MontrealAlouettes.com
MONTREAL – The Alouettes (9-6) have been battling the injury bug all season and Montreal’s bittersweet 24-12 victory in Toronto last Sunday was just the latest to get the infirmary doors spinning. While the Als were able to clinch home-field advantage for their 2012 playoff game, it did come at a cost.
Receiver Brandon London, who is second among Alouettes this season with 848 receiving yards in twelve games, had surgery to his meniscus Wednesday morning, after he sustained a knee injury at 12:35 in the second quarter Sunday.
And with a three month recovery period necessary to rehabilitate a rebuilt knee, the breakout receiver’s 2012 season has come to a premature end.
Als’ running back Victor Anderson also got dinged up last weekend at Rogers Centre and will miss Saturday’s game against the Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium with a concussion. Teammate Chris Jennings should split the first team reps during tomorrow’s practice with Dahrran Diedrick and Noel Devine, who will come off the nine-game injured list.
“With Victor out of the lineup, we will have the ability to move Noel around in our system,” confirmed Trestman. “Having been with us since training camp, Noel understands and is very familiar with our system.”
Another player expected to join the active roster is rookie Lavasier Tuinei, who should see his first action as an Alouette since joining the team on September 25 after being released by the Seattle Seahawks earlier this year.
“He’s been hitting the playbook very hard over the last few weeks,” noted Trestman. “With the situation that we have, he’s likely to play on Saturday.”
Following these late-season injury woes, a first-round bye and direct pass the East Final on Sunday, November 18 certainly becomes more crucial for the Alouettes, given the added week of rest that comes with it.
“The one thing that we can’t do is relax,” confirmed veteran pivot Anthony Calvillo. “We don’t want to let another team lose a game for us to finish in first place in the East. We have to really make sure that we’re playing our best football down the stretch and we did just that in the second half against Toronto. We’re on a short week, and we have to take care of our business to get to where we want to be.”
Notes: Linebacker Marc-Olivier Brouillette has a fractured wrist, but is expected to play this weekend with a cast … Slotback S.J. Green will be at practice for the second straight week but has already been ruled out for Saturday. He is however expected to make his return for the Alouettes final game at Molson Percival Stadium this season on October 28 … Defensive tackle Ventrell Jenkins will miss another week as he continues to recover from a knee injury … Trent Guy still has concussion symptoms and will miss at least one more game.
