It is the last Year in Review article for the Canadian Football League, and fittingly so, it is already February and teams are making moves in the CFL's Free Agency period, but let's take a look at Montreal's starting base based on their 2019 season.
The Montreal Alouettes made maybe the most surprising training camp cut, letting head coach Mike Sherman go a week before the beginning of the season. This maybe was the best move by the team, as Sherman was only able to lead the team to a 5-13 record the year before and was not able to lead the team to the playoffs. This team was not performing under Sherman, but under the man who assumed the controls, Khari Jones, the team say improvements. Jones, who was the team's offensive coordinator and interim head coach (but later had the interim tag removed from his title), and lead the Alouettes to a 10-8 record and a home playoff game. This change was huge. Sherman was a head coach with no CFL experience what so ever, Khari was a very different story, and it showed. Jones was the League's Most Oustanding Player in 2001, leading the Blue Bombers to the Grey Cup game that year. He was also named as the quarterback in the CFL's Greatest QB/Receiver Connection in the League's history. Khari has played in the league and coached in the CFL, Sherman had nothing. It was clear, and the Als made the right choice.
One of the fun things to watch from the Als was their offence. The Als had offensive weapons in RB William Stanback, WR Quan Bray, WR Jake Wieneke, WR DeVier Posey, and WR B.J. Cunningham. Couple that with a distributer and playmaker in QB Vernon Adams, and this offence could take on anybody, and did. They took wins from Hamilton, Calgary twice, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. That's half their wins against playoff teams, that is a good record that can be improved upon heading into the next season, but what does it take to get better next year? Continuity. This team has a good core in my opinion. They have a defence that can make big plays, and the offence can ignite with the flip of a switch, but they were way too inconsistent last year in their play. This team needs to find ways to keep the energy up on the sideline and find ways to keep fighting. This team can make noise and ruin the run of the Grey Cup favourite Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The lowly Alouettes are ready to make some noise and are ready to restore the good name of the Alouettes that Anthony Calvillo helped build for those of my generation. This team has been a lower team in the CFL for too long, and it is going to be another great CFL quarterback in Khari Jones that will bring them back to prominence.
La Cheeserie, Littles
Fight On, Sleepers
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