seeing the beginning of the end of a career.

Which leads to my next problem......if we're going to have to start grooming a QB, let's reverse the depth chart and promote Brady over Greene.  I don't think Nealon has any growth potential anymore; he is as good (or as bad) as he'll ever be; at least Brady is young and still has upside.  Nealon has only gotten into two games so far, and in both he's gone and thrown an interception.  Enough already, give Brady the ball and the chance next time.

The receiving corps was poor.  Cahoon and Stala and Terrence Edwards were invisible; Anderson was his usual self (try stretching out to catch a pass that isn't quite on the money once in awhile, please, Thyron); Wilson was boom and bust.....some great catches, easily his best game as an Al, but still those maddening miscues (dropping his first pass that was right in his hands; cutting off a route too short thus losing a first down that could have led to a TD instead of settling for a field goal).  Not sure if I can blame him or AC for the interception that was Parker's TD; from the replay it was impossible to tell if AC had expected him to come back more for that pass....but what the heck was AC doing throwing into triple coverage anyhow? Hal Patterson wouldn't have beaten triple coverage like that, and Owen Wilson is no Hal Patterson.

Game plan didn't seem sound; no attempt early on to establish the run; Edwards ran roughshod over these guys a few weeks ago, sure they'd have made some adjustments to anticipate that, but at least give it a try for heaven's sake.

Penalties again cost us big time; particularly early when the result was in the balance....like Luke Fritz killing drives with a chop block and then a silly offside to kill a drive on third and short. Brutal.

I wont' hurl any darts at the defence.  As I said they didn't allow an offensive TD for three quarters and that should be good enough to win.  They collapsed in the fourth, but that's to be expected...since our offense kept putting them on the field by failing to sustain drives, they were worn out and discouraged by the fourth quarter.

So, next Thursday we've got Calgary at home.  A better offensive effort is essential or we are going to be in considerable trouble.

So as not to be totally negative, I'll pass out one laurel....I think young Mr. Diedrick is a keeper; I see a bright future here.