Walt 67
While the Als' defence played Winnipeg mainly to a standstill in the first half, the fumbled Letchter punt return (resulting in a TD), followed by Montreal getting stuffed twice at the one appeared to be monstrous momentum killers - but clearly Montreal was tougher than that.
And with a defence good enough to force the Bombers to punt with two minutes left - Fajardo had his most memorable possession ever - aided by two amazing catches - with Philpot making a helluva play when he had to. After Montreal stumbled at halftime I feared the second half would be a dud - instead it was yet another great Grey Cup finale.
See Lions it’s not so tough to beat Winnipeg. What a finish!!! Heartbreaker for 2nd straight year. Too bad Bombers!! Sure the hell hope our management and coaching staff were paying attention.
Sammy Greene
When Montreal failed to score on their two attempts from the Bombers 1 yard line, just before the first half, I thought the failure would be too much for an underdog Montreal team to overcome. But not only did Montreal overcome that adversity. It was one of three Montreal turnovers in the game, which also included an interception and a fumble on a punt return. Add in two shanked punts for added misery.
Most often those momentum killer type of plays would be more than enough against a Bombers team that was being given potential dynasty status going into this contest.
But Montreal had much more than three turnovers to deal with against the powerhouse Bombers. They also had to deal with some awful zebra calls and non-calls that were unacceptable for a game of this magnitude.
In the first quarter, Montreal's Mustafa Johnson was called for unnecessary roughness for his tackle on Collarus, who had decided to run with the football after finding no one open on second down. Mustafa tackled Collaros around the neck area. Instead of a field goal attempt, the Bombers scored a touchdown. It a gift of four points the Bombers did not deserve. On the fumbled punt return, it was an obvious no yards penalty but even after a Maas challenge the play stood as called and led to a second Bombers touchdown. The Bombers were obviously lined up offside on Montreal's third down and one attempt at the end of the first half.
But the worst non-call of the day had to be on the incredible Austin Mack one handed catch. The Bombers defender had a hold of his arm so badly it would have been more than obvious in the upper tier of Hamilton's stadium. Fortunately, Mack made the very unlikely and amazing catch but giving the Bombers the undeserved advantages the zebras did in the Grey Cup game was appalling.
But this was a Montreal team that was unfazed and led by an incredible defensive effort once again. Montreal outscored Winnipeg 21-7 in the second half of the Grey Cup game.
Our Lions coaching and management staff, in watching this Montreal upset win hopefully learned something. Hopefully they saw that Montreal rushed for over 100 yds. in the game. Montreal would not have beaten the Bombers being only one dimensional.
Secondly, they also saw a franchise that made necessary changes throughout the season to get better. To begin this CFL season, the Montreal Alouttes were Canadian Football League orphans - without an owner, without a clear direction, without either financial stability or a team that could win on the football field.
Montreal, after struggling defensively in the first half of the season, went out and signed Sean Lemon, the West nominee last year for outstanding defensive player last year but not brought back by Calgary and they also signed Darnell Sankey. Both played key roles in Montreal's turnaround and playoff success.
Our B.C. Lions also had the ability to make changes this season but chose not to. Our running game was an obvious issue. We chose to continue with four import receivers when we easily could have inserted McInnis into the starting lineup and gone with a third import offensive lineman. We could have gone with a different tailback, with NFL cuts available, as our choice of scatback was not only limiting our running game but was also an obvious issue for pass protection, which too often goes under the radar, in terms of importance. We also chose to stick with the same running scheme and the same offensive strategy when it should have been more than obvious that its difficult to win in the playoffs in the cold in December without a solid running game for offensive balance and good pass protection as well.
Yesterday Cody Fajardo had his best game as a pro. He does not have the talent of a Vernon Adams nor did he have the quality of receivers that Adams did to throw the football to. But Montreal put up close to 400 yards of offence against a very good Bomber defense. They did due to having a running game as part of their offence and because they had a quarterback in Fajardo who threw the football into the face of a fierce Bomber rush and let his receivers have the opportunity to make plays, rather than disco dancing in the pocket and giving up sacks that are killers. Hopefully Vernon Adams watched this game too.
This Montreal Grey Cup victory was no fluke. The Montreal Alouttes were the best team in the CFL in the second half of the season. They beat the Hamilton Tiger Cats, the Toronto Argos, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on their way to Grey Cup fame. They are deserving Grey Cup Champions.
I'm also very happy they won. The Bombers inserted Shoen, who had not practiced in six weeks and Adam Bighill, who also did not practice this week and was obviously not 100% into their starting lineup for this game. I am sure one aspect of it was that they were such key players for the Bombers that they deserved to have the chance to play. But I also think a part of it was that Mike O'Shea and the players themselves were so convinced of a Grey Cup victory that they believed they could insert them without negative effect. Shoen was mostly a non-factor whereas Bighill cost the Bombers a touchdown and only made one tackle when he was in there.
For a game of this magnitude, the Bombers should have gone into this game with their best starting lineup, which meant healthy players out there being able to play at the needed standard. That was owed to the rest of the players on the Bombers team. But ego, legacy, a sense of destiny (it was a word often used by Bombers players) and a creeping sense of superiority, especially after the Argos were eliminated, may have also been factors in yesterday's game.
The Bombers were in a complete sense of shock after. That told me that they 'expected' to win rather than going into the contest with a more modest approach. As Al Pacino said, in the movie Any Given Sunday, "You can win or you can lose, on any given Sunday". I don't think the Bombers thought the second part of the phrase was remotely possible and that was part of the story of this year's Grey Cup game.