The Canadian Press
The Montreal Alouettes were one of the most interesting teams for me entering the 2017 season. With the multitude of changes they made on and off the field, there was some justifiable excitement surrounding the Alouettes. While their 2-4 start wasn’t anything to write home about, you’re starting to see some real signs that Montreal is rounding into form.
Coming together
In our latest Berg vs. Ferg, Marshall and I debated which team has the best opportunity of winning the East Division. I sided with Montreal for two primary reasons: the gradual improvement we’ve seen offensively and their stifling work without the ball. Both were on display over the weekend.
In Friday’s 21-9 win over Toronto, the Alouettes were true to form on defence with another smothering performance. This time they flipped the script a little bit though, which is an encouraging sign.
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» Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET: Edmonton at Winnipeg
» Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Ottawa at Hamilton
» Friday, 10:30 p.m. ET: Calgary at BC
» Saturday, 4:00 p.m. ET: Montreal at Toronto
Montreal’s best work on defence thus far has been in stopping the run. In fact, the Als were the No. 1 team against the run by a large margin entering Week 8; they were averaging just over 65 yards against per game. But without Ricky Ray on Friday, the Argos mixed in a steady dose of ground-and-pound into their usually pass heavy attack. As such, they racked up some yardage, but Montreal was on lockdown mode against the pass.
The Als have been fine in pass defence this season but there’s no question their calling card has been against the run. But they made life extremely difficult on both Jeff Mathews and Cody Fajardo and neither of them came close to finding a rhythm. Yes, things would have been different had Ray been healthy, but Montreal deserves some credit for clamping down the way it did.
This defensive group deserves any accolades it’s getting right now. Linebacker Kyries Hebert is having the best season of his impressive CFL career and trails only BC’s Solomon Elimimian in tackles per game. To complement that, Dominique Tovell has fit in really nicely at MIKE linebacker and his pairing with Hebert has been one of the most prolific in the league; combined, they’re averaging more than 12 tackles each night.
Montreal’s stingy work defensively has allowed the team to gel on offence, and things look like they’re starting to come along. At quarterback, Darian Durant looks to have found his groove after a slow start. While his interception numbers are too high, his completion percentage is actually really strong (70.5%) and he went pick-free against the Argos. He’s starting to get in sync with his receivers and has looked on point in three straight games.
Similarly, reigning East Division MOP Ernest Jackson looks more and more comfortable with his new team. He’s been a big time factor in each of Montreal’s last four games with touchdowns in his last two games and a pair of 100-plus yard performances sprinkled in the last month. With B.J. Cunningham’s great start, the always-reliable Nik Lewis and Tyrell Sutton’s work on the ground, the Als have some nice options.
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Darian Durant and the Als outlasted the Argos in a tight East Division battle in Week 8 (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
And let’s not forget how strong Montreal’s offensive line has been. Jovan Olafioye has been dynamite in his first year with the Alouettes and he’s anchored a line that’s allowed just 10 sacks in seven, tied for the lowest in the league. Its taken a little while, but this offence is showing the type of promise many of us thought it had following GM Kavis Reed’s off-season re-shaping.
Montreal has a long way to go, of course, as a 3-4 record isn’t something to be planning parades over. But, all four of their losses have come by less than one possession, so they’ve been right there in every game they’ve played. It’s still early, but with the positive signs we’re seeing on offence and their consistent work defensively, I think this Alouettes team looks like the most promising group we’ve seen since Anthony Calvillo was at the helm.
The real deal
Sometimes it’s easy to poke holes in a hot start to a season or make the case that a team’s record is a little inflated. It’s tough to do that for the Edmonton Eskimos, though, as they pushed their league-best record to 7-0 on Thursday night. The Esks looked elite once again in a hard-fought 27-20 win over the Ottawa REDBLACKS, and they are as legit a 7-0 team as you’re going to find.
Mike Reilly has to be the early front-runner for Most Outstanding Player. He was dialed in once again Thursday night with 384 more yards and a pair of touchdowns. Right now, Reilly leads the league with a 72.7 per cent completion rate, and sits third with 2,329 yards and 13 passing touchdowns. Reilly’s MOP case becomes even clearer when you factor in his four rushing touchdowns.
Let’s not forget who was missing from Edmonton’s lineup on Thursday, too. The Eskimos were without leading receiver Brandon Zylstra and 2016’s league leading receiver Adarius Bowman and yet Reilly was as dangerous as ever.
Mike Reilly continued his hot start to his season in a Week 8 win over the REDBLACKS (The Canadian Press)
But Edmonton’s deadly aerial game is nothing new; they were that way last year, too. Deserving just as much praise is what the Eskimos are doing defensively. This defensive line is terrifying and continues to lead the CFL in quarterback pressures and added three more sacks to their total against Ottawa.
Odell Willis has been devastating off the edge and his six individual sacks have him tied for second in the league. But this isn’t a one-man show. In fact, both Marcus Howard and Kwaku Boateng have been really effective on the other end while Euclid Cummings, Almondo Sewell, and Da’Quan Bowers have all been beasts in the interior. Edmonton’s front four really is intimidating.
That line is going to be put to the test, though. With defensive end Phillip Hunt already on the shelf, Edmonton lost both Howard and Sewell on Thursday night with fears they might be out a while. It’s obviously a big blow to the Esks, but Boateng and Bowers have both been really good in rotation and have shown plenty of reason to be confident with expanded responsibilities.
The Esks still have room for improvement, of course, and let’s not forget five of their wins have come against a struggling East Division. However, Edmonton has a pair of victories against a good BC team, so it’s not like they’re 7-0 on a weak strength of schedule. With a pair of games against Calgary looming to start September, the Eskimos are poised to be really tested, but we know this: they are full marks for their perfect start to the season.
Clean it up
At 3-5, the Toronto Argonauts are still in the mix to win the East Division, even with their aforementioned loss to Montreal on Friday. But if the Argos are going to keep their challenge for a division crown alive, they’re going to need to figure one thing out above everything else: penalties.
Toronto racked up 119 penalty yards against the Alouettes to push its league-worst total to 726. On average, the Argos are getting dinged for about 91 yards each night, and that’s just not sustainable for a competitive record. Head Coach Marc Trestman said it better than anyone following Thursday’s loss.
Penalties have been an issue for Marc Trestman’s club after dropping their third straight contest (The Canadian Press)
“It’s inhibited our ability to sustain drives and get off the field,” said Trestman. “It’s tough to coach that during the week, when you don’t see it in practice – as coaches we correct things that we see. If we can clean that up, we’ll find ourselves to be a pretty good football team.”
Taking penalties at the rate Toronto has this season is a perfect way to kill drives and halt momentum. Take Thursday’s illegal block infraction from Chris Van Zeyl in the fourth quarter, for example. It was a penalty that didn’t need to happen and took six points off the board. Eliminating mental errors like that can turn a narrow loss into a close win.
The Argos have played some good football at different times this season. Assuming Ray returns sooner rather than later, they have a quarterback playing at an extremely high level to lead the way. Additionally, S.J. Green has been dynamite while Toronto leads the CFL with 27 sacks. There are definitely reasons for optimism surrounding this group.
Trestman is bang on: this team could be even better if it cleaned things up. On average, the Argos have essentially set themselves back the full field distance every game this season. If that continues, Toronto is going to putter around .500 all season long, and that’s why making the fix has to be priority number one.
