(Montreal) Since day 1 of the season, the Montreal Alouettes have been the team of the hour in the Canadian Football League. For the past three weeks, they have had company in this capacity, and they will see this club very closely this weekend.
In a rare Sunday night game at Percival Molson Stadium, the Alouettes (9-1-0) will host the Edmonton Elks (3-7-0), who have just won their last three games by a combined score of 122-69.
Montreal club head coach Jason Maas noted several positive points in the Alberta team which, according to him, help explain its recent successes.
“When I look at the metrics that lead to wins, they’ve been able to protect the ball well all season long. They’re in the middle of the pack in terms of penalties and they’re improving week by week. And recently, they’ve been able to score a lot of points by establishing their ground attack,” Maas described after the Alouettes’ practice session on Friday in the Saint-Léonard borough.
“We’ve talked about it; you could turn their record around and I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me they’ve got seven wins. The way they play football, the way they protect the ball and the way they’re able to control the lines of engagement, it’s not surprising to see them have success,” Maas added.
At first glance, it seems obvious that the Elks are “on fire.” But when you put that to Alouettes defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe, he sets the record straight, so to speak.
Especially since the Alouettes had to work hard to earn a 23-20 victory on the Elks field on June 14.
“We’re going to take the word ‘on fire’ out of it. When we played them in Week 2, we knew what kind of football team they were. They battled us until the end. They’re a good football team,” Thorpe said.
“Over the last three games, I think you’ve seen that they’ve found ways to win whereas previously, they were trying to find themselves,” added the Alouettes’ defensive coordinator.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The marauder Marc-Antoine Dequoy
Before the week’s games, and even including Thursday night’s game between the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Elks lead the CFL with 296 points in 10 games, eight more than the Alouettes, who rank second.
In his assessment of the Elks’ attack, Thorpe repeatedly used the term “explosive.”
“We know how good they are offensively. They’re explosive at key positions. They’ve had two quarterbacks (McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Tre Ford) play for them and they’ve both had success. They’ve both been able to move the ball and get it to their key players,” Thorpe said.
“But what’s most notable over the last three games is how explosive they’ve been on the ground. When they’ve moved Javon Leake from special teams into the offence, he’s been explosive. Against Saskatchewan (on Aug. 3), he had two, maybe three, spectacular runs that got their offence going,” Thorpe also said.
Marauder Marc-Antoine Dequoy painted a portrait of the Elks that resembles Thorpe’s description.
“They’re a high-scoring offense. (The Elks) are first in points per game. We knew that when we played them and we saw their games. We know they’re going to try explosive plays and for us, it’s about limiting those plays.”