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MONTREAL -- Troy Smith is looking like he will grow into the job as the Montreal Alouettes starting quarterback after all. After the offence was stifled in a season opening loss last week in Calgary, Smith and the entire Alouettes team were a notch better in a 24-9 victory over the struggling B.C. Lions on Friday night. Montreal (1-1) posted the first win by an East Division team over a western club this season and dropped the Lions to 0-2. "There wasnt a lot of difference in play calls, it was just the quarterback making different reads and doing different things," said Smith. "Obviously, having a little more time with the co-ordinator and the offensive line coach is going to help you. "Im kind of greedy in the sense that I like throwing touchdown passes and I didnt get one, so Im still chomping at the bit to get my first one of the season, but if we keep getting wins, thats the most important statistic." Running back Brandon Whitaker and linebacker Chip Cox scored first quarter touchdowns and Sean Whyte kicked three field goals and a single for the Alouettes. The defence made the real difference, sacking B.C. starter Kevin Glenn five times, picking off two passes and recovering a fumble. Smith was sacked only once and was not picked off. Smith completed 17 passes for a relatively modest 187 yards, but he helped the Alouettes pick up 203 yards on the ground with a few timely rushing first downs. The Lions produced only one Paul McCallum field goal with Glenn at quarterback. Backup John Beck had an eight-yard TD toss to Courtney Taylor with 1:20 left in the game on a drive aided by three Montreal penalties. It was their first TD since they got two in the first quarter of a loss last week at home to Edmonton. "This is a tough business to be in because you can be so high one day and so low the next," said the 35-year-old Glenn, who became the starter when Travis Lulay was placed on the six-game injured list with a shoulder injury. "Weve just got to make sure we stick together and try to turn this thing around. "Its a long season. The most important thing is to stick together as a team." The concern for B.C. going into the game was having newcomer Ryan Cave starting at left tackle after only two practices with the team this week. It wasnt all his doing, but Montreal spent much of the first half in the Lions backfield, either sacking Glenn or hurrying throws. Bowman said the defence didnt key on Cave. "The way (defensive co-ordinator Noel Thorpe) called the game, it wasnt anything against Cave," said Bowman, whose four sacks was one short of a team record. "I actually thought he played OK. "Coach Thorpe called a masterful game. We didnt take advantage of one player, but their scheme in general." The defence came up with the first score 7:36 into the game on a play that had the crowd of 20,018 on its feet. Defensive lineman Scott Paxson reached up a hand to pick off Glenns throw, then flipped the ball to Cox to run 20 yards into the end zone. It was a fifth career TD for Cox. "I had contain on that play," said Paxson. "The quarterback threw the ball a little low and I got my hands on it. After that, I wasnt really thinking. I saw I was about to be tackled so I pitched it to Chip." Cox had one defensive tackle, leaving the 2013 outstanding defensive player two short of moving into the top-10 in CFL history. Smith led a nine-play, 71-yard drive capped by Whitakers 32-yard TD run at 13:27. Whyte added a pair of field goals in the second quarter, one of them set up by an Andrew Harris fumble that was recovered by Jerald Brown on the B.C. 43 yard line. The other came after Smiths 37-yard pass to S.J. Green, which appeared to hit the ground. However, B.C. coach Mike Benevides said spotters got the replay late and the referee ruled that the next play had started before the challenge flag was thrown. "That would have been a difference of three points," Benevides said. "Id love to get the replay on time." Montreal back-up quarterback Tanner Marsh fumbled on a third-and-short play into Solomon Elimimians hands at the Montreal 40 to set up McCallums 24-yard field goal to put B.C. on the board 5:41 into the second half. Glenn had a promising drive die when he was intercepted by Marc-Olivier Bouillette in the end zone early in the fourth quarter. Glenn threw only seven picks all of last season with Calgary, but has six in two games with the Lions. B.C. finally scored with Beck in the game. "I wanted Beck to get some work,"said Benevides. "He had some time to warm up, so I got him in there to get some game reps." The schedule doesnt get easier for the Lions, whose next game is at Saskatchewan on July 12. The Alouettes stay home to face 2-0 Winnipeg next Friday. Malik Jefferson Bengals Jersey . Mike Babcock has turned to the Montreal Canadiens goalie over Roberto Luongo, who backed Canada to a gold medal in Vancouver in 2010, for Canadas final preliminary round game against the ailing Finns. Jessie Bates III Bengals Jersey .A. Dickey earned an American League Gold Glove on Tuesday to become the first Toronto Blue Jays pitcher to win the award. http://www.officialbengalsprofanatics.co...enn-Jersey/.com) - The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms with running back Jackie Battle on a one-year contract Friday. Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday. Billy Price Jersey . You can, too, Clay Buchholz, if we ignore the sixth inning of Game 2. Doug Fister and Jake Peavy, youre up next in Game 4 and theres a lot to live up to.1) Rumors about Jeff Samardzija being available and the Jays perhaps considering making a play if they are in contention near the end of July. The reported price for the Jays was Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez. Would you make that deal? The Blue Jays are in first place in the AL East. Read that again! The Blue Jays are in first place in the AL East!! I have visions of thousands of people outside of Rogers Centre just like there were for the Raptors outside of the Air Canada Centre. How much fun would that be? The AL East will be won by a general manager; not by players or managers this year. Who will make the moves that will give his team the advantage to separate from the pack? When is the last time we saw the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays as vulnerable as they are this season? This is the best chance in the last two decades that the Jays have to win the division. When I was in the front office of the New York Mets, John Gibbons was a manager and coach in the farm system there. When I got the Mets GM job it was Gibbons who made a statement that impacted me tremendously. He said, "Go for it. You dont know how long these jobs last or how many opportunities you will get to win, So Go For It!" That stuck with me and when I had chances to be a playoff team I did what I needed to do to get there and win. That included trading away some very good prospects to bring in winning players. I never regretted trading away prospects in years I made the playoffs. I searched "Toronto Blue Jays" online and went to the Jays Wikipedia page. Interestingly, the chronology of the Jays history is broken down by the era of the general manager. There is the Pat Gillick era, Gord Ash era, JP Riccardi era and now we are in the Alex Anthopolous era. It is time for Alex to write his legacy for his era. Go For It Alex! Prospects can get general managers fired. We all have waited for top prospects to impact our major league team and have seen many of them fizzle away. This is the year to go for it. Trade away what it takes to get Jeff Samardzija. He is darn good. If it takes both Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez then so be it. Do it now. Dont wait. Get Samardzija for as many starts as you can. He is still young and in the prime of his career and you control his contract next year as well. Dont wait until the trade deadline. Be the team that people are trying to catch at the deadline. This is the year that will define the Alex Anthopoulos Era. I hope he goes for it! 2) Did you like the decision to send Stroman back down to continue starting in AAA, or should the Jays have kept him to help the struggling pen? It was definitely the right decision to send Stroman down to the minors to assume his spot in the starting rotation. It is the best thing for Stroman and the best thing for the Jays. Stroman pitched like a youngster in his first stint in the majors. He got knocked around a bit coming out of the bullpen. He isnt an obvious solution out there. He has more value going back to AAA as a starter in case he is needed in Torontos rotation. The main reason he needs to go back to AAA and start though is for marketing purposes. He is a chip for Samardzija or any other starting pitching deal that the Jays will consider. Toronto needs Stroman to go down and pitch successfully at AAA so another teams scouts and general manager can dream about him in their rotation. It is not a matter of IF Stroman will stick in the big leagues, it is just a matter of WHEN and with WHOM. 3) The Jays swept the Red Sox, who fell to 20-26, 4th in the AL East. Whats wrong in Boston with the champs? This is an interesting question because in some way it means that we are surprised that the Jays could sweep the Red Sox. The Sox clearly have issues but in detailing those I dont want to take away from the Jays who outhit, outpitched and out defended the Sox. The Jays won by playing Blue Jays baseball the way the team was built to play. The Red Sox are struggling and those struggles are indicative of some serious issues. They are not nearly the team they were a year ago. In 2013, the Red Sox led the AL in runs scored by a wide margin (+57 runs on second place Detroit). They also were in the upper half in pitching with their starting rotation ranked fourth in the league. This season not much is going right for the Sox. They are ranked a respectable sixth in the league in pitching but only because their bullpen is significantly outpitching their rotation. The starters have a combined 4.50 ERA which is ranked 12th among the fifteen AL teams. The Red Sox find themselves trailing in games quite often since their starters give up early runs. That ultimately impacts the quality of the at bats of the hitters as they feel more pressure to produce. The offence is the biggest issue ffor the Sox.dddddddddddd They average 5.26 runs per game in 2014 and just 4.04 per game this year. That tells you all you need to know. The Sox won 97 games in 2013 because they could score in any number of ways. They had great team power (fifth in HR) and great team speed (third in stolen bases). This season they are 10th in HR and 14th in stolen bases. This is a team wide struggle and is most prevalent against right-handed pitching. They are just 10-20 against right-handed starting pitching whereas they were 65-43 last season. Certainly the loss of Jacoby Ellsbury to the Yankees couldnt have been this substantial or is it? Consider that Ellsburys stat line last season vs. right-handers was .328/.374/.489. Plus he stole 39 bases in those games. The Red Sox are barely on pace to steal that many bases as a team this season. Ellsburys replacements in CF, Grady Sizemore (.233/.307/.344) and Jackie Bradley Jr. (.209/.313/.279) are not doing much to make Red Sox fans forget about Ellsbury. It is not solely the loss of Ellsbury that is hurting the Red Sox against righties: Davis Ortiz is significantly less as well but that may be tracked back to Ellsbury too. Without Ellsbury on base in front of Ortiz he is getting much different pitches to hit. The Red Sox need much better starting pitching if they are going to win the division. They are also going to have to find a catalyst offensively (and it wont be the recently signed Stephen Drew) and they are going to need David Ortiz to have his best season ever. I thought Ellsbury was significantly overpaid by the Yankees but maybe he was worth it….to the Red Sox!!! 4) When we were kids growing up, we all played baseball and at times imagined ourselves as major league players. I have four boys and love to ask them what they want to be when they grow up. "I want to be a baseball player," says one. Another says, "I want to be a football player." During basketball season I get, "I want to play in front of Raptors fans." Another son says, "I want to be a baseball analyst." He is my favorite. Most sports fans at one point or another dreamed of playing professionally. When we grow up we all want to be general managers. We call in to talk radio shows with opinions about players and trades and free agents. It seems like such a great job doesnt it? The first two months of this baseball season has made me remember the pain of being a general manager. John Steinbeck wrote in his 1937 novel Of Mice and Men, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Well isnt that the truth. You all want to be a general manager but there are days that I would have rather been raking the field than making decisions about the team. So often in baseball you can have the right design and configuration of your roster but stuff happens: injuries, underperformance, marital problems, etc. There are so many unpredictable variables that can impact a teams results. The Dodgers started the season with the best one-two punch in baseball with Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, but Kershaw hurt his back and has missed time. The As and Rays started the season with great young starting pitching depth but both have two starters out from elbow surgery. The Pirates and Indians both made the playoffs last year with very young teams. They came in to 2014 expecting their young players to take another step forward and to be competitive again for a playoff spot. Both clubs are struggling. Werent those fair expectations? Heck the Red Sox won the World Series last year. Even though they lost a player here and there they should still be among the best in baseball…right? The Nationals were a very popular pick to represent the NL in the World Series this year. They have been just mediocre, but who would have predicted that Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman would miss weeks of the season and that Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez would spend time on the DL. It is the most frustrating part of being a general manager. Your thinking and decision-making can be spot on yet the results can completely collapse. So much happens that cant be predicted. Stuff that is completely out of your control. I am breaking out in hives just thinking about it. Having been in the room when my kids were born I have always wondered why women go back for more after having one. It hurts so much why would anyone want to do it again. Women say they have "selective memory." They have the ability to move away from the pain and only remember the joy of childbirth. I guess being a GM is kind of like that too. The anguish of seeing your plans blow up before your very eyes can be painful. Yet GMs go back for more year after year. As for me…no more kids please! Wholesale Jerseys 2019 Wholesale Jerseys From China Stitched Jerseys Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Camo Cheap NFL Black Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping ' ' '