MontrealAlouettes.com
Montreal – Heading into their bye week, the Montreal Alouettes (5-2) are all smiles having bounced back from a rare two-game losing streak with two straight wins, enjoying the usual fast start to the season that fans have become accustomed to over the years.
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Receiver Kerry Watkins is just ten career catches away from reaching 500. |
Meanwhile, quarterback Anthony Calvillo has been using the football field as a canvas to rewrite history, setting the bar for his peers at the position week after week.
Nevertheless, while much of the focus thus far has been on Calvillo and his exploits, his teammates have not allowed themselves to go unnoticed. Canadian kicker Sean Whyte, who has had an incredible start to the 2011 season, and import receiver Kerry Watkins, who rejoined the Alouettes in Week 5 following pre-season surgery, for instance, are well within reach of a few records and milestones of their own.
Sean Whyte’s hot streak
At the beginning of this year’s training camp, Montreal Head Coach Marc Trestman stated that Whyte would likely be his team’s starter. Whyte, who was traded to the Alouettes in a surprise draft-day move on May 8, 2011 has relished his opportunity to play with the two-time defending Grey Cup champions and currently leads the league with an impressive 95% field goal completion rate.
Following a miss on his very first attempt of the season, the native of Surrey, B.C., has since successfully connected on 19 straight field goals and has been perfect in his last six starts with the Alouettes leaving him two kicks short of Don Sweet’s team record of 21 straight, set in 1976. Whyte will have the chance surpass Sweet’s record as soon as August 24th, when the Alouettes play next, versus the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium. Doing so would put Whyte well within striking distance of Dave Ridgway’s league mark of 28, a record which has stood since 1993.
Whyte began his CFL career with the Lions in 2009 where he played sparingly, scoring 117 points over two seasons, although he was perfect in 2010 connecting on all six of his field goal attempts, including one 50 from yards out. In his three seasons in the league so far, he has posted a success rate of 83.6 percent having made 46 of his 55 attempts.
Kerry Watkins closing in on 500 career receptions
Alouettes star receiver Kerry Watkins, who missed the early part of the season due to sinus problems, made his 2011 season debut two weeks ago versus the Toronto Argonauts hauling in three passes for 30 yards. Since rejoining his teammates on the field, Watkins and Calvillo have connected for five catches, putting Watkins only nine receptions away from tying Red O’Quinn’s mark of 499 career receptions, good for second place overall in Alouettes history.
Since 2005, Watkins has eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark every season except for one, in 2010, when he missed games 13 through 18 due to injury.
