Changes in Montreal

[TheLionKing]

The Montreal Alouettes announced a number of changes to its offensive coaching staff on Monday.

Among the moves, four-time Pro Bowl and four-time CFL West All-Star quarterback Jeff Garcia has been installed as the club's quarterbacks coach. Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie was named the Als' new offensive coordinator.

Erik Campbell was relieved of his duties as receivers coach and replaced by Turk Schonert.

"This decision has been made in the best interest of the football team," said Alouettes head coach Tom Higgins in a team release. "We would like to thank Erik for his hard work and dedication and we wish him well in his future endeavours. Turk has done a great job since he joined our staff and we look forward to having him work closely with our talented receiving corps."

Garcia, who led the Calgary Stampeders to the 86th Grey Cup in 1998 and spent parts of 12 seasons in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans, was hired on to the Als' staff as a coaching consultant last week.

“After several discussions with Tom about candidates who could potentially help our offence right now, we welcome Jeff to our organization and to the offensive coaching staff,” Alouettes general manager Jim Popp said in a statement at the time. “He brings tremendous experience, great leadership, competitiveness, and the drive to be the best. We feel that by tapping into Jeff's knowledge, he will be another key addition in getting our season turned around.”

Dinwiddie retired from the game following the 2011 CFL season. An alumnus of Boise State, the 33-year-old joined the Als in February of 2013 as "offensive quality control coach."

Schonert played at quarterback for parts of 10 seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons. His coaching experience is extensive, serving as quarterbacks coach for the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, New York Giants and New Orleans Saints from 1998-2008. He was the Bills' offensive coordinator in 2008 under Dick Jauron. The 57-year-old was hired on as an offensive consultant by the Als in late July.

The departing Campbell, a former receivers coach at the University of Michigan, was in his second season as receivers coach in Montreal.

The 1-5 Alouettes, last in the East Division, are next in action on Saturday when they visit the defending Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders.

[TheLionKing]

Not a surprise. The big question is whether Tom Higgins will survive the season

[MexicoLionFan]

Not a surprise. The big question is whether Tom Higgins will survive the season

MTL needs some stability...they need to leave Higgins in place.

[WestCoastJoe]

Wow. Merry Go Round.

Dinwiddie survives. Worman did not survive earlier this year.

Garcia as QB coach.

Schonert as receivers coach.

Erik Campbell walks the plank.
...............

Not sure anything can help Troy Smith. No touch on his passes. Vision? Read the D?
........

More and more, it seems to me, CFL teams need Xs and Os experts as Head Coach. Why rely on the OC and DC for Xs and Os mastery? Who not hire a guy as HC with some demonstrated mastery?

Higgins does not seem to be showing any Xs and Os mastery, or leadership. Although he has an extensive background as a defensive coach.

Chris Jones has demonstrated much defensive Xs and Os mastery in his career.

O'Shea is the surprise. LB as a player. STs as an assistant coach. He seems to be pushing all the right buttons.

[Spud387]

Also Brink was just declared the starter. Troy Smith lost the job.

[David]

If Tom Higgins ever walks the plank in Montreal, I would love him to come here to be our Special Teams Coordinator. I think we are very poorly coached in this critical area.


DH

[TheLionKing]

Also Brink was just declared the starter. Troy Smith lost the job.

http://cfl.ca/article/report-brink-to-g ... -vs-riders

Smith isn't even #2 or 3

[notahomer]

WOW! Surprised it took this long, IMO. Had the Al's not beaten the Lions this would have happened sooner, IMO. The Als got off to a decent start that game by having their defence get the ball rolling.

So, it will be interesting to see if the QB change is enough or do they need more? After all this is still a team close to being in second place due to the weakness of the east division, so far. Get some changes in before its too late.....

[TheLionKing]

Need a lot more than a quarterback change. They don't have anyone in the top 20 in receiving.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Also Brink was just declared the starter. Troy Smith lost the job.

http://cfl.ca/article/report-brink-to-g ... -vs-riders

Smith isn't even #2 or 3

Three good backups ahead of him, can any of them take the starter's job? Brink at least wasn't bad in Winnipeg, and Marsh looked good against the Lions last year (albeit in a game where the Lions would have made Pee Wee Herman look good at QB).

[JohnHenry]

Troy Smith is likely to go on the 6-game injury list, probably for the remainder of the season. They've seen what he can do, there's little sense even keeping him around as backup. At least he'll still get paid his full salary and can egg-zit gracefully in the off-season. There's still the Arena league left to conquer, with Smith washing-out in the NFL, UFL and now CFL.

[David]

Shame. I was rooting for the guy. I've heard him in a couple of interviews and he seems like a nice, decent, down-to-earth family guy.



DH

[Hambone]

Troy Smith is likely to go on the 6-game injury list, probably for the remainder of the season. They've seen what he can do, there's little sense even keeping him around as backup. At least he'll still get paid his full salary and can egg-zit gracefully in the off-season. There's still the Arena league left to conquer, with Smith washing-out in the NFL, UFL and now CFL.

Montreal is trying to put him on the 6 game list but sounds like he's balking at that idea.

[cromartie]

Les battements continuera jusqu'à ce que le moral s'améliore.

[cromartie]

Montreal is trying to put him on the 6 game list but sounds like he's balking at that idea.

That's a good career move.

Sincerely,

Cleo Lemon