MontrealAlouettes.com
MONTREAL – Don’t turn the ball over. Time of possession. Convert in the red zone. Don’t take penalties. These are all well-known ways for football teams to win big games, but we dug a little deeper, tossed out our game film and dusted off our Ouija boards to find a few other ways the Als could stack the odds in their favour Sunday against the Argos.
Pack the house: To a man, the Alouettes have made it clear to their fans how important the role they play is when the team hits the field at home. That role gets even more pivotal at Olympic Stadium, and you don’t only have to take the players’ word for it – it’s a fact backed up with hard data. Get a load of this: when the Olympic Stadium has been crammed with over 50,000 fans for an East Final with Marc Trestman at the Alouettes’ helm, it has had a positive effect on the team’s offence. Over the last three East Finals at the Big O, the Alouettes have averaged 52.0 points per game in front of a crowd of over 50k and only 34.5 points when the attendance has been under 50,000. Still not convinced? The Als are also 4-1 the last five times they’ve drawn over 50,000.
Play a letter: There’s no question Marc Trestman is comfortable around letters, the Als head coach did after all pen his book Perseverance: Life Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork back in 2010. It ends up however that his affinity for consonants and vowels run much deeper than you’d think. Come playoff time, an Alouettes opponent with a letter on their helmet hasn’t stood a chance against Trestman since he joined the Alouettes in 2008. Trestman is a combined 5-0 against an A, a BC, a pair of E’s and an S. His only two playoff losses? Those came against a galloping horse and a pouncing cat.
Protect AC: Ask any CFL opponent and they’ll tell you that playing across the field from Anthony Calvillo is never much fun. That’s even more the case in East Finals played at the Olympic Stadium. In fact, no opponent has ever beaten AC and the Alouettes in an East Final when the Kid from La Puente has played all four quarters. The only East Final at the Big O where Calvillo came out on the losing end was in 2004 when an injury forced him out the game in the first half of an eventual loss to the Argos in 2004.
