The Montreal Alouettes appear to be getting healthy at the right time, according to their injury report from Tuesday.
Among those who were full participants in practice were fullback David Dallaire, star receivers Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot, defensive lineman Mustafa Johnson, All-CFL safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy, and returner James Letcher Jr.
None of these players suited up for the team’s most recent game — a 26-13 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — with some missing the last month or more.
“When you look back in the history of the CFL, the healthy teams — the teams that are playing the best down the stretch — are usually the ones that win this time of year,” head coach Jason Maas told the local media on Tuesday. “I’m hoping we are getting healthier — we are getting healthier, bottom line, we are — so I’d just like it to stay that way.”
Johnson is a particularly notable name as he hasn’t played since suffering a season-ending knee injury last fall. The 26-year-old native of Aurora, Co. has recorded 96 defensive tackles, 15 sacks, and one touchdown over only 41 career regular-season CFL games, earning an All-East Division selection in 2023.
“The headache of the last month of just finding guys to play has been hard — it’s been difficult, I’m not going to lie about that. It’s been a very difficult stretch for us as a club,” said Maas. “I’m never worried about playing our guys, it’s just finding the guys — that’s been the hardest part is finding which ones can be healthy enough to play for us.”
Franchise quarterback Davis Alexander was a limited participant on Tuesday, which means he may yet miss an eighth straight game. If he can’t go, it appears likely that James Morgan will make a second-straight start under centre.
The Montreal Alouettes (5-6) will host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (6-5) at Percival Molson Stadium on Saturday, September 6 with kickoff slated for 1:00 p.m. EDT. The Tiger-Cats lost a heartbreaker on the weekend, while the Alouettes were on a bye.
The weather forecast in Montreal calls for a high of 20 degrees with cloudy conditions and a 40 percent chance of showers. The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on Ticats Audio Network in Hamilton and TSN 690 in Montreal.
