It was a weird week for the Alouettes and it could hardly have ended otherwise, Saturday night at Percival-Molson Stadium, than with the Montreal club’s first loss of the season.
“It was possibly the toughest game I’ve ever played in, with the almost two-hour delay,” quarterback Cody Fajardo said after the 17-3 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. At a certain point, we didn’t even know if we were going to play or not.”
• [EN PHOTOS]: The Alouettes bow in the rain
Storms have indeed delayed Saturday’s meeting at the Percival-Molson stadium for a long time.
“We wanted to update the players a few times, saying we were going to have an update in 30 minutes and then again in 20 minutes, but at a certain point we indicated that we were going to let them know. when we know what’s going on, said Alouettes head coach Jason Mass. And at some point we knew we had to go in 10 minutes… But it’s part of professional sport, the guys have to be ready and I think they did a good job of being ready in circumstances.”
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
A modified routine
If the two teams found themselves in the same uncomfortable situation, it is clear that Fajardo had more difficulty not respecting the usual routine than his vis-à-vis Zach Collaros.
“There were a lot of outside factors,” said the Alouettes quarterback. We have to ignore it and play, but that’s not what normally happens. During the delay, I tried to stay focused as much as possible, to eat something… Before, you eat according to the time you have to play, but you start to feel hungry again. A professional athlete often has a routine on a game day, but when your routine is disturbed, you personally feel disturbed.
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
A total of 20 points were scored during Saturday’s game. No other Canadian Football League game has been so unproductive this season. Even the Edmonton Elks’ 22-0 shutout against the BC Lions in Week 2 surpassed that mark.
“Everyone was a little flat, in both teams, advanced Fajardo. It was difficult to score points. There is also the rain which fell constantly during the second half.
“It was not our evening,” simply concluded the quarterback.
Injured leaders
If he had a positive point to remember, Fajardo said he was happy to have come out of it healthy, just like his teammates. We were also scared for receiver Kaion Julien-Grant, in the third quarter, when his crampons seemed to poke into the box to end a long play of 69 yards. The loss of Julien-Grant would have hurt the Alouettes, which already have several injured receivers, namely Greg Ellingson, Reggie White Jr., Keshunn Abram and Tyson Philpot. To these must be added the names of several other cripples.
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
“The weirdest thing is that the injuries came late in the last week and some substitutes only had regular training,” Fajardo said. We lost good leaders like Avery [Williams] and Ciante [Evans] defensively, as does PO [Lestage] on the offensive line. But that’s no excuse, that’s how it is sometimes in football. It’s been a weird week for us. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many injuries happen in one and the same training.
We will now have to see who are those who will be able to return to the game, next Sunday in Vancouver, when the Alouettes (2-1) will visit the Lions. They must first face the Argonauts on Monday night in Toronto.