(Montreal) It only took one loss for Jason Maas to show signs of impatience.
The Montreal Alouettes head coach seems particularly irritated by the lack of offensive cohesion, which has resulted in his offensive unit scoring just four touchdowns in three games and giving up 15 sacks.
“I know very well how many sacks we have awarded,” he snapped at the journalist bringing up the subject after Wednesday’s practice. It’s the same as for the ground game: communication, communication, communication! We need to communicate better, whether it’s coaches to players or players to each other. We need to better understand what we are doing on the ground.
Our offensive linemen can be perfect and suddenly get beat on a play and it turns into a negative play. We have to pay attention to detail and do our work individually. Whether it’s quarterbacks, running backs, the offensive line or coaches.
jason maas
Maas also seemed to have had enough of some concerns that Cody Fajardo would be caught behind his line of scrimmage so often.
“It’s professional football: they’re going to get hit and they have to take it,” he said of quarterbacks in general. Do we have to do a better job of protecting Cody? Yes, that’s what we’ve been talking about from the start. But we can’t spend our time worrying about him. We have to protect him as best we can. We have to improve; we never want him to be hit. What can we do ? We do everything that needs to be done. Now it remains to be done in matches. »
Fajardo, who had 77 sacks in 2022, the most in the CFL, took it all with a grain of salt.
“I don’t care about that at all. I was the most joined last year, it prepared me for that. In the end, we are 2-1 and that’s all that matters. […] I’m going to keep doing my stuff and we have a really good team. »
Communication
The lack of communication on offense, particularly on the ground game, was the common thread of this training. All the coaches we met near the synthetic turf between Olympic Stadium and Saputo Stadium pointed this out.
“It takes all the linemen, the running back and everyone else on the same page for the ground game to work,” Maas said. It’s a matter of offensive unity and everyone has to contribute.
“In football, all it takes is one guy who doesn’t read or understand the game properly for everything to fail,” Maas continued. It’s not all negative: of the 49 games we played, 38 were very good. But in the plays we did poorly, the worst were the ones that led to turnovers in the opponent’s pay zone. In a 17-3 game, if you score any way, the tide can quickly turn. »
“I wouldn’t say (the running game) is difficult, but there’s a miscommunication right now,” running backs coach Tyrell Sutton said. When we get this sorted out, everything will be fine. […] I think the communication was not as good for this third game. »
Same story on the side of Anthony Calvillo, the offensive coordinator.
Every week, we want to be as consistent as possible. We look at all the games we have made and if it is not correct, if it is a physical or mental error. On our side, we must better communicate our expectations to the players and that is what we are currently concentrating on. Afterwards, it will be up to them to execute.
jason maas
“The first thing we did this week was Kristian Matte doing this intervention, is everyone looking in the mirror to see how we can improve this team. As offensive coaches, we have to do the same thing to see how we can help our players. If there is a blitz that we missed, let’s make sure we see it all week to counter it in a game situation. »
musical chair
We also witnessed a game of musical chairs at certain positions on Wednesday.
The Alouettes’ offensive line was able to count on the return to play of left guard Pier-Olivier Lestage. The veteran had missed the lost game at the hands of the Bombers, during which his replacement, Philippe Gagnon, fell in action.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Alouettes were able to count on the return to play of left guard Pier-Olivier Lestage.
Little is known about the nature of Gagnon’s injury, but he now has a cast on his left arm. So it wouldn’t be surprising if his name were added to the six-week disabled list later this week.
Defensive backs Ciante Evans and Dionté Ruffin, whose names are on the injured list for one game, practiced on the sidelines without ever donning their helmets. Linebacker Avery Williams has been training with his teammates, however, which is rare good injury news these days.
On offense, running back William Stanback was unable to complete the practice. At first it was thought to be heat stroke, but it appears to be a virus that hit Stanback.
“He’s a little sick, it’s not serious,” said Sutton in very good French.
Keshunn Abram’s six-game disabled list last week also forced the Alouettes to try a few different combinations.
In addition to Jake Harty, who appeared in the game against the Bombers, Tyler Snead, Cole Spieker and James Letcher of the practice squad were called upon. Ditto for kick return specialist Chandler Worthy, used in a few formations.