Alouettes’ offence not putting up the points
Too early to panic, but consistency is needed, says Chapdelaine
As much as it left people shaking their heads in disbelief, the tandem blocking penalty against Alouettes guard Phil Blake last Friday was a legitimate call.
“You can’t pull the ball carrier forward, which he did,” Glen Johnson, the Canadian Football League’s senior vice-president (football) told the Montreal Gazette Monday. “It was a good call.”
While the officiating crew, technically, made the correct call, it was the infrequency with which it has been made over the years that had the Als perplexed. It also nullified a potential 16-yard touchdown by Tyrell Sutton. Montreal settled for a field goal instead, increasing its lead to 16-12, but there were still 19 minutes remaining in regulation time.
The Edmonton Eskimos ultimately prevailed, 23-19.
According to the league, Sutton was pulled into the end zone, which is illegal. The score would have counted had the Montreal tailback been pushed.
“By the book, probably it was a good call. You see those plays happen at times. You just don’t see the calls as often as the plays occur. It was untimely for us,” head coach Jacques Chapdelaine said. “It’s unfortunate. If Phil doesn’t touch Tyrell, we’re not even discussing this.”
Following the game, Blake said he was off-balance and was simply trying to stay clear of Sutton’s progress. While Blake said he wasn’t happy with the call, he shrugged knowing there wasn’t anything that could be done.
But on Monday, Sutton claimed it was he who pushed Blake into the end zone. “He had no idea what was going on. He was trying to keep his balance,” Sutton said. “We can’t keep leaving the games in the hands of the refs.”
Through two weeks of the regular season virtually every CFL team, other than the Als and Hamilton — the Tiger-Cats have played only one game — has had an offensive explosion. Montreal might be 1-1, but could easily be winless had Saskatchewan’s Tyler Crapigna made a final-play 45-yard field goal in the season-opener.
The Als were dismal on offence last season, and show no signs of having improved. They’ve scored only 36 points and three touchdowns through two games. Montreal also has yet to score on the ground despite an effort to improve its running game.
“There is an improvement. We just have to put up points. We’ll be fine,” Sutton said. “If we win, nobody’s talking about this. That’s what you’ve got to do. If you score more points than the other team, you’re not hearing about this.”
The Als continue to lose the statistical battle. Montreal had 16 first downs and 272 yards of net offence against Edmonton. Quarterback Darian Durant passed for only 166 yards and a touchdown. While the defence continues holding the team in games, it’s also spending too much time on the field — 34:39 against the Eskimos. That’s an alarming trend and one that will catch up to the unit.
Not only did the Als squander a 10-0 first-quarter lead, the Eskimos began the second half with a 12-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that consumed a full five minutes, cutting Montreal’s lead to 13-12.
The Als answered with their own 15-play drive, taking almost six minutes off the clock. But with the ball on the Edmonton one, they took three successive penalties, starting with an illegal substitution call against Alex Pierzchalski, who wasn’t supposed to be in that formation.
Don’t be surprised if Pierzchalski is benched in favour of rookie receiver George Johnson this Thursday, when the Als entertain British Columbia.
“We lost, through a series of penalties, the ability to gain some more yards,” Chapdelaine said.
“You don’t want to blame one side of the ball, but (Edmonton) started the third quarter with a long, sustained drive. That’s one way of keeping our offence off the field.
“As a co-ordinator and head coach, you don’t like to see those things. Your guys have been in the locker-room for 18 minutes. Now they’re kept out for another 10 minutes of play time. That’s not good. It’s always going to be hard to get started. But we did respond to every drive they had,” Chapdelaine added.
“I’m not going to start hitting the panic button. I think we’re doing a lot of good things. We’re just not doing them all the time.”
Penalties killed the Als on Friday, the visitors taking 14 for 115 yards. Chapdelaine said he’s not concerned by penalties that are a byproduct of aggression, speed and intensity.
“We just want to make sure we don’t slow our guys down. We don’t want them to play more cautious. We just want to make them play smart,” he said.
Notes: Strong-side linebacker Chip Cox suffered a bruised knee ligament last week and practised sparingly. Chapdelaine remains cautiously optimistic he’ll play against the Lions . ... Cornerback Jonathon Mincy’s in concussion protocol this week after sustaining a fourth-quarter head injury. He’ll be replaced on the boundary by Donald Unamba with Ryan Phillips remaining at field corner. ... The Als have signed a three-year deal with Parc Olympique for the use of the field and training facilities. As part of the deal, the Als will play at least one home game at Olympic Stadium, probably starting in 2018.