WELL, at least nobody got hurt, at least not too badly. That was about all the good that could be said yesterday for the Renegades as they regrouped after Friday night's 46-22 thumping by the Montreal Alouettes at Percival Molson Stadium.
"A lot of bruised egos more than anything," said Renegades coach Joe Paopao, who watched the tapes of the game yesterday morning. "It wasn't as bad as I thought. We missed a tackle and they went 80 yards. We had our hands on their quarterback and he got away.
"They were razor sharp and they had their way with us."
'Gades defensive lineman Jerome Haywood and defensive back Dave Donaldson both came out of the game with sore ribs. DB Jonathan Ordway had a mild concussion and linebacker Tony White aggravated a hip pointer.
Paopao said he was listing all of them as probable for Friday's meeting with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Frank Clair Stadium.
Just about everything went right for the Alouettes and nothing for the Renegades on Friday night. On the play to which Paopao referred, Ordway missed a tackle on Montreal receiver Thyron Anderson late in the first quarter. Ottawa lineman Keaton Cromartie had the angle on him on the sideline, but Anderson outran him and wound up going 81 yards to the Ottawa five-yard line, setting up the first of four touchdowns for Als running back Autry Denson.
"We have a bunch of good players on defence, but we were kind of like (New York Yankees star) Alex Rodriguez at the beginning of the year. We were just a little off," said Cromartie. "The negativity just spread. We thought the worst was over and it was like, okay, now we're going to make some plays, but it never came that way for us, the ball never bounced for us until right at the very end.
"It hurt because we were looking forward to going 4-0. We have to regroup. It's not the end of the world. We don't want depression to set in. It's a long season and we're looking forward to the next game."
The first six games of the Renegades schedule shape up as their toughest stretch of the season and, as one-sided as Friday night's loss was, the fact of the matter is the Renegades are still in good shape.
"I don't think anybody should complain about us being 3-1. I don't know if anyone hates losing more than I do, but I would take that 3-1," said tackle Mike Abou-Mechrek yesterday.
"They just beat us. They didn't run anything we didn't expect. They just ran their stuff better than we ran our stuff. We're still a good team, though, and good teams rebound. Good teams don't lose two in a row. I'm really not worried."
Running back Josh Ranek, who was held to just 42 yards on 10 carries, said the Renegades were just a little out of whack.
"It seemed like on every play one person was not in sync with the rest of the team," he said. "When you don't have everyone doing their job, there are some leaks and they can get through and make some big plays. It wasn't just one person."
THE END ZONE: The play of the special teams was one bright spot for the Renegades. They limited Als return threat Ezra Landry to just 36 yards on seven punt returns. He had one kickoff return of 17 yards ... Paopao said he didn't consider taking quarterback Kerry Joseph out of the one-sided game, despite the lingering threat of injury. "You can get hurt on any play," said Paopao. "It's not like he's an eight-year vet. He needs to take every snap. He needs the experience." ... Haywood got a chance to run the ball in the second quarter, launching his 5-foot-9, 280-lb. bulk over the top of the pile on a first-and-goal from the Montreal three. He got two yards. How did he do that? "I'm an athlete," he said. "I just look like this."... The seven sacks allowed by the Renegades Friday night matched their single-game high from last year (at Toronto Oct. 4, 2003) ... As you might expect, the Renegades' total offence of 239 yards was their lowest output of the year.
chris.stevenson@ott.sunpub.com
