Positives
It seemed that the only player on Offense who came to play today was Arland Bruce. No matter what, he always puts in maximum effort. We need more players like him on the team.
Negatives
Oh, where to begin.
Kevin Glenn was terrible. This was by far his worst day as a Tiger-Cat. He gets a mulligan because he's been so good so far this season. But he really chose the worst possible time to have a bad day.
I have stood by him, I have defended him, I thought he had the tools to be a really good player, but now I am about to say something I thought I'd never say: Quinton Porter just doesn't have it. He's sat on the bench for the better part of a year, and he should have been spending that time getting better, yet he is still a one-read-then-run QB. He hasn't progressed any since his first game. It might be time to cut bait with Porter.
Obie, you were fleeced. I hate to say it, but the Maurice Mann for Chris Thompson trade has been a complete disaster. Mann can't catch and Thompson only has two fewer interceptions than the entire Tiger-Cat Defense. As far as I am concerned, Mann is on an even shorter leash than Cobb.
The Defense played its heart out, but they gave up way too many 2nd-and-long conversions. The run defense was particularly bad, as there were too many times that Adrian McPherson ran for big yardage. That cannot be allowed to happen if this team is going to succeed.
Final Thoughts
Just a bad game. There really isn't anything else to say. The Cats got clobbered by a better prepared Alouette team. Talk of the Cats getting ready to join the upper echelon was clearly premature. This was just a bad performance. The Cats just can't get past the Als (they have lost 20 of the last 21 to Montreal), and it seems that they put Montreal on a pedestal. Until that stops, the Als will always have the advantage.
With that said, at the end of the day, it is only one game. When the team was 1-4, I said they had to go 3-2 over their next five games for me to feel comfortable that they would still make the playoffs. In those five games, the Cats went 4-1. The Cats are 5-5 and in second place. Let's not jump off the ledge just yet.
We all knew the ride was going to end sooner or later. They weren't going win 13 straight games, and I'd rather have the bad game in Week 11 with time to regroup than in the playoffs where, a loss sends the team home.
Everyone, from coaches to players to fans, needs to put this game behind and focus on the next one. This was a bad game, but this isn't a bad team.
Bad effort in so many ways. No zip yesterday. I don't blame the D so much since they were out there for so long, but they didn't exactly come out on fire either (the looked like they were trying to tackle McPherson in slow motion)
ReplyDeleteStill not sure about Porter - still has the tools, but he needs to slow down a little and risk taking a few hits. After only playing situational downs I don't expect him to come in and do well, but maybe we should be seeing more. I just don't know.
Hard to say there were any positives, but I'd add Wilbur's punting to your list. 46.3 yard average, and he was booming them the way we were accustomed to when Setta was doing the job. (I'll forgive his running attempt on 3rd down - that was just a dumb call from the coaches, when we could have pinned the Als deep instead)
One general positive is that this could be a wake up call. The Ticats need to realize that after playing poorer teams like Toronto and Winnipeg so much and getting all their wins against them, it will take a hell of a lot more effort to succeed against the better ones. Otherwise the Cats are just the best of the worst.