By François Ferland,
MontrealAlouettes.com
Montreal – Since returning to the CFL in 1996, the Alouettes have been the model franchise. Year after year, the Als have somehow managed to find themselves competing for the Grey Cup and sport a record of 162-85-1 to prove it.
Throughout the first half of the 2010 season, the Als have put together a 7-3-0 record. Compare that to the 8-2-0 record they strung out last season and you can again see how consistent the franchise tends to be. Though those numbers may be good enough to give the Als top spot in the East Division, head coach Marc Trestman – who by now has to be considered among the best to ever coach the Alouettes – still has his reservations.
“We knew coming into this season that our team wasn’t going to be the same as last year,” said Trestman.
Tough Leaks to plug
The losses of defensive standouts Keron Williams and Davis Sanchez, who both opted to continue their careers with the BC Lions and kick returner Larry Taylor, who was recently released by the New York Jets, have been difficult to overcome.
“Tim Maypray has been great in replacement of Taylor, but we don’t have Larry’s experience to rely on,” noted Trestman.
Inconsistency
In the eyes of Trestman, it appears that inconsistency has been his team’s main problem all through the first half of the season.
“Ever since our first game (a 54-51 loss against Saskatchewan), we’ve played with explosiveness but our concentration has been suffering, he said.
“Our next game (a 33-23 win over Edmonton) wasn’t as convincing a performance and neither was our third game against the BC Lions (a 16-12 win). Then we started playing better. Our first game against Toronto was great,” (41-10 win) he said.
The following weeks saw the Als pick apart the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 37-14, beat the Roughriders 30-26, take a step back against the Argonauts in a 37-22 loss, handle the Blue Bombers 39-17,take another step back against the Lions by losing their first time at home in 13 games and then finally beating the Tiger-Cats 27-6.
“We certainly have adjustments to make for the second half of the season,” said Trestman. Our opponents are waiting for, they know who the defending champions are and so do we.”
“And in the same regard, we as coaches also have to make adjustments. We have to start being very careful for the remainder of the season.”
