CFL.ca staff
Montreal – It’s only his first week coaching the Montreal Alouettes’ practice and Jim Popp is already making a change he thinks will help the Alouettes win close football games.
“What I’ve noticed right away at practice, and it’s just subconsciously what happens, is we’ve started on a high and we started coming down a little bit,” explained Popp. “We didn’t finish strong. I don’t know if there’s a correlation but that’s kind of how our games have been.”
After starting strong in many games this season but struggling to finish, Popp may just have the answer.
“I was like, we need to finish on a high note,” he said. “Instead of doing fire at the beginning of the [practice], let’s do fire at the end of the [practice] because a lot of games end on fire. Three minutes, it’s a hurry-up offence.”
“So we made a little change, that’s just one little tweak and again that’s something we’ll work on every day for however many number of weeks. Will that help? We’ll see, but it instantly caught my attention as soon as I saw the first practice. I said this needs to change.”
Popp said last Thursday’s win over BC was a big step forward, the Als shutting down an opponent in the fourth quarter and controlling the clock to eventually pull out a win. The victory ended a 14-year stretch without a win at BC Place and should give the Alouettes plenty to build on heading into a game in similar circumstances, against a Hamilton team that’s a perfect 9-0 at Tim Hortons Field.
An even bigger step is likely for the 23-year-old quarterback whose shoulders might bear the weight of the Alouettes’ future. The Als were the class of the CFL for a very long time, while in the last few years they haven’t been. The common denominator of course comes at the quarterback position, vacated by CFL all-time leading passer Anthony Calvillo during the 2013 season.
Cato has showed the typical growing pains of a rookie 23-year-old quarterback, a rarity in itself in the CFL, but also flashes of brilliance. He’ll now work more closely with Calvillo, who’s moved from receivers coach to quarterback coach for the sole purpose of getting closer to the quarterbacks.
Calvillo has offered nothing but praise for Cato and said he doesn’t plan to change his game from a technical or decision-making standpoint. Instead he hopes to help Cato become a more consistent quarterback.
“The kid is very accurate,” assessed Calvillo. “He has the respect of the locker-room – when he steps on the field, the guys believe they’re going to win and that’s half the battle as a quarterback.”
“Now for him and any quarterback that’s out there, whether it’s your first year, second year, 15th year – you’ve got to be consistent and that’s what we’re going to strive for.”
One reporter observed in practice this week that Cato seemed more relaxed working with Calvillo – more comfortable. Cato said that wasn’t the case, but that he is settling more into the role and the league each and every week.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Cato. “He played the game, he knows so much about this game. The ins and outs, the good the bad – everything.”
“It’s a great feeling just to work with him and to pick his brain a lot more.”
CFL quarterbacks don’t typically start playing regularly or with any success until their mid to late 20s, considering virtually all of them play at American colleges and face a steep learning curve – far steeper than that of any other position.
Bo Levi Mitchell became a full-time starter at 24 while Calvillo, who played in the CFL for 20 seasons, began as a rookie with Las Vegas at 22. Suffice to say, there’s a lot that Cato can take from Calvillo, whether from Calvillo’s early years in the CFL or later years with the Als.
“He can make a lot of difference because he’s fresh out of the game,” said Cato. “He knows so many guys in the league, he played against so many guys in the league so he knows tendencies.”
“He knows all the fundamentals of this game and it’s just a huge blessing for me to work with him and to pick his brain a lot more.”
It hasn’t even been a week in Montreal and things already look a lot different. How it unfolds on the field on Thursday night in a tough matchup with Hamilton – undefeated Hamilton at home – we can only wait and find out.
The game will be broadcast on TSN, TSN 690 and on ESPN 2.
Don’t forget to get your tickets for September 3rd game against the BC Lions.
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