Already at the mid-way point in the 2015 CFL campaign, the season is almost done unwrapping its bag of surprises – including many story lines on the Montreal Alouettes. With nine games to go before the playoffs, LWOS takes a look at the Montreal Alouettes’ 2015 mid-season report.
Montreal Alouettes 2015 Mid-Season Report
Offence: C+
Losing their starting quarterback Jonathan Crompton in the first game was a huge loss for a team that went 8-2 last season with him at the helm. The quarterback controversies from last season resonated into this season the moment Crompton went down and joined the third-string and short-yardage QB, Tanner Marsh, on the sidelines.
Rakeem Cato handled the pressure well in his first three games in the CFL, leading his team to a 2-1 record and completed an impressive 72.2% of his passes (65-for-90), while throwing for 822 yards and four touchdowns. His stats, as well as the offence as a whole, dropped significantly in production following their week five bye.
Their next three games produced an average of 19 points, all in losing efforts. Cato played with only a fraction of skill he had shown before the bye week. S.J. Green’s numbers declined as he was targeted less, and both Nik Lewis and Fred Stamps had a smaller impact. Stefan Logan, Brandon Rutley and the oft-injured Tyrell Sutton all battled to be the number one running back, leading to inconsistent production from the backfield as none of the three backs were able to settle in.
The biggest problem with the offence was finishing games. They had among the strongest starts in the league but failed to cash in late when it counted. The worst example of this was in Calgary when they put up 17 points in the first quarter alone, before losing 25-22.
This offence has no doubt been a weak one. Rutley is starting to settle in and make big plays, but the Als need more contribution from the big-three slotbacks in Green, Stamps and Lewis. With Cato’s health uncertain at this moment, Marsh may need to step in and lead this offence to a grade higher than C+ before the season ends.
Defence: B+
Many, many, many things can be said about this Montreal Alouettes defence. Expected to lead the team to victories, they have been the culprit in the losses and the hero in (most of) the wins. All five losses have been credited to blown leads late in the game; the fourth quarter has been their kryptonite.
Henry Burris and the Redblacks stomped over the defence in the final 15 minutes twice this season, but that same defence has also held Zach Collaros and the two-time-defending East Champions Hamilton Tiger-Cats to 26 points in two contests. This has been the story of the season so far for Noel Thorpe’s team; they have been more inconsistent than the offence, and that says a lot.
Winston Venable is third in the league with 50 tackles, John Bowman with 6 sacks is tied for third in the CFL, and Jonathan Hefney sits third overall with three interceptions. With players like these, the Alouettes could do a lot of damage. They displayed their power in the past two victories with timely interceptions by Dominique Ellis in B.C. and Kyries Hebert in Hamilton.
Their swagger was on display in the latter half of last season when they dominated opposing offences and quarterbacks and led the team to wins. With the most recent two games’ results getting their mojo back, the rest of the CFL should be on guard. But in order to make any significant impact, the Montreal defence must maintain consistency from quarter to quarter, and game to game.
Special Teams: F+
Special teams has failed. But they deserve a little plus in front of that F because of the leg of Bede. He has been a monster kicking the ball this season, and has been a clutch player for his team. At 22 of 24 on field goals (though only 11 of 15 on extra point attempts), Bede just needs to fine tune his mental abilities when only one point is on the line from 32 yards out. That one point could be the difference between winning and losing at times.
But overall, this unit has failed because they have taken far too many penalties on punt and kick returns, costing the offence many yards of field position. Logan has been an excellent returner this season, something the team hasn’t had in many years, but dumb blocking penalties negate those wonderful returns, sometimes for touchdowns. For an offence like their, these players on special teams need to avoid these penalties so the offence has better field position and can make a bigger impact in the game.
Special teams coordinator Kavis Reed needs to control his players before they do more damage late in the season.
Overall Grade: B
This team is making its way up in the standings and could be dangerous once the fall months hit. Right now, they merit a B in this 2015 mid-season report and nothing more. If interim coach Jim Popp can win games like they did this past week against the Tiger-Cats, expect the team to make a long playoff run en route to the prestigious Grey Cup.
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