The Montreal Alouettes had a clear mission facing the Ottawa Redblacks at home on Thanksgiving Day as they needed a win to keep their hopes of finishing first in the East Division alive — and this is exactly what they accomplished in a 30-10 win at Percival Molson Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Cruising through the game
With all due respect to the visitors, the Als were on another level in this game. After taking an early lead with a blocked punt return touchdown (more on that to come), Montreal never looked back and never felt in danger of losing the game.
It’s not an easy task to win games in this fashion in the CFL, but the Als have accomplished that feat for a second-straight game after marching all over the Calgary Stampeders two weeks ago.
The Als are peaking at the right time and are becoming more and more dangerous.
“This ain’t nothing surprising,” linebacker Darnell Sankey told 3DownNation postgame. “We’re supposed to be doing what we’re doing. We’re supposed to be in the playoffs. We’re supposed to be contenders for the Grey Cup.”
Last season, it was the opposite as the Als started strong, but declined towards the end of the season before losing the East Final to the Toronto Argonauts.
The “worst” of Alexander
It was a frustrated Davis Alexander who walked towards the media scrum after the game. He had a relatively quiet afternoon, finishing 23-of-30 for 240 yards and one touchdown pass.
“It was probably the worst game of my career,” he said. “It is what it is. I don’t have to be Superman all the time. I’m thankful we have the best defence and the best special teams in the league. I left some stuff out there. I’m frustrated with myself, but I’m happy for the team.”
Maas had an interesting outlook on his performance, believing Alexander needs to go through these moments to grow and be ready for more adversity, either in the playoffs or in years to come. He hasn’t lost a start yet in his career, so this is the closest he’s felt to a loss after a start all year.
Alexander is an incredible competitor. I’ve never seen him as frustrated as he was after this game, where his team won by 20 and he didn’t commit any turnovers. But as Maas said, it’s a learning experience for the native of Gig Harbour, Wash. He will have worse games in his career, and he’ll learn from them.
A performance like this one is the best thing that could have happened to Alexander heading into the playoffs. His team might be forced to win three straight games to win the Grey Cup, and adversity will present itself in different fashions.
Dodging a bullet
As I mentioned earlier, Montreal fans were never worried the team would lose this game. Their biggest concern came at the end of the first half after Davis Alexander ran a quarterback sneak, got the first down, but got hit in the head at the end of his run. He started bleeding from his nose and was later removed by the CFL spotter. The franchise quarterback returned for the third quarter.
Both Alexander and Maas defended the decision of not using third-stringer Shea Patterson in short-yardage, saying that there wasn’t much time left before the half.
I just can’t agree with the explanation. You have a quarterback who has missed ten games due to injury this season, and you’re already leading by 12. Why risk his health for a quarterback sneak?
Some might say that Alexander could have gone down after the first down was gained, but that’s a tough ask for a competitor like him. Instead, Montreal could have used the running back or a receiver for the sneak if Maas really wanted to save time.
Where was this version?
I’ve criticized Marc-Antoine Dequoy this season at times for missed tackles and missed angles of pursuit. This wasn’t the case on Monday afternoon as he was dominant for his team, blocking a punt that he returned himself for a touchdown, recording a sack, and a critical third-down knockdown.
His knockdown was particularly impressive as he followed Bralon Addison on man-to-man coverage.
It’s the best game Dequoy has played in a long time. With the playoffs looming, that seems like a good sign for defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe.
Special creativity
Special teams had a lot to say about this game. It started with Dequoy’s blocked punt, but Byron Archambault kept the best for the start of the second half. Jose Maltos perfectly executed a kick on Ottawa’s Zachary Philion, which he couldn’t catch and allowed Nate Beauchemin to recover the kick.
The Als couldn’t convert on the occasion, but it flipped the field positioning and allowed Montreal’s defence to breathe.
It was a well-executed play that will force opponents to spend more time preparing for it. However, I wonder if that play should have been kept for the playoffs.
Keep the pressure up
As crazy as this may have sounded a couple of weeks ago, the Als still have a shot at first place in the East Division.
The team still needs two wins to finish the year and hope the Redblacks can somehow beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 21, but it’s possible. Since the Tiger-Cats have a bye next week, the Alouettes can at least force them to play a significant game to win the division by winning their next game.
This possibility isn’t going to change Montreal’s approach.
“We’re just trying to come out here and win every single game,” said Sankey. “We don’t care about that. Grey Cup — we want to win the Grey Cup.”
Jason Maas had a similar opinion when he was asked about it. He believes his players are well aware of the situation, but don’t need any other extra motivation.
“It was all about this game, trying to win each and every day, and each and every game we play from here on,” he said.
What’s next?
The Alouettes will travel to Ottawa on Saturday afternoon to face the Redblacks once again. Kickoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. EDT.
Pablo is an Alouettes and CFL reporter based in Montreal.
