Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
OTTAWA — One has new life and the other is looking for answers, and at the end of the day the East Division standings look a whole lot messier for it.
The Montreal Alouettes closed the gap in the CFL East significantly with their convincing 44-19 win over the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Friday night at Ottawa’s TD Place – one in which they didn’t just pull off the season’s biggest upset or turn the division on its head but also figured out many of the offensive woes that plagued them through the first eight weeks of 2016.
“We knew that we could do it, but it was one of those things that we had to come out and show it,” Kevin Glenn, who threw five touchdown passes, including two to Duron Carter, told TSN’s Matthew Scianitti following the game.
“So I’m glad we came back off the loss last week to put this performance out this week against a good team.”
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The Alouettes join the Ticats in third place in the East and pull to within three points of the division-leading REDBLACKS when a loss would have created a seven-point cushion between first and last.
More than that, the Als showed signs of life from an offence needing to break out.
Glenn’s two first-half touchdowns pivoted the Alouettes to a 23-9 lead, while Ernest Jackson’s Hail Mary touchdown on the first half’s final play kept Ottawa in the game and trailing by only a touchdown.
Yet despite the momentum swing and a boisterous Ottawa home crowd, Glenn and the Als never wavered, throwing three more touchdown passes in the second half to give Montreal its best offensive outing of the season.
At the end of the day the Alouettes out-gained Ottawa 444-402 and held a 48-37 edge in first downs, while Glenn completed 25 of his 30 passing attempts (83.3 per cent) for 382 yards and zero turnovers.
Montreal hardly resembled the team that eclipsed 20 points just twice in the first seven games of the season and came into Friday night averaging 18.6 points per game (9th) and 329.6 yards per game (9th).
The REDBLACKS hardly resembled their usual selves as well. Giving up five passing touchdowns was the unlikeliest scenario heading into Friday’s matchup considering Ottawa’s defence had only allowed seven passing touchdowns and 13 in total through its first seven games of the season.
Ottawa entered the weekend with the third-ranked defence overall (353.3 yards per game) but looked lost against Glenn, Carter and an upstart Alouettes offence.
“We weren’t good enough and they were,” Rick Campbell told OttawaREDBLACKS.com following the game, “so give them credit. From our point of view it was too much bad football on our part.”
Campbell added that the defence gave up too many long second-down conversions while the offence found itself in second-and-long all too frequently. Yet for a team coming off the bye week preceded by an emotional win over the Eskimos, perhaps the effort level wasn’t where it needed to be either.
“Our calling card is to play with an edge and to play with enthusiasm and to play with all 12 guys on the field together playing fast and swarming the ball,” said the third-year head coach. “I think there’s a whole chunk of guys that are doing it, but for whatever reason, other parts didn’t look that way.”
The REDBLACKS have less than a week to prepare for a home date with the BC Lions and get back to their earlier-season form which saw them start the year 3-0-1. The reality is there’s work to do for a team that’s lost three of its last four.
“I know when I watch the film there’s gonna be some good stuff,” Campbell added. “So we have to make sure we don’t mess with the good stuff and then make sure we address the stuff that’s not right — which there’s gonna be some of that too — and then get ready to face a good team next week.”
Meanwhile, the questions have already started about Ottawa’s quarterback position, especially after the REDBLACKS generated only 19 points while Trevor Harris’ return looms nearer.
The Alouettes on the other hand can breathe a sigh of relief because they’re right back in the thick of things after a 2-5 start — but the focus has to return soon as a home date with a well-rested and red-hot Bombers club arriving on Aug. 26.
“We just have to make sure that we build off it,” Glenn added in the same interview with TSN. “We can’t be satisfied. We have to get back to work on Sunday and get ready for Winnipeg.”
