Can't say I'm surprised that the Montreal Alouettes lost badly to the B.C. Lions Friday night at home where they rarely lose.
The Canadian Football League is a passing league, notwithstanding last year's aberration in which a record seven players rushed for at least 1,000 yards.
Alouettes starting quarterback Anthony Calvillo did not play against the Lions, who entered the game with a 1-7 record, including losing their last seven games. The Lions won 38-17 to the shock and dismay of some people, including the Als and their fans, who booed the team at one point.
Chris Leak, an acclaimed star with the Florida Gaitors a few years back, started in place of Calvillo. Considered a bright prospect with athletic talent, Leak made numerous mistakes, either making poor throws and literally stumbling and fumbling a ball that was returned for a touchdown.
Calvillo played pathetically when he first began in the Canadian Football League, first with the now-defunct Las Vegas Posse and then with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He had to reinvent his game by backing up Tracy Ham in Montreal.
Calvillo became a much-better player afterward, to the point where he is the dominant quarterback of his era. He was voted the Most Outstanding Player in the Canadian Football League the last two years and is on pace to throw for more yards than any player in pro football history. Similar to Damon Allen, who has the record, Calvillo has improved with age. He is 38 and hopes to play for another two or three years. The bruised sternum he sustained in his last game may sideline him another game. There is no need for the Als to rush him back until he's ready.
Without Calvillo, the Als are merely ordinary. You don't replace a player with his outstanding mental and physical ability and expect the offence to continue with the same efficiency. Would you expect a youngster who just got his driver's license after hours of classroom work and driving with an instructor to handle a car with the same confidence and efficiency as someone who has had their license for some 20 years? There will be situations that will happen that all the time in the classroom and with an instructor that cannot prepare you for the real thing.
Leak's mistakes were akin to the kind of mistakes Calvillo made early in his career. Maybe in time Leak will become like Calvillo, but that's a long ways off.
And let's not forget, B.C.'s quarterback, Casey Printers, is a former most outstanding player in the CFL. When he's healthy, he can make plays with his legs and arm. Prentice apprenticed in B.C. and developed fairly quickly into a star qb in the CFL. But his career also needed reprogamming.
A player needs practical playing time, especially a quarterback, to become a proficient professional in the CFL. In Toronto, quarterback Cleo Lemon, a veteran who started some games in the NFL, is still learning the CFL game. The Argos are winning games, but more because of the defence, special teams and running game. Lemon hasn't won any games singlehandedly. At some point he'll have to do that.
So Leak is in the unusual situation of learning the CFL game as a starter, while temporarily filling in for one of the greatest pivots in CFL history. The drop off in experience and practical talent is enormous.
For now, Leak is just a young player learning, and the Als look as though they have gone from mighty to ordinary. Not that this is unique. The Als have routinely become ordinary in those rare times in which Calvillo has not played.
The Als were favoured by 10 over B.C. They play in Hamilton on Saturday. Suffice to say that with Calvillo, the Als will be the underdog. Possibly by six points, depending on how the Ticats do on Monday at Toronto. The Ticats have a veteran quarterback, Kevin Glenn, who is among the best in the league. His young backup, Quinton Porter, struggled badly last year when given the starter's job and was replaced by Glenn. Immediately the struggling Cats improved.
There simply is no substitute for experienced playing time in the CFL. Even Doug Flutie, arguably the greatest quarterback in CFL history, needed time to learn the Canadian game despite his experience in U.S. college and the NFL. Combined with the fact he was a special player tailor-made to the Canadian game with his scrambling ability and playing on a longer and wider field than in America, he flourished.
Leak will need time and experience to develop into a bonafide CFL quarterback, but he won't get the chance in Montreal. Calvillo will be back in the lineup when he's physically ready and won't abdicate his starting role until his play declines and/or he physically can't play.
Leak's debut as a starting CFL quarterback may be over for now after only one game.
