The Alouettes | Leveling down, a habit to break

The Alouettes have the annoying habit of leveling up with their opponents. Monday’s game against the Ottawa Redblacks is another proof of that.

How to explain that of the four victories of the Ottawa team, two were obtained on the synthetic turf — outdated, but that’s another story — of the Alouettes, a club that stood up to the powerful Winnipeg Blue Bombers, even going to beat them at home this season?

“We always place ourselves in this situation where we play at the level of our opponent, dropped William Stanback on Monday evening, comments which joined those of guard Kristian Matte. Everyone knows it in this locker room: we should not have lost this match. Every game, we have to come out strong and run the plays. We didn’t do that this game. We didn’t stick to the game plan and we didn’t play at a sufficient level. It’s frustrating. »

“It’s between the ears: whether it’s Ottawa or any team in the Canadian League, you have to show up and play as you should play,” said head coach Danny Maciocia. . I always say you have to play at your level. I don’t think many people played at his level (Monday). »

Maciocia is careful with his words when it comes to weaker Ambrosie teams, like the Edmonton Elks, who were beaten last week with an interception and a 100-yard return for a touchdown. of Tyrice Beverette, and of the Rouge et Noir. Whenever the subject of apparent differences in strength is brought up, Maciocia recalls that “never will he disrespect or denigrate another Canadian League team”, recalling that they are “professionals, paid to play football and who are as well trained” as his team.

That is. But the truth is that on Monday, the Alouettes, a team that could have confirmed its place in the playoffs and thereby confirmed a very important home game for the pockets of the club, would have had to get rid of a team like the Rouge and Noir to send the message to the rest of the CFL that the club is a serious contender this season.

But no, the Alouettes, a team that is fighting for the first place in its section faced at home a club practically eliminated from the playoffs after nine days off, instead let the opponent score 17 points in the second half to walk away with the two points.

This performance by the Alouettes instead raised many questions about the club’s ability to win big games.

Anemic attack

The Alouettes’ offense is one of the areas of concern a few weeks before the playoffs. Once again, she was absent in the second half on Monday. After scoring zero points against the Elks last week, Trevor Harris and his squad only scored three meager points on a 14-yard field goal from David Côté.

Another very worrying aspect is the inability to score touchdowns when the team finds itself at the opponent’s 20 line. Just one in six resulted in a major on Monday, a Eugene Lewis touchdown followed by a missed two-point conversion. Côté had to provide four field goals – on 14 yards (twice), 16 and 25 – while the club’s last presence, four seconds from the end, ended with an imprecise pass to Lewis.

Harris ends the game with very good statistics: 30 completions in 38 occasions (79%), 338 yards and a touchdown, without any turnover. In fact, the team left 16 to 23 points in the field.

“We have to execute,” Harris said, a phrase that’s been heard too often this season. I said it earlier: we can’t afford these short distance placements, we have to score touchdowns. It makes a big difference. »

“Over the past few weeks things have been pretty good, but (Monday) this lack of opportunism has cost us dearly,” admitted Maciocia.

And there is the club’s indiscipline which resurfaces at a very bad time: nine for 122 yards, including eight for 107 in defense.

“It’s a subject that we will certainly address (Tuesday), indicated the coach. When there’s a little bit of frustration, that’s where you start to get punished. They must be eliminated. Players know what the recipe is for getting wins. You have to play well and be well disciplined. They know it: they have already done it. We will talk about it in detail. »

The Alouettes will quickly have to turn the page on this poor performance, since they will face the Rouge et Noir again on Friday, in Ottawa.