GAMEDAY: Toronto vs. Montreal – 7:30 p.m.

MontrealAlouettes.com

MONTREAL – It may be a little early in the season, but there’s no denying how big a game the first encounter of 2012 between the Alouettes and Argonauts will be on Friday night.

With both teams coming in with 2-2 records and at least a piece of first place in the East Division on the line, all signs point to these battles having a definite playoff feel for each side.

While seeing Anthony Calvillo at the top of the CFL’s statistical mountain for quarterbacks — he’s already over 1,300 yards passing and has thrown 10 touchdowns — is nothing new, having an Argos pivot up there is a welcome change in Toronto. In fact, the revamped Argonauts with Ricky Ray at the helm and former Alouettes offensive coordinator Scott Milanovich making the play calls are now back to being a team to be reckoned with.

“Scott has really helped turn their organization around,” said Calvillo as he prepares to face the Argos for the 27th time in his career. “He did a wonderful job helping our organization win a few championships, now he is trying to do the same over there.”

Milanovich, who helped the Alouettes in its evolution under head coach Marc Trestman, has adopted a few new offensive philosophies in his new home in hopes of helping Toronto reach the playoffs following a dismal 6-12 record last season.

“[Toronto] is running similar plays that we run in our offensive schemes and we can see it when we watch the tape,” revealed Calvillo. “Neither team has any advantage and it’s basically going to come down to details and execution. Coach Trestman has been involved in this style of offence for the last 25 years so I think that things are even on both sides.”

One area of particular concern in Montreal heading into Week 5 is on defence. So far, the Alouettes have allowed the most first downs (108) and the most completions (102) of any team in the CFL.

“There is a sense of urgency to show what this defence can do and that’s the approach we need to take moving forward,” said Als defensive tackle Alan-Michael Cash, who was first discovered by Alouettes’ cornerback Billy Parker, while he served as an assistant coach for Richmond of the Indoor Football League. “We have to raise our level of play and intensity with every week.”

Putting more pressure on the quarterback is one remedy for the Alouettes’ defensive struggles and three-time defending team sack leader John Bowman thankfully boasts a Phd in Sackology.

“It’s always important to put pressure on every quarterback but especially against one like Ricky Ray,” admitted Bowman. “Because of our defensive scheme which sees us play a lot of man coverage, the guys upfront need to generate a better pass rush and I put that on my shoulders to help them out more.”

As a result, J.P. Bekasiak, Ventrell Jenkins, Luc Mullinder and Cash will be all rotating inside.

“We’re all athletes, so any time we get to play different positions or have different roles on the team we not only accept it, we also find it fun,” said Jenkins.

The teams will kick off tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Percival Molson Stadium (TICKETS – TSN, RDS, CJAD, 98,5 fm, Sirius 154 & Sirius 157).

Notes: Brian Bratton will miss his second consecutive game with a lower body injury. This is the first time in his career that he has been sidelined for two straight games … Ventrell Jenkins, Bo Bowling, Victor Anderson and Alan-Michael Cash have all been added to the active roster since Week 4 … Marques Murrell meanwhile, has been placed on the 1-game injury list.

Here’s how the two teams stack up so far this season: