After missing the last week of training and also the Alouettes’ last game, Marc-Antoine Dequoy was back on the field at the small Hébert stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
A “great day” for a return, as the Quebec marauder himself noted, absent from last Saturday’s game against the Stampeders in Calgary. He is now confidently aiming to return in time for the next game, Saturday in Ottawa against the Rouge et Noirs.
“I wanted to make sure I was ready before I got back on the field,” he explained. “The decision was made with management, and it was agreed that I would be given some rest. [la semaine dernière] before thinking about returning to the game.”
Times change, the world changes, and football changes too, probably for the better. There was a time when a blow to the head could be cured with an aspirin and two beers, but now teams are playing it safe. Dequoy, who suffered a concussion, wasn’t going to rush his return to play, and neither were the Alouettes.
PHOTO CHRISTINNE MUSCHI, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
The Quebec marauder suffered a concussion on September 6 against the British Columbia Lions.
“Now, we talk a lot more about the dangers of blows to the head, it’s more accepted to talk about it too,” he added. “I also think that players are better surrounded than before in this, they are better supervised. As a player, I feel much more protected in today’s football. The sport is safer, the protocols are better, we are more taken care of.”
At the same time, Dequoy admits that football players remain inhabited by this warrior instinct. “Sometimes, we have small injuries and we don’t talk about them… I’m not always at 100% of my physical condition when I play, I can guarantee you that!”
An eye on home advantage
With all this, and with five games still to play on the schedule, the Alouettes find themselves in a very good position for the future of Canadian football.
With this nice 10-2-1 record, they remain in the lead in the East, and a victory Saturday in Ottawa would undoubtedly allow them to once and for all dismiss this tenacious Red and Black who are looming in the rearview mirror, in second place in the division. The Red and Black have two wins less than the Alouettes.
“They made some acquisitions in the offseason, they brought in a lot of veterans,” quarterback Cody Fajardo said of the Redblacks. “They didn’t get rid of players and they didn’t hit the panic button either.”
Their defense has been playing very well in recent games, we can see that these guys have gained confidence. We will have a great challenge ahead of us.
Cody Fajardo
It is often very convenient, in the world of sport, to publicly espouse the concept of “one day at a time”, which does not refer to an old success of Renée Martel, but rather to this way of approaching things without looking into the distance.
But the Alouettes admit it: they already have one eye on home-field advantage in the playoffs.
“That’s the goal,” Fajardo admitted. “I know a lot of people talk about the bye week we could get before our first playoff game, and the goal is home-field advantage, having our incredible fans behind us to support us. Then we know if we get all that, the bye week, the home-field advantage, we just have to win one game at home to be back in the Grey Cup.”
But it all has to start with a game and a win on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa. “We understand how huge this game is,” added Cody Fajardo.
Alouettes vs. Rouge et Noir, Saturday at 3 p.m. in Ottawa