Preview: Als look to snap skid as they host Esks
CFL.ca staff
Montréal – It is still early in the CFL season but no team wants to dig themselves into too deep of a hole.
The Montreal Alouettes sit at the bottom of the East divison with a 2-4 record but remain just two games behind first place.
Losers of two straight, Rakeem Cato and the Alouettes are surely happy to be home. After all, the team remains undefeated at home with Cato as the starting pivot but are winless on the road. Cato has thrown three interceptions over the last two contests, both on the road, but has yet to be picked off at Percival-Molson Stadium.
“I think it’s most definitely, for myself and for our team, to take that next step to become a better team. I feel like we got to minimize our mistakes and I have to minimize my mistakes,” said Cato of the need for consistency. “Just taking care of the ball and staying mentally sharp the whole game. I feel like if we could do that throughout four quarters for each and every game we will be in good shape.”
After being forced to sit out of last week’s game with an injury the Alouettes will be welcoming back Tyrell Sutton. The league’s third-leading rusher is one of the main reasons why Montreal uses the run as often as they do – their 21.3 rush attempts per game is tops in the CFL.
Edmonton will also see its leading rusher back on the field as Shakir Bell returns from his one game absence.
The main storyline, however, entering Thursday night’s game is how Kenny Stafford and Fred Stamps will fare against their former teams.The two were traded for each other in the off-season, the potential of youth versus the presence of a veteran, as both teams sought to make a change.
Both players say that this game is no more special than the next and that the trade has not provided any extra motivation.
Stafford has been the perfect complementary piece to Adarius Bowman in the Eskimos’ receiving corps. The pair sit one and two on Edmonton’s stat sheet in almost every receiving category.
However, with Bowman nursing a hip injury and unable to play against the Alouettes, much of the focus will be on how Stafford steps up into the top receiving role in the offence.
“I feel like that’s why they brought me here, to be a complement to A.D. (Bowman). A.D. did go down and unfortunately I had to step in and be the guy, in a sense,” said Stafford, who has scored a touchdown in each of the last three games. “We know who A.D. is. He led the CFL in receiving last year. He’s our guy, no matter how you call it, he’s the leader of our receiver group. I’m following him.”
Stafford’s teammates aren’t worried about how he will fit in with an expanded role. While others will need to step up as everyone moves up a spot on the depth chart, Stafford says he will simply do what is expected of him on offence.
“He just does a lot of great things. He’s got great hands and a lot of speed,” said Matt Nichols of Stafford. “Really, a smart football player for a guy that hasn’t gotten a ton of reps in this league. To be able to step in and make the impact that he’s had just speaks volumes to how good of a player he is and how good he can be.”
As much as the Alouettes have struggled on the road this season, so have the Eskimos. Over their last nine games, Edmonton sits with a 3-6 record. The team’s defence has also seen a drop off when not competing at Commonwealth Stadium.
“Unfortunately it reared its head again,” said Esks head coach Chris Jones of last week’s road loss to the Lions. “We’ve talked about the fact that a lot of our losses have come on the road. Our level of play both offensively and defensively seems to tail on the road as opposed to at home.”
Just because Edmonton is on the road does not mean that the Als are changing their preparation for the league’s top defence. Sutton is expecting plenty of different schemes and looks from the visitors.
“They bring a lot of blitzes in from the boundary. We’ve got to be very consistent and very poised and we’ve got to look out for everything that they throw. They throw a lot of different defences at us.”
Being able to stop Nichols and the Esks’ offence will be critical for helping the Alouettes turn it around. Over its first four games, Montreal had a plus-four turnover ratio but were minus-five in their last two contests.
Head coach Tom Higgins knows just how important maintaining control of the football is. He’s expecting more from both his offensive and defensive lines.
“First you can’t beat yourself. I think if you look at the games we won, we won the turnover battle. The games we lost, we lost the turnover battle. That’s a critical part of football. Another critical part, always and will continue to be protecting the quarterback and getting after their quarterback. That’s one of the things that right now we haven’t done as well.”
“I think the wins will start to come the moment we start doing the little things better.”
Game Notes:
-Montreal is the best at converting on 3rd-&-1 this season making 9-of-11 tries.
–He is #1 in the CFL with 539 yards on pace for a career-high 1,617 yards.
STM Shuffle
Please note that for tonight`s game only, the STM shuttle buses will be operating on a service slowdown between Square-Victoria métro station and René-Levesque Boulevard. If you are using the métro to get to the game tonight, we encourage you to exit at the McGill métro station.
Tailgate
The party starts at 5pm! On site, there will be barbecues provided for free by the organization, picnic tables, a DJ and inflatables games! New this year: food trucks and the possibility to organize your own private tailgate! Don’t miss the L’Assomoir and Alexis le Gourmand food trucks. To reserve your private tailgate, click here!
Do not forget to bring beer cans because beer bottles aren’t permitted.
