2009 CFL East Division preview
Last Updated: Monday, June 29, 2009 | 1:14 PM ET
By Malcolm Kelly CBC Sports
Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo celebrates with head coach Mark Trestman following a victory last season. Can Calvillo carry the Alouettes over the Grey Cup threshold? (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press) The Montreal Alouettes fairly cruised to the East Division title in 2008. Can any of Hamilton, Toronto or Winnipeg make a serious challenge to the Als this season?
CBCSports.ca's Malcolm Kelly takes a look at what to expect in the East as the 2009 CFL season gets underway.
Montreal Alouettes
2008 record: 11-7, lost in Grey Cup
It wouldn’t surprise us to learn that when coach Marc Trestman told his Alouettes during training camp they had to work hard toward the goal of finishing first in the East, half the club giggled.
The Als and Argonauts have traded the conference back and forth for the last five seasons. This is supposed to be Toronto’s year, but barring a catastrophe for the Alouettes, that will not happen in 2009.
Catastrophe, in this case, might be a long-term injury to Anthony Calvillo, the 36-year-old wonder who quarterbacked his club to the top of most offensive categories in 2008. Calvillo's passing percentage was second only to Edmonton’s Ricky Ray.
Calvillo came into 2008 off the emotional turmoil of the previous fall when his wife’s cancer forced him to an early exit. Her successful battle led Calvillo to return last season and deliver an amazing effort from beginning to end.
But with Brad Banks now released, the backup is Adrian McPherson who has been used only for short-yardage plays. This pre-season the young pivot has managed to look pretty good.
Three offensive linemen are gone from last year’s club, though Andrew Woodruff is in to help stars Scott Flory and Bryan Chiu, and they’ll be blocking for excellent running back Avon Cobourne, whose 950 yards was third in the CFL last season.
Receivers Ben Cahoon (1,231 yards) and Jamel Richardson (1,287) lead an excellent corps of catchers that helped Montreal top most offensive categories in 2008.
Montreal’s great defence returns almost intact, but an interesting decision saw long-time stalwart Reggie Hunt cut and second-year Canadian Shea Emry moved to middle linebacker.
There is still a major albatross on this team’s shoulders, however. The Als have taken seven conference regular-season titles in the last 10 years, advanced to six Grey Cups but won just one of them.
Those great fans, who slog their way up the hill to fill McGill Stadium every week, have a right to be getting a touch annoyed.
Outlook: First again. After that, well …
Toronto Argonauts
2008 record:4-14
New coach Bart Andrus and his mostly all-American staff have almost no CFL experience, but he said something interesting in the off-season. If he wants to get some advice, there’s more than enough former head coaches in the front office (three) to help him.
Something else we liked: In the opening exhibition game against Montreal, Andrus had his boys lined up proudly and properly along the sidelines, helmets in hand, just like Marc Trestman’s Als across the way.
Put another way, the Argos are back to looking like a football team.
Quarterback Kerry Joseph, who was forced to throw from the pocket most of last year, is again rolling out and he’s suddenly picked up five or six yards on his vertical game. He’s never going to have a cannon-arm, but Andrus is using the man’s skills.
Arland Bruce and Andre Talbot will have to catch a lot of balls and they’re both slotbacks, so finding someone who can catch the deep routes will be key.
The offensive line has been completely rebuilt around free-agent signing Rob Murphy (two-time most outstanding lineman in the CFL) and three other pickups. Their job will be to create holes for runners Jamal Robertson (548 yards last season) and Jarrett Payton, formerly of Montreal.
This attack will be much improved but unless someone emerges to run kicks back, they’ll be starting from lousy field position a lot of the time. Dominique Dorsey, who led the league in combined yards in 2008, has gone to the NFL and there’s no one who seems to want the job.
Assistant Marcello Simmons had the team near the top of the league rankings in special teams for the past few years, but he was jettisoned as part of the off-season overhaul. The Argos have yet to decide if Eddie Johnson or Justin Medlock will be the kicker.
Then there’s the defence. Last year’s terrible unit (a stunning 627 points allowed) simply grew too old, too quickly and had to be reworked.
Icon Mike O’Shea is gone and his spot in the middle is filled by Zach Moreno, formerly of Winnipeg and Hamilton. Moreno may not be able to go sideline-to-sideline quite as well as before, but between the ends he’s devastating.
Jonathon Brown was going to be counted on for the defensive line until a bad back put him out until mid-season. Adriano Belli (The Kissing Bandit) has also been hobbled but is expected to start the year. Young Claude Harriott has been strong.
Cornerback Jordan Younger comes back to the Argos after a brief time playing in the West division to work with a young secondary.
Outlook: It’s going to take half the season for this defence to come together. If the Argos can hang around near .500 until that happens, they will finish second.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
2008 record: 8-10, lost in East semifinal
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers went 6-2 down the stretch last year after a 2-8 start, leaving the impression they were a team on the rise. A closer look shows that other than games against Toronto and Hamilton, the blue and gold were 3-10.
Well, at least they haven’t moved back to the West division.
New head coach Mike Kelly obviously knew exactly what he was getting because he’s worked with player personnel head John Murphy to completely rebuild this club. There will be about 30 new faces this year.
Key to all this is Stefan LeFors, who Kelly brought with him from Edmonton (where he coached the receivers) to form a quarterback tandem with another newcomer, Richie Williams, from Hamilton. Kevin Glenn was let go.
No one knows LeFors, a third-year pivot, better than Kelly, but last year he appeared in just one game behind Ricky Ray. In 2007 he filled in five times when Ray went down to injury and the Eskimos went 0-5. It doesn't inspire much confidence.
He’ll be lining up behind a rebuilt offensive line that includes Steve Morley, Lorne Plante, Glenn January, Kelly Bates and Luke Fritz, who may take until game six to properly introduce themselves to each other.
But if LeFors can get the ball away (and he has a rifle), there are willing and capable hands out there to catch it in Romby Bryant (1,206 yards), Terrence Edwards (1,010) and Derick Armstrong (1,010).
Running back Fred Reid (709 yards) has a bushy-tailed rookie in Lavarus Giles as a backup who played well enough in pre-season that the club dumped Joe Smith, who used to be the best runner in the league not too long ago.
Something had to be done about the Bombers secondary after only 15 interceptions last season and a third-from-the bottom finish in net yards given up through the air. There are five new backs there.
Mean old Doug Brown is still on the defensive line along with Fred Perry and Gavin Walls, so getting into that backfield carrying the ball will still be tough, and Barrin Simpson heads the linebackers.
Winnipeg may divide the kicking between punter Mike Renaud with Alexis Serna doing the placement work.
Outlook: Mike Kelly and John Murphy are doing the right thing because the idea is to win a Grey Cup as soon as possible, not just make the playoffs. But in this case, good things will have to come to those who wait.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
2008 record: 3-15
Here we find the most intriguing team in the CFL this season.
General manager Bob O’Billovich has rebuilt much of this team and it looks like it may be ready to find itself under head coach Marcel Bellefeuille after years in the wilderness.
Last season the Cats were a one-trick kitty, leading the league in two key categories — rushing attack, and receivers with stone hands. They were No. 1 in net rushing, yards rushing per gain and average gain per rush and last in net passing, yards passing per game and passes completed.
Running back Jesse Lumsden and his personal EMS team have left town for Edmonton and Kenton Keith is on the injured list. But Terry Caulley (448 yards and a 6.8 per-carry average) and Tre Smith (430 yards and 6.6 a gain) should be able to move the ball with a lot more carries for each.
Then there’s the quarterback situation. Casey Printers and his high opinion of himself have left town after not much more than a year, leaving the pivot spot to returner Quinton Porter and veteran Glenn, in from Winnipeg.
Every review you read of Porter is the same – CFL people just love this Boston College product who had the third best completion percentage in the league in a limited 177 attempts.
O'Billovich raided Winnipeg for offensive linemen Dan Goodspeed and Alex Gauthier, and they join an already strong group that includes Cedric Gagne-Marcoux.
He’s also brought in the oft-injured Dave Stala from Montreal to help a receiving corps that includes emerging star Prechae Rodriguez (1,099 yards in 2008), Chris Bauman (588 yards) and Chris Davis, who was strong in four late games with the Cats after being cut from the NFL.
New defensive boss Greg Marshall (not the former Ticats coach Greg Marshall), welcomes in linebackers Otis Floyd and Auggie Barrenechea to boost a defence that was just awful against ground attacks last season.
They were also terrible against the pass, but what they could do was pick the ball off (23 times, second in the CFL). That stat is artificially boosted by the fact the league threw at will against Hamilton, completing a gaudy 68.8 per cent of passes against them.
Jykine Bradley, Bo Smith and Lawrence Gordon split time at corner and they must improve, the defensive backs were getting better as last year went on.
Nick Setta was the CFL’s best punter last year (he had lots of practice) but was so-so on field goals.
Outlook: If I weren’t the Cowardly Lion, I’d pick them ahead of Winnipeg. This team is not quite ready but still vastly improved. They will scare anyone who takes them lightly. Look for a lot of 41-38 games.
