Alouettes QB Calvillo back for 20th season
The numbers are impressive and don’t lie. Two consecutive seasons of more than 5,000 yards passing, seven overall since 2002. Eleven regular-season victories last season, good for first place in the East Division. And the fifth CFL all-star berth of his illustrious career.
But does Anthony Calvillo at age 40 — 41 in August — still have what it takes to lead the Montreal Alouettes to a championship? That will be the question that continues being asked, both of him and this organiza- tion, next summer.
The yards are impressive, the victories a ringing endorsement of the Als’ success over the years. But the quarterback always will remain the focal point of the team, the lightning rod that stimulates the greatest debate. And quarterbacks are always measured by playoff victories and championships.
Montreal won consecutive Grey Cups in 2009 and 2010, but has fallen short the last two seasons, losing its last two playoff games, a semifinal and final, both at home. That, for an organization accustomed to greatness, is damning.
This is the longest the Als have gone, since a four-year stint in the late 1990s upon their return to the league, between trips to the title game.
The whispers of this being a franchise in decline will continue, especially as long as Argonauts GM Jim Barker continues to crow how the balance of power in the division has shifted to Toronto. As the champs, it’s hard to dispute Barker’s theory.
“When you don’t go back to the Grey Cup for two consecutive years, people are going to start asking that question. It’s a legitimate question,” said Calvillo.
“I wouldn’t come back if I didn’t feel I could go out and help this team win another championship. I just wouldn’t. I’m not coming back just to enjoy the moment, the yards, the fellowship. That’s not the case.”
Calvillo spoke for nearly 30 minutes Thursday, his left arm in a sling after undergoing shoulder surgery last Friday to repair a torn labrum he played with nearly the entire season.
The sling will be removed in three weeks. Calvillo will be faced with four months of rehab. He’ll resume throwing in April, a month ahead of schedule, before returning for his 20th CFL season, 16 with Montreal, having been signed to a two-year contract.