June 20, 2013: Montreal Alouettes vs. Toronto Argonauts

[Rich]

1. Collaros looked very good against Hamilton last season, but their defence was terrible and not too much should be read into either his or Harris's performance that day. I stand by that.

There are 25 categories for team defence stats on cfl.ca. Last season the Hamilton defence was last or second last in 19 of 25 categories. But the Edmonton defence was last or second last in 14 out of 25 categories. They were pretty bad also. Does this mean we should dismiss, but just a bit less, any offensive accomplishments against Edmonton, too? What about Winnipeg, their D sucked pretty bad as well. Maybe we should only count any offensive success against BC as a worthy accomplishment.

Hamilton had a terrible D last year but they did come up with some big plays as a unit, and they did play some good quarters of football, otherwise the team would not have won 6 games. Football is all about coming up with big plays in big situations. Again, if that Hamilton D was ever going to play its hardest, and play its best, it would be in the last quarter of the last game in which they were scratching and clawing for their playoff lives.

That's why, IMO, what Collaros did in the Hamilton game, as a raw rookie, was more impressive than what he did last night. Actually I was a little disappointed in his play last night, other than the beauty toss to Iggy. I believe Collaros can play a lot better than that in this league.

[paulwoods13]

There are 25 categories for team defence stats on cfl.ca. Last season the Hamilton defence was last or second last in 19 of 25 categories. But the Edmonton defence was last or second last in 14 out of 25 categories. They were pretty bad also. Does this mean we should dismiss, but just a bit less, any offensive accomplishments against Edmonton, too? What about Winnipeg, their D sucked pretty bad as well. Maybe we should only count any offensive success against BC as a worthy accomplishment.

Hamilton had a terrible D last year but they did come up with some big plays as a unit, and they did play some good quarters of football, otherwise the team would not have won 6 games. Football is all about coming up with big plays in big situations. Again, if that Hamilton D was ever going to play its hardest, and play its best, it would be in the last quarter of the last game in which they were scratching and clawing for their playoff lives.

That's why, IMO, what Collaros did in the Hamilton game, as a raw rookie, was more impressive than what he did last night. Actually I was a little disappointed in his play last night, other than the beauty toss to Iggy. I believe Collaros can play a lot better than that in this league.

As I said before, Collaros and Harris looked pretty good against Hamilton last year. But I was not then, and am still not, prepared to draw any major conclusions on their long-term potential based on one game against a bad defence. I wouldn't even do so based on one game against a good defence. Anyone remember Quinton Porter throwing for 400-plus yards in his debut against the Alouettes? Seemed like the next superstar; didn't work out that way. And I also believe that if one were to pronounce Collaros's "raw rookie" performance against Hamilton as impressive, one might also make the same statement about Harris, who also did some good things in that game.