MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Als’ offence pointless in Toronto
These Alouettes do appear to enjoy living dangerously, don’t they? Once again, they seem to be in a precarious position, unable to seize an opportunity and walk through the front door when it had been opened.
The stakes were simple Saturday afternoon — defeat Toronto and the Als would seize control of the weak East Division along with capturing the season series against the Argonauts. Instead, the visitors came up empty on so many fronts, drubbed 38-6 before a season-high crowd of 16,326 at BMO Field.
Instead of evening their record at 4-4, the Als sit second in the division at 3-5 as they prepare for a Thursday home game against Winnipeg. The Blue Bombers (6-2) became the first team to defeat Edmonton on Thursday and are on a four-game winning streak, arguably the Canadian Football League’s hottest team.
But the Als now sit only a point ahead of Ottawa (2-6-1), a team they entertain the week after. That will be Montreal’s 10th game of the season and their sixth at home. That means five of their final eight are on the road, where the Als have yet to win this season. That’s potentially a major problem should this team want to avoid missing the playoffs for a third successive season.
“We got kicked in the pants,” head coach Jacques Chapdelaine said. “We’re establishing a pattern right now where you win one, you lose one. We have to get away from it. We have to become more consistent.
“We came back from that win (last week) and were in a favourable position. It felt like we took that a little bit for granted. I don’t think the guys necessarily wanted to do bad today.” Bad? They were putrid.
The Als failed to produce a single point offensively in a league known for its wide-open offence. Had J.S. Blanc not deflected a Ricky Ray pass that was intercepted by Dominique Tovell and returned 61 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter, Montreal would have been shut out for the first time since July 1997.
Quarterback Darian Durant, on his 35th birthday, passed for an embarrassing 93 yards. The Als were held to nine first downs and 138 yards of net offence. They controlled the ball for less than 21 minutes.
Montreal never again posed a threat after Durant threw an interception at the Toronto 12 on the 10th play of a 77-yard drive in the first quarter. Last month, in Ottawa, the Als again were on the verge of scoring when Durant was intercepted in the end zone by Antoine Pruneau. Montreal lost by five points.
Durant has now been intercepted eight times. Only twice has he completed a game without being picked off.
“I don’t think you can single out one play,” he said. “I know what you’re trying to do. I know what you’re trying to say, but one play is not what changed the course of the game. Even if that one play didn’t happen, we still didn’t do enough to win the game.
“The offence gets all the glitz and glamour, the praise and the criticism. That’s why we’re here right now.”
The Argos were held to nine points by Montreal a week ago at Molson Stadium, but that was without Ray, out with a shoulder injury. He returned on the weekend and made the Als’ defence look silly, picking them apart with a craftsman’s precision.
Ray completed 35 of 43 passes for 377 yards and four touchdowns — two to S.J. Green, who spent a decade in Montreal before being traded last April for a sixth-round draft choice. It’s a trade that should haunt the Als for some time. Green caught nine passes for 145 yards, all but 10 of those coming over the first 30 minutes. The visitors simply had no answer for him.
Ray passed for 260 yards alone in the first half, when Toronto jumped out to a 35-0 lead. He became the first quarterback in CFL history to pass for 100 touchdowns with two different franchises.
And it’s not like the Argos struck for long and quick scores. Their touchdown drives consisted of 76, 68, 67 and 71 yards, all lasting at least seven plays. They just kept methodically moving the ball and gaining first downs — 29 in total while generating 463 yards of net offence.
Als return-specialist Stefan Logan also misjudged a kickoff that he fumbled in the second quarter. It was recovered by Justin Tuggle, who returned it 22 yards for a touchdown. There was enough blame to go around on this day.
“Ray and Green were the two people we were keying on and we didn’t do a good job stopping them,” said linebacker Kyries Hebert. “It’s not like this is a weekly occurrence from the defence. We’ve held teams to one touchdown, one touchdown, no touchdowns. We’re the same defence. Let’s not forget those times.
“We had a chance last week and took advantage of it. This week we squandered it. We completely screwed it up.”
Small consolation, but Nik Lewis caught six passes for 42 yards, in the process moving into second place in career receptions, with 1,020, surpassing former Als slotback Ben Cahoon. Lewis requires only 10 more catches to overtake Geroy Simon.
“It’s got to be better,” Lewis said. “These are games you have to understand that we, collectively as a group, have to start playing better. The culture of winning isn’t an easy one to maintain.”
Or, it seems, find on a consistent basis.