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Edmonton – The Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Eskimos find themselves in two very different circumstances, but neither will lack motivation on Sunday afternoon at Commonwealth Stadium.
For medical reasons, Jim Popp didn’t make the trip to Edmonton. Noel Thorpe will act as head coach for today’s game.
The Als will be fighting for their playoff lives, as a loss will officially eliminate them from playoff contention. An Eskimos win will secure top spot in the West for Edmonton.
The Eskimos have been the most dangerous team in the second half of the season and have won seven straight games, but their streak was put in jeopardy last week against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Green and White jumped out to an early lead and the Esks found themselves trailing by 18 points at the beginning of the second quarter. But the relentless Esks fought hard and came back to win 35-24. A large part of their comeback victory can be attributed to Adarius Bowman who stole the show with 208 receiving yards and one touchdown on 12 carries. Mike Reilly was also superb in the victory, bouncing back from a slow start to complete 29-of-39 pass attempts and throwing three touchdowns to only one interception.
Reilly says that there is a lot on the line for his team.
“This is an important game, no doubt about it,” the Eskimos’ starting quarterback told Esks.com. “It’s our last regular season game. It’s at home and this is what we’ve been working for all year; trying to control our own destiny, host the Western final and this is the only game that stands in between us and making that happen.”
The Esks also boast the league’s top defence, allowing the least amount of total yards per game and ranking second in both average rushing and passing yards allowed. Head Coach Chris Jones said after Saturday’s practice that he expects even more from his defence than what he saw against the Riders last week.
“I spoke with the defence at length about it today, and last week was the first time I didn’t feel like we looked like the faster football team,” said Jones. “So I’ve challenged them to show up and make sure that there is no doubt that we are the fastest football team.”
The Esks’ defence will have a challenge on its hands when facing a hungry Alouettes squad whose playoff fate hangs in the balance of a single game. The Als risk the possibility of ending their run of 19 straight playoff appearances, the second-longest in CFL history.
“It’s frustrating because we pretty much did it to ourselves,” defensive tackle Alan Michael Cash told MontealAlouettes.com. “But the hope is very high. Everyone is positive in the locker room and we’re going to get this thing.”
Montreal proved that it still has a lot of fight left after downing the Toronto Argonauts 34-2 last week. The Als’ offence exploded as Kevin Glenn threw for three touchdowns on 27-of-35 passes for 293 yards. Tyrell Sutton was the recipient of one of those touchdown passes and also added a major on the ground. The offensive outburst was a rare showing for the Alouettes as they rank second last in total offence per game and last in passing yards per game.
Perhaps even more impressive than the Alouettes’ offence was their stellar defence through 60 minutes of play. The only two points registered for the Argos were the result of a safety.
“We got to bring that same ferociousness and tenacity to the next game,” said Cash, who had two sacks in the Alouettes’ victory. “We know we’re going up against one of the best quarterbacks in the league and they’re going to be prepared.”
This is the second and final time that the Als and Esks will meet in the regular season. The two teams last faced each other in Week 8 action where the visiting Eskimos pulled out a narrow 15-12 win over the Alouettes. Montreal controlled the game early after two field goals by Boris Bede and a fumble recovery touchdown by Kyler Elsworth to lead the Eskimos 12-0 early into the second quarter. Jordan Lynch responded by connecting with Kenny Stafford for a four-yard touchdown with 39 seconds remaining in the half to narrow the gap.
The second half was a defensive struggle as neither team was willing to give up points easily. A safety and three singles by Edmonton in the final two quarters tied the game at 12-12 and Grant Shaw notched a 28-yard field goal with zeros left on the clock to earn the victory for the Eskimos.
With files from Esks.com/ MontrealAlouettes.com.
Game Notes:
– Their head-to-head series has seen a recent reversal as Edmonton has now won the last three games under Chris Jones vs the Alouettes. Before that Montreal won the previous 8 meetings back to July 2010.
– The Alouettes’ current playoff run is 19 years, the second-longest in CFL history. From 1996 to 2013, the Alouettes had a playoff spot secured before the final two weeks of the season each and every time.
– Adarius Bowman had a season-high 208 yards on 12 receptions last week and over his last two games has 406 yards on 23 catches, the most yards over a two-game span by any player since Arland Bruce III in 2010 (the CFL record for two game total is 524 set by Hal Patterson in 1956). Bruce recorded games of 272 and then 197 yards (27 catches) on July 21, 2010 and Aug. 7, 2010.
– Rookie kicker Boris Bede leads the CFL with a field goal % success rate of 92.1% on 35-of-38 attempts – he has not missed inside of 44 yards all year. The current CFL record for first-year players was set by Justin Medlock in 2009 and tied by Lirim Hajrullahu in 2014 at 87.0% (40-of-46). The last first-year player to lead the CFL was Nick Setta in 2007.
– The Als posted season-highs last week for first downs with 27, completions with 27, fewest turnovers with none (just their second turnover-free game in 2015), and trips to the Red Zone with five (four TDs).
– Mike Reilly has now led the Eskimos to wins in seven straight starts, something no Edmonton QB has done since Tracy Ham won nine in a row across 1989-1990. Over the last two games, Reilly has produced back-to-back 300-yard games with four TD passes, 709 yards and five completions of 30+ yards. He can match his career-best streak of 300-yard games with another this week (three in a row in August 2013).
– In his first start with the Alouettes, Glenn threw for 226 yards, 3 interceptions, one TD pass and a 51.9 passer rating. Last week, he increased those numbers to 3 TD passes, no interceptions and rating of 129.9.
