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By Noah Sidel,
Editor, MontrealAlouettes.com
Montreal – It’ll be East vs West, red vs green, Quebec vs Saskatchewan, Montreal against the world, as the Alouettes face the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the first time in Grey Cup history this Sunday, Nov. 29 in Calgary.
With the Alouettes (16-3-0) fully expecting a sky of blue and a sea of Green at McMahon Stadium on Sunday, the East Division Champions know they’ll have their ears full of Saskatchewan fans and it’ll basically be a home game for the West Champion Roughriders (11-7-1).
With that in mind, the Als will have to be firing on all cylinders in the Grey Cup – something they’ve been able to do all year.
A dominant season
Montreal came into the 2009 season following a great first year for new head coach Marc Trestman in 2008 as the Als went 11-7-0 before going down at the hands of the Calgary Stampeders in the Grey Cup in front of over 66,000 fans at Olympic Stadium.
While the Grey Cup loss was a painful one, the 2008 season as a whole was a great step forward for an organization that had a tough year in 2007 and was ready to go one way or the other – fortunately for Alouettes’ fans, the way it went was up with the gutsy hiring of Trestman by General Manager Jim Popp, team president Larry Smith and owner Robert Wetenhall.
Coming out of camp in ’09, the goals were clear: keep the offence and special teams performing at their 2008 levels and step up the defence… and step it up they did.
Montreal’s defence was simply brilliant in 2009, allowing a franchise low 324 points in an 18-game schedule and leading the team to an Alouette-record 15-win season. The Als were just one win behind the 1989 Edmonton Eskimos’ league record of 16 wins and just 22 points off the Esks’ 18-game season record of 302 points against.
Leaders on defence
John Bowman tied for the league lead with 12 sacks, while a rejuvenated Anwar Stewart had nine quarterback takedowns and Keron Williams eight. In the secondary, rookie defensive back Jerald Brown and veteran Canadian safety Matthieu Proulx tied for tops on the Als with four interceptions apiece and linebacker Chip Cox finished seventh overall with 81 tackles.
Cox was one of the most interesting stories of the season as he was converted from defensive back to linebacker and became one of the Als’ most reliable defensive players. That move, combined with starting second-year Canadian Shea Emry at middle linebacker and the rambunctious Diamond Ferri on the weak side created one of the most dominant linebacker corps in the CFL this season – and it showed in the Alouettes’ run defence.
Stopping the run
The Alouettes were simply dominant against the run this year. Case in point: Fred Reid. Despite openly stating on national television that he thought the Alouettes linebackers weren’t very good, Emry, Cox, Ferri & company held the Blue Bombers’ running back to an average of just 38.5 yards per game in four contests. Reid’s average against the rest of the CFL? 86.9.
Or how about Calgary’s Joffrey Reynolds? The West Division’s best player in 2009 led the Canadian Football League with an impressive 1,504 yards this season – almost 300 more than Montreal’s Avon Cobourne, who finished with a career-high of 1,214. Reynolds averaged 90.1 yards against teams not called the Alouettes this year. Against the Als? Just 31.
Facing the Riders
The Alouettes were 2-0 against the Roughriders this season, starting with a 43-10 shellacking in Regina in the Als’ first retro game on July 18. Again, their run defence was impeccable as they held the always dangerous Wes Cates to just 32 yards on nine carries – although he did score the Riders’ lone touchdown on the day.
The Als’ next encounter against Saskatchewan was a much more heated affair as quarterback Darian Durant began to truly take the reigns as the Riders’ top pivot. Montreal was once again victorious at home, however, taking the game 34-25 on the strength of a 101-yard rushing game by Cobourne and a pair of touchdown passes from Anthony Calvillo.
Going into Calgary this Sunday, the Als may be considered the hotter team after dismantling the BC Lions 56-18 in front of over 53,000 fans at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in the Eastern Division Final. The Riders, on the other hand, came out on top of a tough game in Regina, taking out the Stamps by a 27-17 score on the strength of Durant’s three touchdown passes and great performances from Canadian receivers Andy Fantuz, Rob Bagg and Chris Getzlaf.
Making the difference
From the Alouettes’ perspective, the two matchups that will probably decide the day in Calgary on Sunday will be Montreal’s defensive front seven against Durant, and Calvillo’s precision passing against the Riders’ tough secondary.
If Calvillo can turn in a performance as strong as his five-touchdown, 312-yard game in the Eastern Division Final and Stewart et al can keep Durant on the run, the Alouettes will give themselves a excellent shot at hoisting their first Grey Cup since 2002.
The Montreal Alouettes will face the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 97th Grey Cup this Sunday, Nov. 29 at 6:30 p.m. (Eastern) at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium (RDS HD, TSN HD, CKAC SPORTS, CJAD 800 AM).
