CFL.ca Staff
EDMONTON — Montreal Alouettes WR Jamel Richardson has been named Most Valuable Player of the 98th Grey Cup Championship.
Richardson was named the MVP of the CFL’s title game after he caught eight passes and had a game-high 109 yards as the Montreal Alouettes beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 21-18 Sunday.
It was the third straight Grey Cup in which Richardson reached the 100-yard plateau.
By far Richardson’s biggest catch Sunday came with eight minutes to play. He fought off Roughrider Omarr Morgan for a 37-yard sideline catch to the Saskatchewan two-yard line, setting up Avon Cobourne’s game-winning touchdown run.
Montreal head coach Marc Trestman said Richardson had a big impact on the game.
“Every single catch he had was contested, and he found a way to make a play,” he said. “Certainly the one on Omarr was the biggest one of the game but there were others as well. He had a corner route earlier in the drive that was huge, an awesome catch.”
Richardson, a former Rider and seven year CFL vet known for speaking his mind, was actually almost speechless after winning the MVP honour.
“I’m at a loss for words,” he said. “Something like this isn’t really about me. It’s about the guys in the locker-room. They did it for me and I did it for them.
“The defence was stingy out there. They didn’t give us much room out there and we knew it was going to be a dogfight.”
Trestman said Richardson has proven he can back up his mouth with his hands.
“He stands by his talk,” he said. “Jamel speaks his mind and has the ability to back it up with his play. He’s a work in progress but at the end of the day he’s one heck of a player and as hard a working player as we have.”
Richardson was fourth in the CFL this year with 1,271 yards on 97 catches to go with seven touchdowns.
The Dick Suderman Trophy for the Grey Cup’s Most Valuable Canadian went to Saskatchewan defensive lineman Keith Shologan.
A native of the nearby Edmonton satellite community of Spruce Grove, Shologan had two tackles and two sacks for the Riders.
“I saw him all over the place, much more than you would normally see a defensive lineman,” said Saskatchewan head coach Ken Miller. “He was instrumental in helping us control their running game. He was very deserving of the award.”
