June 30, 2018

O’Leary: Als insist matchup with Riders can’t come soon enough

There’s a joke that veteran comics will drop when they’re in a less-than-glamourous location.

“Fargo. I spent a month there one night.”

You can’t say that about Montreal the city, but that’s kind of where the Alouettes were mentally this week, after taking a 56-10 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

They didn’t wear pads in Regina on Friday, after their charter flight touched down for their Saturday date with the Roughriders, but there was a sense that game day can’t get here soon enough for them.

“You always want to get back on the field after a game like that,” quarterback Drew Willy said.

“I know the guys worked extremely hard putting in the hours. Now it’s the time to go out here and put it all to use.”

Willy made 16 of 25 passes for 111 yards with one touchdown in the loss, but was forced to work quickly. The Bombers poured pressure on him all night, draining the offence of any productivity it might have had.

While Willy on the run might be the memorable moment of the night, he said the offence’s issues weren’t as simple as his o-line failing him.

 

“I can get the ball out quicker, the receivers can get open a little bit quicker. Running backs can be a little better coming out of the backfield, or just picking up different things. It’s all 12 of us,” he said.

“I know everybody’s trying to work on their own game so that collectively we’re better. I know coach (Mike) Sherman, it’s something he’s preached. ‘Worry about your own individual performance.’ I know for myself I’m just working on making sure my feet are always right, make sure we get the ball out at the right times.”

The loss dropped the Als to 0-2 and what made it hurt more, Sherman points out, is that it came in Montreal, at the team’s home-opener.

“Even though last week was just a devastating home loss for us because we had a great crowd there and it was a beautiful night, it was a tremendous opportunity for us to make a statement,” he said. “We learn from our mistakes in that game and believe it or not it may help us in the long run.”

Als linebacker Henoc Muamba is taking his coach’s approach to the game. Even in the immediate aftermath of the defeat, Muamba was preaching positivity and moving forward. The Alouettes lost their final 11 games of the 2017 season, but Muamba constantly stresses that this is a re-tooled team that doesn’t have its story written yet.

“You really dig deep you find out exactly what kind of guys you have, what kind of men you have in the locker room,” said Muamba, who had a game-high 11 tackles in the game.

“It’s not the full season. We’re trying to talk about that to the guys. It’s easy especially with the history of this team and the things that might be said outside of the locker room about what’s going on and whatnot. The leadership on the team has to communicate exactly what the reality of the situation really is and the reality is we’re 0-2 but it doesn’t mean that this is going to determine or define our season.

“We have an opportunity to change things and to really redefine who we are. Changing not only our mental aspect as far as the approach to the game, but also our enthusiasm toward the game of football. To me at least, I look at (this week’s game) like an opportunity, more than just another game.”

Sherman, Willy and Muamba all said the team had a good week of practice and that they left last week’s result behind them last Friday night.

After a solid first half in their season opener, Drew Willy is looking to hit the reset button after a blowout loss to Winnipeg last week.

RELATED

> Analysis: Als can right wrongs against injury-riddled Riders
> Preview: Montreal at Saskatchewan
> By the Numbers: Where do the Als rank in major stats categories?


“Adversity can bring out the best in people but it also can bring out the worst in people. You kind of find out who’s in and who’s not in in that timeframe and I’m pleased to say that our team was fairly resilient during the week and bounced back with a good week of practice,” Sherman said.

“As I told them, having good practices doesn’t mean we’re going to win the football game. We also have to be able to come out and play with a tremendous emotion and passion and there’ll be a lot of that in the stadium (on Saturday).”

Muamba will go into Mosaic Stadium on Saturday to face the team that released him in the offseason full of confidence in himself and in his new teammates; a group that’s still getting to know one another.

“The wonderful thing about this team is that we know and believe in what we have as far as the locker room. We have talent, we know that,” he said.

“We might be 0-2 but that doesn’t define or it doesn’t exemplify the type of men we have in the locker room. I’m not extremely worried about it. It’s a matter of not just getting to know one another but understanding how to play with one another. Not to make excuses whatsoever, but that’s the reality of the situation. You get back into the lab, you look at the film and you work hard all week to try and change the situation.”

The faster they can do that, the shorter the days between games will start to feel.