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Hamilton – Both the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts enter Friday night’s game in the thick of playoff races but under very different circumstances. The game will be broadcast on TSN, CJAD 800 and ESPN 3 at 7 P.M.
While the Argos have a postseason date firmly in place, where and when it will be still remains up in the air. Toronto is stuck in a three team race with Hamilton and Ottawa as each club is jockeying for the East crown and a first round bye. Even if the Argos don’t win the division, they can still secure a home date in the semi-final by finishing in second place.
On the other side of the coin, the Als have already been eliminated from making the playoffs in the East. Their only option at the postseason is out West, where the final spot is up for grabs. For Montreal to crossover and not snap its streak of 19 consecutive seasons in the playoffs, they need to finish with a better record than the BC Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. They have three weeks left to accomplish this.
Last week was not the best for either team as neither were able to secure a victory. Trevor Harris played his worst game of the season as the Argos hosted the Stamps at Tim Hortons Field, the same stadium where they will play this contest.
Montreal is looking to snap a four-game losing skid and will once again turn to Kevin Glenn to turn it around. The quarterback, acquired from Saskatchewan at the trade deadline, had just three days of practice with his new team before being put into action.
“I think improve on everything. Just understanding where the ball is going,” said Glenn of what he wants to change this week. “It’s a different team so you’re going to have a different gameplan. Understanding the offence more and knowing where you can go with the ball and also just getting a feel for playing with the guys.”
The Alouettes could never really get rolling against the Ticats. Yet head coach and general manager Jim Popp, the man who made the decision to get Glenn, was still pleased with how he played.
“We just didn’t get into a good flow last game,” said Popp “I was very happy with Kevin’s decision making, where to go with the ball and who to throw it to for someone who took limited reps but that comes from experience. Unfortunately, we didn’t help him.”
Both Popp and Glenn are expecting a better moving offence against the Argos.
“I’m a lot more comfortable given the fact that we’ve had a game. I got a game under my belt with the guys,” said Glenn. “It didn’t go exactly the way we wanted it to but I got a chance to see the guys and how they run their routes, what their indicator is, breaking out of their routes.”
At times this season, the Argos have combined a lethal offence and stingy defence en route to staking their claim as the best team in the CFL. There have also been times where shaky play has led to opponents exploiting holes in their gameplan and leaving the Argos questioning how they’ve been shut down.
Veteran slotback Chad Owens knows the team needs to take better care of the football as the stretch run enters full swing.
“I think we’ve shown flashes of greatness,” said Owens. “We’ve showed flashes of dominance as on offence. It’s all right there. We just need to be better with the football.”
Owens is well aware of the importance of catching momentum as the season winds down. While he admits that most players are a bit banged up, it’s the preparation off the field that Owens believes has more of an effect.
“Whoever’s more mentally prepared going into the game, smarter on the field, not going to commit those silly penalties, and whoever’s smarter with the football, not turning it over, those are the teams that can eventually be dominant at this time of the year and catch fire going into the playoffs.”
Game Notes:
-Fred Stamps needs 6 yards to move past two players and into #30 all-time in receiving; he has 8,336 career yards.
-Chad Owens needs one punt return touchdowns to pass Jimmy Cunningham for second on the Argos all-time list with 6, one kick return touchdown to pass Pinball Clemons for second on the Argos all-time list and is 220 combined yards shy of passing Dick Shatto for second on the Argos all-time list with 15,629.
–The two consecutive starts by Glenn for two different teams but against the same team the very next week is the first time in all of CFL history that oddity has occurred. Glenn started for the Riders against Hamilton on Oct 9/15 and for Montreal last week. He also has the statistical oddity of being eligible to play in 19 games this year (15 for Saskatchewan with 9 games played and 6 on the IL, and potentially 4 games for Montreal).
-Toronto leads the season series can take it with a win for the first time since 2005 when they won 2 out the 3 games that year.
–The Argos have specialized in coming from behind to win this season. They have trailed after three quarters 12 times and come back to win 6 of those games (6-6). Across 2011 to 2014, Toronto was a combined 6-33 when trailing heading into the 4th Quarter.
–To keep their current playoff streak alive and extend it out to 20 years running, they must win at least one game and hope that BC and Winnipeg lose the their last 5 games combined. If Winnipeg wins both of their games, they can still travel to either Calgary or Edmonton for the West Semi-Final with a 3-0 finishing run.
–The Argos can still finish with a 12-6 record this year and that would be their best W-L mark since 1997 when they ended up 15-3.
–In the last 4 games, Montreal has stopped opponents 10 times in the Red Zone out of 19 chances.
–For the first time since the 1962 season, the Alouettes will only face teams from Ontario during the month of October this season. The last time it happened, the Alouettes had a record of 1-2-1.
Articles related to this week’s practices
- The Alouettes are preparing for Toronto!
- “Our job is to win against Toronto” – Billy Parker
- S.J. Green: A man made of highlights
