(Montreal) The Montreal Alouettes have dominated the CFL with more than 2,000 rushing yards this season and their offensive back, William Stanback, is a finalist for MVP on the Ambrosie Tour. But will Khari Jones’ team be able to use their main asset in the Eastern semi-final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats?
Orlondo Steinauer’s training has been the best against ground play this season. She has also allowed herself the luxury of limiting Stanback to 40 and 59 yards in games against the Alouettes this season.
“It’s not necessarily what they do that makes them so difficult to face. They are making game plans and don’t want to relive the same thing as in 2019; they don’t want a running back with 200 rushing yards against them, he said of his July 4, 2019 game.
“They are going to make several adjustments. It’s about sticking to the game plan and focusing, keeping quiet and not getting out of my game. I have to do what I’ve been doing since I was very young, which is to perform at a high level. ”
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to win. If their plan is to stop the race, we’ll just stop running, noted running back and assistant head coach André Bolduc. The important thing is to have more points than them on Sunday.
“We have run for over 2,000 yards this season – it would be surprising if we couldn’t gain yards on Sunday,” he added. It is a plan which is effective so far. It will have to be implemented on Sunday. ”
Bolduc also believes that the Alouettes played their style of play more in the second game against the Tiger-Cats this season, a 23-20 overtime victory.
“We run an average of 20-23 times if you include the quarterfinals: we were far from that number in the first game against them. That’s what I found unfortunate: we had not tested them, which we did in the second game, analyzed the Quebecer. I think their strength is their defensive front: Dylan Wynn, Ted Laurent, who is a big guy, Ja’Gared Davis, who is a big, experienced guy, Julian Howsare, the most underrated player on this front -the. ”
Bolduc is working hard to find the game plan that will allow the Alouettes to advance to the Eastern final on December 5 against the Toronto Argonauts.
“That leads us to do more research: personally, I’ve been working on them for three and a half weeks. There are things to do and we’ll make sure to do them on Sunday. ”
“We’ll have to do what we do best and plan a balanced attack,” Jones said. It will be important to finish our (offensive) pushes when we have the chance. They are a strong team on the defensive front. Our two games were close; we can expect another close encounter. It will take more games and fewer mistakes. ”
Aggressive defense
On the other side of the ball, the Alouettes will have to be wary of Jeremiah Masoli and a group of top receivers.
PHOTO JON BLACKER, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jeremiah Masoli (8)
“He’s a great quarterback,” said defensive lineman David Ménard of Masoli. He’s an experienced guy, who had good seasons, especially the season before he got injured: he dominated the league. He has a good arm, can distribute the ball very well and if he has to run he has good legs. You have to keep it in your pocket, but there is no miracle recipe. We have to do what we have done well since the beginning of the year. ”
And one thing the Alouettes do very well is put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The team finished first with 49 sacks.
“I think that’s one of the very important points: we have to get to quarterback very quickly,” explained Ménard, finalist for the title of Canadian MVP. We have to press him in his readings, bring him to the ground, to force him to make bad decisions. He has good receivers, a good attack: you have to join him quickly. It will be up to us to get the bags and be efficient that day. ”
The Alouettes could be without receiver Eugene Lewis, injured in the groin, and offensive lineman Philippe Gagnon, still bothered by a calf injury, for this playoff duel.
The two did not train on Thursday and a decision on their participation could be made on Friday.
“We have to see how (Lewis) reacts,” Jones said. We hope to see him on the pitch (Friday), but if he’s not, we’ll make the necessary adjustments.
“Philippe Gagnon is not exactly where we would like him to be right now,” added the head coach. We’ll see how it will be on Friday, but there’s a good chance he’ll need another week off. ”
The Alouettes will cross swords with the Tiger-Cats on Sunday, 1 p.m. at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.