MontrealAlouettes.com
OFFENSE
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Alouettes |
Catégorie |
Tiger-Cats |
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Passing |
X |
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X |
Rushing |
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X |
QB protection |
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Turnovers |
X |
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X |
RedZone |
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Big Plays |
X |
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| X |
Discipline |
DEFENCE
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Alouettes |
Catégorie |
Tiger-Cats |
|
X |
Passing |
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Rushing |
X |
|
X |
QB pressure |
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|
X |
Turnovers |
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|
X |
RedZone |
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|
X |
Big Plays |
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|
X |
Discipline |
|
SPECIAL TEAMS
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Alouettes |
Catégorie |
Tiger-Cats |
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Field goals |
X |
|
X |
Punts |
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Kick returns |
X |
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Coverage |
X |
Straight outta Crompton
Like history, the Alouettes have a B.C era. Before Crompton, the team was 2-7 with 9 offensives touchdowns in that span. After the arrival of the new starting quarterback, the offense got 24 offensive touchdowns and 8 wins in 10 games. The numbers of turnovers went from 26 in the first 9 games to 15 in the last 10.
This turnover especially showed in Montreal’s first playoff game against the Lions. The unit led the team to 7 touchdowns in only 24:41 of play to take a 50-3 lead in this game. That was the 3rd highest lead in the history of the CFL playoffs. Crompton’s unit also became the first to score on 4 consecutive possession in 2014. That led to a 33 points win against the Lions, which is the 3rd biggest playoffs win in the team’s history. The biggest was by 40 points in 1949 against a team called the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
It’s all about the Red Zone
The goal of a football game is to score more points than the other team and the best way to do so is getting to the Red Zone and score from there. That has been a problem for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, especially in their last games. They only scored 8 touchdowns during their last 22 trips in the Red Zone (36,36%) and they had a 40% success rate over the season. It wasn’t better in the last game between Montreal and Hamilton where they only scored 2 touchdowns on 5 trips. In comparison, Montreal scored on 50% of their trips to their Red Zone this year and cashed in on their 5 Red Zone visits versus the Lions.
That being said, both offenses could do better than that on Sunday as the defensive units both allow a higher success inside the 20 yard line. Once again, the Alouettes have the edge allowing only 50% of opposing trips to convert a touchdown while the Tiger-Cats allow a 55% success rate.
In the trenches
In 2014, the Alouettes only allowed 31 quarterback sacks, which ranks them 2nd in the CFL. They did even better recently allowing only 9 sacks in their last 10 games. That includes the first playoff game against the Lions in which they allowed one sack. It helps that the Alouettes started the fewest different offensive linemen of any club in the CFL this year. Only Josh Bourke missed a start while Jeff Perrett, Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, Ryan Bomben and Kristian Matte started all the game until now.
It’s another story for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They allowed 65 sacks this year, which is the most for any playoff teams in the CFL. Since both teams recorded almost as many sacks during the season (51 for Montreal, 50 for Hamilton), the difference between the two offensive lines could make a big deal in this game.
What history tells us
Hamilton has had the Alouettes number in the playoffs since the beginning of the franchise. Both teams played 25 playoff games against each other and the Alouettes have a 9-16 record in those games. This record is largely influenced by the last 9 matchups where Hamilton maintained a 8-1 record. Montreal has a better record in East Finals though. They won 18 of their 32 East Final appearances. Recently, the team has done even better by winning 5 of their last 6 East Finals.
