Tiger-Cats Week 17 Depth Chart Versus Alouettes is Now Up, Fantuz and Norwood Are Back, No Bakari Grant

The Ticats have now listed their depth chart against the Alouettes for tomorrow's game. Noteworthy is that Canadian slotback Andy Fantuz is listed as a starter as is import defensive end Eric Norwood.

A bit of a difference on the offensive line from last week. Import Howard is in at the important left tackle position for Figueroa. Import Lewis is the right tackle. The Canadian interior is the 2015 usual, with Dyakowski and Bomben as the guards and Filer as the centre.

At wide receiver, both are imports, Underwood and Collins who wasn't in last week. No Bakari Grant. Slots are imports Sinkfield and Tasker plus Fantuz.

Running back is Ford, with non-import Prime as the fullback. Matthews is the quarterback with Harris backing up. That's four Canadian offensive starters.

Defensive ends are imports Hickman and the aforementioned Norwood, with import Hall and non-import Laurent in the middle.

Linebackers are the usual imports, Lawrence, Reed and Harris.

Corners are the import Carter and non-import Stephen. Half-backs are the non-imports Stewart and Davis, with the Canadian Butler as the safety.

That's three defensive Canadian starters.

Photo from the Upper West Stands Montreal at Hamilton 2014

Here's a photo I took from the upper part of the West stands that just opened for the final regular season game. 

Unlike the stands on the other side, there is a railing between each row as this side is quite steep. 

The washroom nearest to where the photo was taken only had five urinals. 

Preview: Hamilton Ticats at Montreal Alouettes, October 20th 2013

What's interesting about the Ticats lineup this week versus last week? Non-import receiver Samuel Giguere is pencilled in the depth chart. Combine that with the offensive line starting four Canadians (Wojt is still at right tackle and O'Neill is at guard again this week) and I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen on offense.

The Cats have two Canadians starters on defence and need just five on offense for the ratio. With the four on the line and Fantuz, the Cats don't need Giguere for the ratio and indeed Dobson Collins is listed as a starting wide receiver, with Giguere listed behind Fantuz at one of the slot positions. Maybe Giguere will just be eased in and not play a lot of downs. Something to watch for.

Import Onrea Jones is listed as a starting wide receiver and imports Grant and Tasker ("his father played in the NFL!" Rod Black) are listed as two of the other slots. So still no Greg Ellingson. Non-import Delahunt is back at full back after being out with injury for a spell.

In theory with Delahunt in at fullback, the Cats would not even need Fantuz on the field as they could go with Jones, Dobson, Grant and Tasker as the slots and receivers. Something I doubt will happen, plus the Cats almost never use a fullback except for in obvious short running plays, preferring to go with five receivers.

On defence, Johnson looks like he'll be back at middle linebacker. Bulcke at defensive tackle and Stephen at safety are the two starting Canadians on defence. Dee Webb is still injured.

Congi is back at kicker, so hopefully that will placate all the callers on CHML's the Fifth Quarter. Unless he misses some field goals and the whole cycle will begin anew.

Lots of Alouettes Fans in Montreal

Flying to Moncton there's a lot of Alouettes fans on the plane and a couple of Tigercat fans. I'm concerned for home field advantage. 

Anthony Calvillo on the Nine Game Disabled List

The Montreal Alouettes have placed Anthony Calvillo on the nine game disabled list. Obviously Calvillo's concussion must be pretty serious for this move to be made. Calvillo could come back for the playoffs after the nine games, as well teams can take two players off the nine game list per year early(as the Cats did with Dave Stala). Putting Calvillo on the nine game list has the effect that his salary for those nine games doesn't count towards the salary cap. Calvillo's salary is by far the highest on Montreal so not having to count half of it would be significant, and likely more than $200,000 if he stayed on the list for the entire nine games.

This benefits the Tiger-Cats because the Alouettes are forced to go with backup quarterbacks for the rest of the season. Sure Montreal beat Toronto last week, but that was a battle of backups with Ricky Ray gone. Montreal will have a tougher time beating Calgary, Saskatchewan and BC with a backup. Their defence does appear to be excellent this year so the Cats will have play well themselves to place above Montreal.

Weirdly with Cavillo and Ray both out, the Cats have a legitimate chance at first in the East. Which would mean a home playoff game in the 13,000 University of Guelph stadium.

Alouettes Fire Dan Hawkins, GM Popp in as Coach

Not a big surprise. The Alouettes tried to remake the Mark Trestman experiment with a guy with no CFL experience, but it didn't work this time. Will Montreal be any good the rest of the year? Maybe, they still have a lot of talent (found by Popp).

Also doesn't Popp live full time in North Carolina? I thought I watched a TSN clip about him moving back there instead of keeping his family in Montreal.

2013 CFL Predictions Week 1

Montreal at Winnipeg
The Bombers have their new stadium open and home field advantage so that's something. Buck Pierce is also not injured yet which is also something. But Winnipeg just isn't much of a team. Anthony Calvillo is also not injured yet, however the Alouettes no longer have Marc Trestman as coach anymore. I still like the weapons Calvillo has at his disposal and that should be enough.
Alouettes 26 Bombers 19

Hamilton at Toronto
For a lot of Hamilton fans, getting to Toronto is easier than Guelph. The GO bus from downtown runs quite frequently. So there may be a lot of Cat fans in attendance and the Argos have never been a great draw. Both teams have veteran quarterbacks that should be in decent form in the first game in the season. The Argos are coming off a Grey Cup, while the Cats were the worst team in the league. Against a bit worse opponent or at home I would have picked the Cats, but missing Chris Williams at receiver and as a returner will hurt.
Argos 24 Cats 18

BC at Calgary
I think the Lions are the best team entering the season and Drew Tate hasn't really shown he's a great CFL quarterback. Until I see evidence to the contrary, I'm picking BC, even on the road.

Lions 28 Stamps 26

Saskatchewan at Edmonton
Veteran quarterback Darian Durrant for the Riders versus that guy who's not Matt Nichols and has a functioning ACL for Edmonton. Durrant has certainly been, to quote a Katy Perry song title, Hot and Cold over the pass few years, but early in the season, his experience and running ability if he gets in trouble will be the edge over some guy I can't be bothered to look the name up of and probably wouldn't be starting if Nichols hadn't blown out his knee doing basically nothing my 70 year mother doesn't do in her aerobics class.

Riders 31 Edmonton 29

Ticats Junior Cheerleaders, Alouettes at Ticats

Alouettes at Ticats, a photo by philinator on Flickr.

Here's a photo of the Ticats junior cheerleaders, standing beside the endzone. I felt a bit like a Vladimir Nabokov character, but a decent shot nonetheless.

Ticat Cheerleaders, Alouettes at Ticats

Alouettes at Ticats, a photo by philinator on Flickr.

Here's a photo of the Ticats cheerleaders in action against the Alouettes in 2011.

CFL 2011 Attendance Analysis, League and Team Averages

A bit late, but here's the average attendances for each CFL team in 2011:

1. Edmonton 34625 (35035)

2. Calgary 30601 (30795)

3. Saskatchewan 30021 (30048)

4. BC 29725 (24327)

5. Winnipeg 29559 (26083)

6. Montreal 24058 (25012)

7. Hamilton 23676 (23890)

8. Toronto 20018 (22069)

Note stats on best road drawing teams are in this post.

The 2010 attendances are in parentheses. Only BC and Winnipeg showed increases with every other team having lower attendance. The order was pretty similar to, but BC was able to move ahead of Winnipeg and Montreal. Montreal had some games that did not sellout for once.

Overall, the average CFL attendance for a game was 24,698 a minor increase compared to the 24,140 of 2010. Maybe the league can get over 25,000 average attendance next year.

BC had a bit of a weird year for attendance. Still playing at Empire Field earlier in the season, the Lions reopened BC Place with 50,213 attendees against the Eskimos, the highest attended game of the CFL regular season.

Saskatchewan being the worst team this year didn't make a big difference in their own attendance, but hurt other teams (especially Calgary and Edmonton) when the Riders were their opponents. Hear's hoping for at least a 500 team for the Riders next year, as it's good for the CFL. The Riders should also consider trying to boost the capacity of Moasaic Field a bit more. I know it's already been juiced a bit, but if you have the worst record in the league and it doesn't do anything to your attendance, you can afford a couple of extra thousand seats.

Hamilton was slightly lower, but that included their home game in Moncton which dragged down the average attendance. However the Cats only had to sell tickets for eight home games in their own market. The Cats were also hurt by not having the Argos as an opponent on Labour Day as the Alouettes only drew 26,964. Hopefully in the last year in the old Ivor Wynne, the Cats can get a good number for attendance, including a game with the Argos back for Labour Day. Maybe they can pass the Alouettes in 2012 for average attendance.

Toronto was hurt by their sucky performance. With them hosting the Grey Cup next year, there's nowhere for the Argos to go but up.

Here's some analysis for last year's CFL attendance (2010).

Ticats Finally Win! 52 to 44 in OT

Good day to take the over. I was a little shaken after the Cats had the time count violation at the end and then the missed field goal. However the Cats came back in overtime to finally win a playoff game and do it on the road and stop the two time defending Grey Cup champs.

Glenn was only 23 for 32 for 275 yards with a TD and a pick, but he certainly played well and the Cats had a good running game. Cobourne had 97 yards and Thigpen had 56 yards rushing. Grant had six catches for 99 yards and a TD with some good blocks as well. Williams had 6 catches for 65 yards.

On to Winnipeg with some momentum. Picking Johnson over Baggs this week worked out, hopefully cornerback Ryan Hinds comes back and we get Baggs playing with something to prove.

Ticats Up 24 to 16 at Half-Time

Putting in Johnson at linebacker instead of Stevie Baggs is looking like a good decision by Bellefeuille, with Johnson having a long interception return leading to a TD by Stala complete with F-bomb.

Nice passing by Glenn, nice catches by Stala and Bakari Grant and a nice run by Marcus Thigpen.

Defence looking good, with excellent pressure on Calvillo, and consequently multiple sacks and multiple turnovers.

Ticats Get Asses Handed to them in Montreal, Lose 43 to 13

Well that was disappointing. After last week's shellacking against the Alouettes in Hamilton, Montreal turned things around and whipped Hamilton in Montreal. Lots of blame to go around, both the offense and defence were poor. Glenn had a poor performance going 13 and 30 for 151 yards, no picks though. Glenn was under a lot of pressure though so it wasn't all on him. Cobourne only had five rushes for two yards, so the offensive line was terrible. I'm not sure if the missing Marwan Hage at centre made that much of a difference, but a terrible effort anyways.

Notable defensive miscues included Markeith Knowlton failing to make a tackle, which would have been a sure third down and allowing a TD instead. Minimal pressure from the defensive line.

Medlock had a good day including a 57 yarder. I'm not sure if that's a Ticat record, but it was a long field goal.

Hamilton also lost the penalty battle and couldn't buy a pass interference against them to save their lives.

Hopefully the Ticats can regroup against Edmonton at Ivor Wynne this week.

Labour Day Attendance

I haven't heard much about what the attendance is expected to be in today's game against Montreal. Not having Toronto definitely hurts, although they are so poor this year one wonders how many Argos fans would make the journey down to Ivor Wynne. The Ticats have a good opponent in Montreal, with a lot on the line in the game. The weather is looking mediocre, which will likely keep some away. I'll predict 28 thousand and change. Not a sellout, but a decent crowd. The atmosphere won't really be the same without the Argos though. The league needs this game to go back to the Argos versus Ticats.

Maurice Mann could be back today after his bizarre locker room foot injury. That should help with the Cat offence, but he could be pretty rusty. Also Mann is a decent player, but hardly the second coming of Tommy Joe Coffey. Sometimes absence builds up a player more than is warranted.

The Cats need a good start against Montreal. Calvillo is good and clinical enough that when he gets ahead the Alouette offence is unstoppable. The Cats need to keep it close and keep up the pressure on Calvillo every play.

CFL Predictions 2011, Week 7: 1 and 5 Teams Sally Forth

Edmonton at Montreal
The Eskimos are 5 and 1 versus the Alouettes 4 and 2. Two pertinent facts, Montreal is at home and probably the best receiver in the CFL Fred Stamps is out with internal bleeding for the Esks. The Alouettes aren't as good as they were in previous years, but they're still pretty good, especially when a team isn't on the top of its game. Unsurprisingly the Als are favoured by 6.5
NDP People 35, Mall People 19

Calgary at Saskatchewan
The Stamps are 4 and 2 and coming off a victory. The Riders are 1 and 5 and lost last week to the previously winless Lions. Stamps are favoured by 3.5 on the road, which means no one has real confidence in the Riders. I thought the Riders would be worse this year, but not this bad. Greg Marshall, I fear your head coaching career will be short, shorter than the other Greg Marshall.
Stetson People 29, Potash People 19

Toronto at Hamilton
Hamilton is favoured by a relatively massive 7 points at home against the 1 and 5 Argos. The Cats played well last week in the first half and then sucked and were shut out in the second half. The Argos mostly sucked last week and sucked more as the game went on and then fired their defensive co-ordinator when their offense sucks. I've heard rumours that Boyd is back this week at running back for the Argos this week, but I'm too lazy to check it. Ticats still win.
Timmies People 30, Suck People 24

Winnipeg at BC
Winnipeg is so hot that the players have dubbed themselves Swaggerville, no doubt to move as many T-shirts as possible. BC is 1 and 5 and beat the Riders last week. Buck Pierce is currently uninjured and the Bombers have a lethal defence. Lulay is becoming better for the Lions (certainly better than Cleo Lemon), but he'll be running for his life this week.
33 Jets People, 22 Rain People

Ticats Beat Montreal, 34 to 26

Awesome victory at home for the Cats against Montreal. Glenn had a decent game going 20 for 36 for 295 yards with two TDs and no interceptions. Dave Stala had his best game of the year by far, with five catches for 107 yards and two TDs and probably a good shot for Canadian player of the week. Cobourne was OK rushing, with 15 carries for 67 yards. Williams had four catches for 54 yards. Bruce was playing for a whiel there, then he wasn't. I have no idea what the story is there. Porter even chipped in, with a nice 4 yard TD run to the weak side (which I predicted) with a bit of showboating thrown in.

The defence needs to be saluted. Calvillo had 356 yards, but was only 23 for 45 (Michal Bishop type numbers) with a TD. Whitaker ran seven times but for only 30 yards.

Penalties went both ways, but I think the Cats benefitted the most, with a number of facemask calls going their way.

All in all, a most enjoyable game, especially with the Cats beating the Alouettes at home in a game that means something

Crowd seemed decent, but I didn't hear the number.

Alouettes at Ticats Game Day

Same offensive line as last week, imports Simmons and Jimenez as the tackles, with Dyakowski and Rottier as the guards. Hage still the centre.

Bakari Grant gets a start at wide receiver, along with Arland Bruce. Wunderkind Chris Williams and non-import Dave Stala are listed as the slots. No love for Marquay McDaniel as he, Thigpen, Carter and McKay are listed as backup slots or receivers.

Glenn starts at quarterback, Cobourne as running back and non-import Brown at fullback when they use one (hint almost never apart from short running plays to pick up a few yards). So that's five Canadian starters on offense.

Medlock kicks and punts.

Front seven is again the same. Baggs and Hickman are the ends, with Smith and non-import Steele in the middle.

Knowlton, Williams and Johnson are still the linebackers.

Non-import Hinds and Young are the corners, with Thomas and Smith as the half-backs and Shivers as the safety. That's two non-import starters on defence and seven total, the bare minimum.

The Alouettes go with an all-Canadian offensive line. Bourke and Perrett are the tackles, with Woodruff and Flory as the guards and Broduer-Jourdain in the centre.

Bratton and Watkins are the receivers. Richardson and Green are the slots. Calvillo is back at quarterback after being injured last week and Whitaker starts at running back. Non-import Carter is the starting fullback. That's six total Canadian starters on the offense.

On defence, Stewart and Bowman are the ends. Non-import and former Ticat Bekasiak and Wilson are the tackles.

At linebacker, outside it's Cox and Guzman with non-import Emry in the middle.

At corner, it's Estelle and Dix. Parker and Anderson are the halfbacks. Burlingtonian and obviously non-import Crawford is the safety. That's three starting non-imports on defence and nine total, two more than the minimum. Safe to say the Cats have worse Canadian talent than Montreal.

Whyte kicks and punts.

CFL Week 3 Predictions

My weekly predictions are back, but I didn't have time to do last night's game. Too bad since I was thinking of saying the Bombers would cover, but still lose. Then I would have looked like Nostradamus.

Toronto at Montreal
Last I checked Montreal is favoured by ten. That seems generous to Toronto, but the Argos defence is pretty good. Considering how the Alouettes have rolled early in season, I can't see things changing. Alouettes get a reasonable lead going into the second half and then expand it.
Alouettes 32, Argos 16

Sasktchewan at Hamilton
The Ticats are favoured by 2.5 points at home, which since home teams are generally favoured by 3 points, means on a neutral field Saskatchewan is the slghtly better team. Arland Bruce or whatever you want to call him is out and Marquay McDaniel is back catching balls. Considering Bruce has caught four balls in two games, that's not as concerning as it would be normally. Chris Getzlaf is supposed to be back in as an import receiver for the Riders, which is good for them considering they don't have non-import receivers Fantuz or Bagg available. This could be construed as a homer pick, but I don't think the Cats are that bad to lose three games in a row early on.
Ticats 27, Riders 20

BC at Edmonton
The 2-0 Eskimos are only favoured by 2.5 points at home against the 0-2 Lions. I don't think that's fair to the Eskimos, but I'm going to go against the grain and go with the Lions. I've become less and less impressed with Kavis Reed's coaching abilities over the years; to me he's a good example of failing upwards. Buono isn't the superstar coach he once was, but he's no Bart Andrus.
Lions 25, Edmonton 23

Quick Thoughts on the Montreal Hamilton Exhibition Game

The season ticket holder promotion worked well tonight The stands were not completely full, but they were pretty packed for an exhibition game. The Cats must have some number for what the average fan buys per game in merchandise and concessions, so they can't have done too bad off of it. Plus it gets people out to the stadium before the season starts, which is always good.

Porter looked good, completing some long passes and not just running the ball constantly. On the negative side, McPherson looked good at quarterback for Montreal which is scary.

McDaniel had an OK game and the two Grants were not bad either. Kickers looked good; hard choice between Medlock and Wilbur. Defence didn't seem too bad, although I didn't really notice any standouts.

Beer is 8.75 for a tall boy, which is I think the same as last year. A guy behind me commented on a cheerleader walking by to my seatmate and then soon after managed to spill a full beer on us. Not sure about the cheerleaders long pants, I think may actually prefer the Argo cheerleaders short shorts.

Getting a blowout win even in the pre-season against Montreal is good. Hopefully after a long break the Cats can win the home opener against the Peg.

Winnipeg at Montreal Pre-Season Game Thoughts

I only watched parts of this game, since trying to watch a CFL pre-season game without your team playing it is not easy. I liked the part where they showed the Montreal Alouette cheerleaders dancing around with gian BMO credit cards, just for the crass commercialism. I'm hoping for something similar from the Ticat cheerleaders this year.

Adrian McPherson looked decent at quarterback for Montreal, which isn't good for Hamilton in case Anthony Calvillo goes down. The Alouettes appeared to have some good young import receivers. Not sure who will step up for the retired Ben Cahoon. I was also surprised to see former Ticat receiver Prechae Rodriguez playing for Montreal. I'll be curious to see if he sticks. His height can be useful, but he strikes me a s a bit one dimensional. Also Sandro DeAngelis wasn't that bad at punting from the one punt I noticed. Montreal traded a first round pick to get Sean Whyte from BC, so I'm not sure who will win out.

Winnipeg looked OK, but I still think they will be mediocre this year, with the amount of mediocrity depending on how many games Buck "the Glassman" Pierce actually plays. I say the over/under is seven.