By Jack Bedell,
MontrealAlouettes.com
Hammond, LA – While I was doing one of my weekly spots on Montreal sports radio this past week, I was asked if I thought the Edmonton Eskimos had established a “blueprint” last Thursday other teams could use to defeat the Alouettes the rest of this season.
I have to admit, it took me a few moments of indecision before I could say what I really believed.
It’s not like we all haven’t seen “blueprints” utilized in the CFL before. A few years back, it was common knowledge that blitzing the Winnipeg Blue Bombers would force their pivot into costly mistakes.
This past weekend, Milt Stegall explained during TSN’s pre-game show how teams knew better than to play man-to-man coverage when defending Michael Bishop. Play zone against him, and his inaccuracy will kill drives eventually. And it wasn’t all that long ago that a team was thought to be able to run through the Argonauts’ defence like a set of pylons.
So, did the Esks come up with some kind of genius “blueprint” to short-circuit the Als in Week 5?
Honestly, my answer would have to be yes… If you consider super-high intensity and effort from your defensive front four, fielding a top-shelf pivot who’s willing to stand in against a hellacious defensive rush to deliver balls deep downfield, and employing a receiving corps full of veteran leaders ready to give up their bodies to make first downs something you can actually “blueprint” and re-create week to week.
Oh, and don’t forget the need to fill a stadium with of 30,000-plus rabid, savvy home fans to create the proverbial “hostile environment” for the Als to visit.
Losses are inevitable
The simple fact is the Alouettes lost a tough road game against a motivated, skilled team more than capable of beating anyone in the league.
Nothing beyond that fact was “exposed.” And nothing beyond the Esks’ super-solid performance can be patented and distributed around to the other six teams in the league. In the CFL, any team can win if they come out with the kind of intensity and degree of execution the Eskimos showed last week.
My bet is the Alouettes bring that kind of game to the field more weeks than their opponents do for the remainder of 2009.
Print that in blue if you’d like…
