“Our preparation allowed us to create a good game plan for Edmonton” – – Paul Charbonneau
The Alouettes will play the first of two consecutive games on the road this evening, when they take on the reigning 2015 Grey Cup champions, the Edmonton Eskimos. According to running backs coach Paul Charbonneau, the players are ready for this game.
Preparing for the Eskimos
After three days of tirelessly practices, Charbonneau is satisfied going into tonight’s game. “We did some excellent work regarding our practices. We were able to watch and see how the Eskimos defence handles themselves on the field, and that allowed us to create a good game plan for tonight,” said Charbonneau.
Paul Charbonneau’s take on the Eskimo defence
The running backs coach considers the Eskimos defense a formidable unit. “Their defence does excellent work. They have a lot of talented players, whether on the defensive line or in the secondary. For example, defensive end Odell Willis is dynamic and he loves to put pressure on the quarterback. That being said, we are not focusing on one specific player, rather, the entire defensive unit,” said the Ottawa native.
Brandon Rutley’s performance
In light of Tyrell Sutton’s injury, Charbonneau is very happy with Brandon Rutley’s performance at running back. “Brandon has been doing a great job! He is very professional in his mindset, he prepares extremely well before each game and he concentrates on our game plan. As well, he spends a lot of time studying the other teams in order to understand their defensive philosophies so he is ready come game time,” he said.
Jet lag and preparation
The Alouettes coaching staff has their players well-prepared when it comes to the jet lag they face when travelling to western Canada. “To avoid jet lag problems, we leave one day earlier. Therefore, the players have more time to acclimatize to the effects of jet lag and they can focus on the upcoming game,” said the running backs coach.
Don’t miss the Alouettes next game tonight at 9 p.m. against the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium. The game will be shown on TSN and broadcast on TSN 690. The next home game will be on August 26 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers… Percival-Molson Memorial Stadium will be the noisiest place in Canada that night!
For the home game against the Blue Bombers, we’re asking fans to come to the stadium with their bells, horns or anything else they can think of to make life miserable for the Winnipegers. Just like the “Wear White” game, noisiest fans will be chosen at random by Alouettes staff and given two tickets to the September 1 home game.
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