I see a tweet saying that the rumor out of Als camp is that he's looked great and that teammates have already come up with a nickname for him. "Grandpa" because of his always-serious demeanor. Otherwise it looks like Rakeem Cato is beginning on the Als injury list while Brandon Bridge is on the game day roster. The injury list is a one game injury list. Apparently Cato didn't come into the preseason B game until 2:30 left in the 4th quarter and he went 1 for 3. No idea how many yards he gained on the completion. I'm guessing it wasn't a touchdown. Officially last week he was 6 of 6 for 87 yards and a TD so I guess he finished 7 of 9 for 87+? yards and a TD. Dunno how injured he is. These are pictures from their first official regular season practice and he looks fine to me: I don't know the intricacies of CFL roster management. They have a 6-game injury list and a 1-game injury list. He's on the 1-game injury list. It could mean they're basically giving the QBs one more week to see how everything shakes out. Maybe they're expecting Crompton could suck so bad or LeFevour could get hurt during the game that they end up putting Rakeem on as one of their three quarterbacks. Or maybe they need to see more progress from Rakeem before they decide to keep him as a fourth, and this week of practices will help them make that decision. Or maybe they've decided he's not going to make the roster but they might as well keep him around for an extra week in case an injury happens.
Yes he came at the very end of the game with the Als trailing badly. He completed a nice comeback 10 yarder then they just ran for the last 3-4 plays. The fact that they kind of "hid" him on this 1 game IR shows me that they need another week to figure something out, they also have a practice squad but they probably feared that he wouldn't clear. Bridge is canadian so it gives him an edge (there is a canadian ratio factoring in the CFL). i'll keep you updated guys...
Yup. Rakeem Cato finished 7 of 9 for 96 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT in the preseason. Didn't scramble at all. Brandon Bridge finished 5 of 12 for 63 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. He ran 2 times for 5 yards. Jonathan Crompton finished 7 of 16 for 88 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT. He ran 2 times for 7 yards. Dan LeFevour finished 7 of 14 for 60 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. He ran 1 time for 9 yards. That's a 149.2 passer rating for Cato versus an 86.5 for Brandon Bridge, followed by a 31.8 for Dan LeFevour and an incredible 21.9 passer rating for Jonathan Crompton. Limited reps, but Cato smoked them in preseason. I don't know how you end up cutting him if that's what they do once he comes off this 1 game injury list. The guy has a bunch of NCAA records and is easily considered by Marshall people to be up there with Chad Pennington in school history, above Byron Leftwich.
Just reading the report of Montreal's season opener, and on the surface it must bode well for Cato. Crompton started, but both he and his replacement, Lefevour, left the game injured. Bridge then came on but threw an int that led to Ottawa scoring the winning td.
Yup. That's about what I would have expected. Perhaps a bit more quickly than I expected, but yup. The real impediment is Bridge. He performed second best of the QBs in preseason and with his physical ability and the fact he's from Canada, everyone are on his nuts up there. But it shouldn't take that long for them to figure out he can't consistently hit the broad side of a barn. I'm crossing my fingers for Rakeem. Jonathan Crompton: 5 of 17 (lol) for 51 yards (LOL), 1 TD and 1 INT, 1 run for 3 yards and 0 TD. Dan LeFevour: 0 of 1 for 0 yards, 0 TD and 0 INT, 1 run for 2 yards and 0 TD. Brandon Bridge: 5 of 10 for 62 yards, 0 TD and 1 INT, 0 run for 0 yards and 0 TD.
I missed this before but their GM Jim Popp (respected in NFL circles to where he gets consideration as an NFL GM) did a Q&A two days before the game and had this to say on the issue of Cato being on the 1-game injury list: So basically there's no issue about Cato being hidden on the injury list for one week just in case of an injury, then being discarded. He's being kept. In his post-game interview coach Tom Higgins noted that Crompton could have come back in the game. But he also noted the possibility Cato could find himself as the #2 quarterback next week. They seem pretty firm on Bridge being ahead of him which is not something I agree with but the unforgiveable thing to me would be marching Crompton back out there. The guy just can't play.
First of all guys we had some fresh news today: Crompton has a separated shoulder and is doubtful for next week, Lefevour has a dislocated shoulder and he's done for the year. i watched the game last night, when Bridge came out he was initially impressive, completing some nice passes on his back foot and moved the offense pretty well but then threw a terrible pick behind SJ Green that basically cost the Alouettes the game against probably the worst team in the league (2-16 last year). The throw was just a plain bad throw, without any pressure. That was a simple slant inside and Green was open, the throw was a yard behind. seems we could see Cato soon...
My gut says that if it's not this next game against Calgary then it won't be for a while. When Crompton comes back he will at the very least be the backup to Bridge which will make Cato the third quarterback. But for this week and this game he's the primary backup to Bridge and if Brandon starts throwing interceptions or being ineffective, they could throw Cato in just to see if he can provide a spark. It would not necessarily represent a demotion for Bridge, could just be a one game thing.
Evidently the CFL is not as anal as the NFL when it comes to scouring through YouTube and reporting videos of their broadcasts. I watched through some of Brandon Bridge's work and while he looks physically compelling he tried his best to throw multiple picks in limited work. Sometimes when his accuracy is on point Bridge's throws look brilliant because of the heat he gets on the ball. But then that scattershot accuracy shows up and he throws a simple throw like 7 feet above a guy's head.
Tom Higgins (HC) was critical on Crompton 's work after the game. His leach will not be very long IMO
Well I'm crossing my fingers. Not only is Cato a great story and a guy you really, really want to root for...but I have a tough time imagining how I could be so wrong about a guy thinking he can definitely play this game and then nobody (in a position of importance) agrees with me. It's happened before, plenty of times. If you've undertaken the task of being a true evaluator instead of just a guy that stands on other peoples' work and changes a few things at the margins, hunting for bragging rights, then you're going to run into this sort of thing quite a bit. One of the best evaluators I've ever known regularly ends up with guys at the very top of his list that end up completely undrafted and working at car dealership a year later. And if anyone were ever keeping track of this sort of thing you could make a case for what an awful evaluator he is. Just like if anyone were paying attention to the NFL Draft Scout database on a timeline they'd notice guys that end up 7th rounders being rated by them as top 10 prospects a year ahead of time. The people that actually undertake this task and do it right have the real feel for what is impressive and what isn't impressive. Yet in the end, I still don't want to be wrong about Cato. I think he can play and I think he's a guy that has worked so hard despite bad circumstances that I'd love to see things work out for him. That's what it boils down to.
I didn't see the last game live, but noticed after that one of our sports channels signed a deal with the CFL on the eve of the season, so managed to catch it on repeat, and can now watch most CFL games the rest of the season. Looking forward to seeing how Cato does now, if/when he gets his chance, after the analysis and breakdowns you've shared on here of him.
Whoa, this is a pleasant surprise: http://en.montrealalouettes.com/article/highlights-july-1st-practice Watching Tom Higgins' post-practice comments now. He's explaining that they truly don't know which guy they're going to play and that there's a very good chance you'll see both out there. He said they have two quarterbacks healthy and they WOULD steer toward the guy with the most experience, but that experience amounts to only a handful of plays so they split the reps evenly yesterday and will continue to split the reps throughout the week. He said both guys have a ton of confidence but they need to see which one can execute their game plan. I think someone asked why Cato was on the one-week inactive list while Bridge was the official 3rd quarterback in the last game. Higgins said that's easy enough to answer, as they told both Bridge and Cato that they would be alternating as the 3rd quarterback because "there was no clear-cut winner" between the two of them. He said it was no big deal because you don't think much about your third quarterback, but then all the sudden that guy had to step in and play. That's VERY interesting to me as it means Bridge going out there and playing wasn't really a decision, just a coincidence. As for how they feel about how well Bridge did, my guess is it's mixed. I think they're genuinely impressed that he was able to execute the offense and give them a chance to win despite having essentially zero reps in the practice week prior to the game. But then there was the interception he threw that cost them the game, and some other near-interceptions (one I believe called back on a roughing penalty). I'm genuinely interested in what happens between the two guys tomorrow. Higgins mentioned that Calgary's defense is very opportunistic and pressure oriented...and I wonder if that could give the edge to Cato because he handles pressure and scrambles so well. EDIT: Game will be on ESPN2 tonight at 7:30pm EST if anyone's curious.
This has been a story book start to Rakeem Cato's CFL career if you think about it. He tries to make it with the NFL and they don't give him the time of day, so he signs with the Montreal Alouettes late and manages to stay tied up in competition with their vaunted Canadian-born draft pick Brandon Bridge who has the prototypical size, athleticism and the huge arm. The Alouettes decide that both guys will rotate week to week as the 3rd quarterback on the active roster but Bridge gets the first go at that honor because he had been with the Alouettes from the start whereas Cato was a latecomer only signed after his tryout with the Browns failed. Somehow, the first two quarterbacks on the depth chart get hurt in the first game of the year thrusting Bridge onto the field. He does well but also throws the pick that loses the game against arguably the worst team in the CFL. So Cato goes into the practice week sharing equal reps with the much more heralded Bridge, but keeps sticking in the coaches' minds and actually gets the nod as the starter despite a swell of support for Bridge being the first Canadian born quarterback to start a CFL game since the mid-90's. Cato leads a fantastic drive in his first action of his CFL career and caps it off with a perfectly Cato-esque touchdown throw against his body while rolling to his left on the run. He goes on to finish the day 20 of 25 for 241 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs with 2 runs for 11 yards in a 29-11 rout of the Calgary Stampeders. By the end of the game he had the game commentators reminiscing about how this was among the best performances they've seen for a first time starter in the CFL in the last 20 years. But all Cato did was be the player he was at Marshall. He didn't do anything out of sorts for him. He didn't channel some other quarterback. He was just...Rakeem Cato. He's that good.
http://www.tsn.ca/video/this-is-a-shocking-performance-1.325286 Some strong words from the analyst here. Called it a "shocking performance" and said Cato is going to be a "superstar". Seemed pretty floored that Cato had this kind of timing with his receivers after only one week getting reps with the first unit. There are post game interviews with his teammates and they're all gushing about him. In Cato's own post-game interview he noted he didn't feel any pressure. He said he's gone through a lot of bad things in his life, mom died when he was 13, never seen his father, bad situations back home in Miami, all of that he said is depressing and football on the other hand is fun. As I said once upon a time, football is all he has (aside from his kids now), and he practices and plays like it.
The other guy that was really impressive in the game was Cody Hoffman, who is another player I liked coming out of college that I thought got a bit of a raw deal from the NFL. Caught 3 balls for 48 yards and a TD. He had one catch ruled an incompletion but I thought replay showed he dug it out of the ground. His touchdown was a really nice setup and break on the post route over the middle. Cato made one big mistake on the night and it could've been a pick-6. He was throwing an out route and really just needed to speed up his timing as that ball has to be out on the break. He was half a beat late, defensive back made a great break on the ball but couldn't pull it down. Lucky for Rakeem. Otherwise his four other completions weren't bad. He threw a post-corner route about where he should've thrown it but I thought the receiver did a poor job transitioning from the post to the corner, took too many steps. With only one week of practice with the 1's to get chemistry that sort of thing will happen. There was the throw that Cody Hoffman dug out of the ground but it was still ruled incomplete and the Als didn't care to challenge it. That was a low throw but it was off the scramble on the run so it's understandable. Gave his guy a chance at it. There was another throw under duress with free blitzers in his face, a comeback that I thought went right where it should have been but the receiver slipped and fell while trying to break back to the ball. Then there was another bad throw where the ball was somewhat in jeopardy, far enough off target (again off the scramble) that the DB had a slight chance at it. Otherwise there was a lot of quick execution, quick throws, lots of short game, interspersed with moments of sheer brilliance in legitimately difficult situations. His reading of the blitz and decision making as to where to get the ball was generally on-point. The touchdown to Hoffman was exactly like that, great read of the blitz and the soft spot of the defense. Honestly the thing that impressed me the most was his ball spin. These were TIGHT spirals. Darts all over the place. He threw a good ball at Marshall but I'm not sure I'd seen him get this kind of spin on the ball on pretty much every throw of the game. He's gotten better, and that's what is kind of scary. On the field this guy plays like Aaron Rodgers. The problem is he's more slight than Rodgers, probably not as sharp as Rodgers from a mental standpoint and especially doesn't have Rodgers' pro-ready system experience. But in terms of pure skills, seeing the defense, using his body and making throws, he's Aaron Rodgers.
Nice writeup CK, what about all the throws to Sam Giguère? Especially the 1st TD pass, not that spectacular but just right on point. I can tell you something, there is a real buzz here among Alouettes fans. Even I am not a big CFL fan but Cato just brought much more interest for the season (before the start of the Fins season obviously ). I watched the game on the french network (yes I'm a french canadian) and the commentators were absolutely raving about him, his demeanor giving confidence to the team. We can also add that Tyrell Sutton is very impressive at RB, great start for him too...
I was really hoping that we would draft him in later round or bring in as an UDFA. Now, maybe Miami will notice him and have him come here to develop into our Backup role.
I don't think we'll see Cato jump ship from the CFL mid-season. That wouldn't strike me as a very honorable thing to do. Montreal took him up when nobody else wanted him even after he'd spurned his CFL workouts in the run-up to the NFL draft. And even better, Montreal started him ahead of the Canadian-born physical dynamo they actually drafted in the CFL draft. It would seem pretty crappy of Rakeem to jump ship to the first NFL team that offers the rookie minimum to come participate in training camp. But yeah Miami should have taken him. A lot of teams should have taken him. They couldn't see beyond his 5'11" and 178 lbs frame. Here's one of the better plays he made during the game. It was quintessential Rakeem Cato. If you go through all of the individual play links I gathered in my draft write-up, there are at least a dozen of these that are just as impressive if not more so. [video=youtube;Z5W0PQkbrfA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5W0PQkbrfA[/video]
It's been a while since I've done this, but I just like watching the guy play so I can't help it. Here is the entire game for anyone that wants to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0 Now here are the individual throws and runs: FIRST HALF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=797 (2nd & 6; Slot Quick Out Left; Complete for 11 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=848 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=866 (1st & 10; Flare Screen Right; Complete for 21 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=888 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=949 (1st & 10; Checkdown to Halfback Leak Right; Complete for 12 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=1024 (2nd & 6; Blitz Hot to Stick Route Middle; Complete for 23 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=1043 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=1110 (2nd & Goal; Sprint Left to Out Route Left; Complete for 6 yard TD) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=1135 (Replay) (That 95 yard TD drive to start the game basically ensured that Brandon Bridge wasn't going to get a chance to play except in short yardage situations on QB sneaks...poor guy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=1881 (2nd & 4; Bubble Screen Left; Complete for 0 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2368 (1st & 10; Flare Screen Right; Complete for 1 yard) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2413 (2nd & 9; Blitz Hot Comeback Left; Incomplete WR Slipped) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2728 (1st & 10; Slot Quick Out Left; Complete for 4 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2763 (2nd & 6; Ten Yard Out Left; Incomplete PBU Near INT) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2778 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3075 (2nd & 2; Blitz Hot TE Slant Left; Complete for 36 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3102 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3129 (1st & 10; Square-In Right; Complete for 11 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3147 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3294 (1st & 10; Deep Post-Corner Left; Incomplete Off Target) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3315 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3335 (2nd & 10; Broken Scramble Right; Complete for 15 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3359 (Replay...hell of a play) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3622 (1st & Goal; Play-Action Boot Right to TE Quick Out Right; Complete for 6 yard TD) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=3752 (Replay...They call him 'Thick Nik' Lewis for a reason) SECOND HALF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=4518 (1st & 10; Bubble Screen Right; Complete for 8 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=4688 (2nd & 5; Slot Left Y Stick; Complete for 10 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=4713 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=4893 (2nd & 5; Slot Quick Out Right; Complete for 5 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=4974 (2nd & 6; Blitz Hot Post Middle; Complete for 15 yard TD) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=4995 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=5129 (Replay Two...all out blitz) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=5624 (2nd & 7; Pressure Scramble Right; Gain of 6 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=5642 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=5768 (1st & 10; Broken Scramble Right; Incomplete Off Target) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=5806 (2nd & 10; Slot Square-In Middle; Complete for 12 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=5828 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7018 (1st & 10; Boot Right Deep Out Right; Incomplete Bad Call, should've been ruled complete) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7039 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7065 (2nd & 10; Ten Yard Curl Right; Complete for 20 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7089 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7141 (2nd & 6; Quick Out Right; Complete for 6 yards...Penalty Offense No Play) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7206 (2nd & 16; Scramble Middle; Gain of 4 yards, gave himself up no contact) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7492 (1st & 10; Flare Screen Left; Complete for 17 yards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=7511 (Replay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zrLjBq1z0&feature=player_detailpage#t=8118 (2nd & 12; Sprint Left Pressured Comeback; Complete for 7 yards...running out the clock) Some notes for the CFL-unitiated: 1. The CFL is three-down football as opposed to four-down. Second downs are like third downs for them. But they do go for it on third down more than the NFL does on fourth down, especially third-and-one. This is partly because the defensive line must line up a yard off the ball at the snap, and this gives the offensive line an advantage when it comes to converting short yardage plays. 2. That's not an illusion, the field is wider than an NFL field. An NFL field is 160 feet wide. A CFL field is 195 feet wide. The CFL field also has 110 yards from end zone to end zone, and the end zones are 20 yards deep instead of 10 yards deep. 3. You're not miscounting, there are 12 men on each side of the ball. As you can imagine this does change the nature of your reads as a quarterback. This, along with the ability of your offensive skill players to line up at different depths before the snap and to be moving forward at the snap, is the primary reason rookies typically don't play in the CFL. It takes a long time to get used to these changes. This is why Cato's debut performance is being held up among the top debut performances the CFL has ever seen. EDIT: Cato was voted for Top CFL Player of the Week. Some nice quotes below:
Cool, I know that guy bleeds the game and has tremendous leadership ability..I hope he continues his journey.
The training camp photos are in my hometown, Vero Beach where the Aloeuttes have come to the last two years..it is at the former DodgerTown...I hope they come back next year where I can see Cato unless he goes to the NFL before hand..I would love to see him come to Miami.
Watching the Montreal game now. Als are giving up a lot of pressure and Cato has thrown two interceptions. Hopefully his blocking gets better and we get to see him air it out.
No incomplete passes a few minutes into the 2nd quarter if you count the 2 interceptions. 8 of 10 with 2 interceptions.
Aaaand a 52 yard bomb by Cato moving the ball to the goal line. 1st and goal Cato makes a nice throw on the run facing pressure and puts the ball in his receivers basket who drops it. Next a delay of game panty but Winnipeg is notorious for its raucous fans. 2nd and goal very nice corner fade that draws a penalty. Oddly enough on 1st and goal Bridge comes in.... and runs a qb keeper up the middle short of a TD. Gets a 2nd shot and Bridge runs it in but a penalty is called. And of course, then Cato comes in and Montreal just calls more runs and no passes. Questionable touchdown call on the run to boot. Montreal should have let Cato pass the ball.
Cato had two bad decisions during the game, maybe three if you count a dropped touchdown that arguably should have been robbed by an underneath defender as the ball went over his head through his outstretched arms. It would've been a highly impressive interception if the defender had got it, but still the ball was in harm's way. First interception I think Cato was just trying to do exactly what he did with Samuel Giguere the week before. Scramble drill, he's running out of bounds to right field, he's expecting the WR to turn up the field and go long on the scramble drill (as is normal). The wide receiver just didn't feel the same way and was pretty lax about what he was doing, had gone out of bounds and I think he considered himself ineligible from that point on so he didn't run it out. The ball was right on the sidelines but a safety had gotten over there and secured it, was really an impressive pick-off. Second interception was just a straight up mistake. He looked to the side, was a little late on a throw to the out, he really needs to check off that defender and make sure he's not in position to undercut the out pattern. He had done this the week before and a defender dropped it. This is something he needs to work on. Other than that, he was himself. He made big plays, and he made little plays. He was high percentage. He was accurate, athletic, showed a good arm. The analyst made a mistake attributing the underthrow on the deep ball to Cato not finding the receiver quickly enough. It was play-action with his back turned to the defense. He popped around, found the receiver and threw it in perfect rhythm for the play's design. He just didn't lay the ball as far out there as he could have. But when a guy is that open, Chad Pennington (a mentor of Cato's) will always tell you err on the side of the underthrow. The last thing you want is to put the ball in a place the guy can't even catch it, once he's gotten that open. If you underthrow it a bit too much there's a good chance the worst that will happen is defensive pass interference. The quarterback killed Cato for underthrowing it as he thought it should be a touchdown but I don't agree with him. Montreal should have won the game. I thought the coach blew a call at the end on 3rd & 3 with 3 minutes left, down 5 points. He decided to kick a long field goal. They made the field goal and did indeed get the ball back with 1:45 left in the game...but that doesn't mean it was the right call. Cato had the offense driving and converting first downs. A 9 yard pass completion, a 19 yard run, a 20 yard pass completion, an incomplete pass, a 7 yard scramble on 2nd & 10 producing a 3rd & 3 at the Winnipeg 31 yard line. The decision wasn't obvious and in fact the numbers may be on the coach's side on this one. But this is one situation where I'll disagree because you have to have a feel for the game and the situation. They were on the road and had already made a number of big plays against the defense on the drive, taking the crowd out of it a little bit. They were at a 3rd & 3 which is a very makeable situation in the CFL with that wide field, receivers going forward before the snap, 6 skill players out on pass patterns, and the defensive line lining up a yard off the ball. I think you convert that down, keep running the clock and have the whole thing end with a go-ahead touchdown...or die in the attempt.
Just FYI, the Alouettes will be starting Rakeem Cato again this week against the Hamilton Tiger Cats. Game is Thursday, 7:30pm EST. I believe you can find streaming on ESPN3.
You know, when I was a teenager all the way into my late twenties the CFL was always on TV here...usually two games per week..I always liked to watch it during the lapse waiting for our season to start..I remember watching Warren Moon a lot during that time and it was apparent that the NFL sure missed the boat on him...reminded me a lot like Marino...had a beautiful deep ball just like Dan, but Dan was better as he had an unmatched knowledge with Field awareness and pocket pressure...I wish that it was still on TV on a channel that I get so that I could watch Cato play.
Montreal has been blessed with good qb play for so long between Calvillo and Cato. Looking forward to tomorrow's game.
Here are highlights from the Winnipeg game, interview with Cato at the end. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video/cfl-alouettes-23-blue-bombers-25~654004 TSN (www.tsn.ca/cfl) is our main sports website in Canada and you can find highlights for each game in the video section. Hopefully you guys in the US can watch.
LOL ouch, basically showed four throws of Cato's, two of them being the interceptions and one being the final play of the game for the Als offense (incomplete on 3rd down). Cato was 22 of 31 for 317 yards in the game, had 4 runs for 23 yards. That's pretty good. The two picks were bad. You'd wish he'd have gone on some heroic game-winning drive with 1:45 left needing about 45-50 yards of offense in order to give the FG kicker a legit chance of winning the game. But that last is why I say the Als made a mistake kicking a 38 yard field goal on 3rd & 3 at the Winnipeg 31 yard line with a little over 3 minutes remaining. You've got to continue the offensive momentum as they'd already driven the ball 55 yards on the Blue Bombers. Keep that drive going and score the go-ahead touchdown. Instead they took the field goal and hoped their defense could get Winnipeg off the field in time for another drive.
In some of the interviews you can still glean some of the things that make NFL teams so uncomfortable with Rakeem Cato. His speech and communication are, to be blunt about it, terrible. They have even had to change some of their words for play calls because he doesn't pronounce them very succinctly to where other people in the huddle can hear him. He needs to work with a speech coach.
Nice outing today, 23 of 34 for 264 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs. Also had 4 runs for 30 yards. Some of those incompletes were really good throwaway decisions, one was a drop by SJ Green near the goal line for what could've been another TD drive. Green made up for it with a stupendous TD grab off an even better throw by Cato on the move. The Als are 2-2, would be 3-1 and 3-0 under Cato but for a blocked punt returned for a TD last week. I've watched the other QBs in those CFL games. They may put together better outings than Cato at times, but they're not more talented. This is an NFL player that the NFL let get away. He's only a rookie up there, head spinning, never called plays in the huddle before, has no idea what to do against 12 man defenses, trying to get used to the rhythm involved in moving the chains when you've only got two downs to do it, but he's showing up other CFL veteran QBs. One big scare he took trying to gain those last two yards to get a 1st down off the scramble. He get hit pretty hard in the legs and hip by a man much bigger than him moving at high speed. You could tell he felt that one. That's the danger of being 5'11" and 178 lbs.
Evidently top level CFL quarterbacks can make around $400k per year and Cato even as only a 23 year old rookie with only three games under his belt is well on his way to that status. The sense you get from the CFL media is that they already realize this and they hope he's going to be around for a long long time. The problem is the minimum salary for an NFL player is right at that level so even if he came to the NFL and just bounced around as a #3 quarterback he could be making that amount of money. I think teams will take a look at his CFL tape and decide that at WORST they would like Rakeem Cato running their scout team because of his pass/run/scrambling skill set. And if he makes it to the level of a primary backup quarterback (think Matt Moore, Tyrod Taylor, Brandon Weeden, Mark Sanchez, Matt Cassel, Josh McCown, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, Chad Henne), he could be getting upwards of $4-5 million per year which is ten times what he could make in the CFL.
This is his latest game against the Hamilton Tiger Cats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMzuyKutxjA And this was his debut against the defending Grey Cup winners, Calgary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghIBvDREuBk The amazing part about that one is he went through training camp getting 4th string reps and then suddenly a week into the season he shared 3 days' worth of 1st string reps, and went out and had one of the top 10 debuts in CFL quarterbacking history.
Just noticed you had your own YT channel. Curious why you're NFL Network appearance isn't on there? Are there copy write laws that would not allow you to use NFL Network content on which you appeared?
Never occurred to me to put it up there. My YT channel is just a collection of videos I've made for the sake of people that might want to watch them. It's not for self-propaganda. It occurs to me that (although I may just be partial to the player and rationalizing) one of the really big criticisms you'd have to have of Rakeem Cato coming out of college was the fact that he does not come across as all that intelligent due to his being a poor communicator. You'd have to question whether he can learn a new playbook, a new system, adjusting to the speed and style of play in the NFL including play-action passing, turning your back to the defense, dropping back from under center, etc. But there he was with like three days of practice repping with the 1's and had that CFL Player of the Week performance against the defending Grey Cup champions. He not only adjusted to dropping back from under center, turning his back to the defense on play-action, calling plays in the huddle, learning a new system including new verbiage, etc. He also had to learn an entirely new set of rules as CFL offenses have 6 skill players running routes versus 12 defenders. Not to mention changes in 1st/2nd/3rd down priorities, the running start that players can get which will change the timing, etc. The CFL is supposed to be a league that guys can't really step into and just "get" right away particularly because of the dynamics of the defenses having 12 men on the field and therefore an extra defensive back. But he's taken to all of that like a fish in water and that really throws a monkey wrench in this idea that Rakeem Cato isn't intelligent enough to adjust to the NFL.
I added the Rakeem Cato vs. Calgary Stampeders game to the post above. Might take a while to process it in HD. Currently only seems to be available in 480p. When it processes fully it should be available in 1080p at 60 fps.
