‘THIS TEAM HAS HEART, MAN’
Alouettes clinch playoff berth
It seemed only fitting, when all was said and done, John Bowman would be the one to assemble his fellow defensive linemen and linebackers into a pocket of the dressing room and offer a toast to what had just been accomplished. And, he undoubtedly hopes, what remains to be achieved.
“We did what people didn’t think we could do. We proved we can step up to the occasion ... rise to the occasion,” said Bowman, the Alouettes’ oldest player, a 14-year veteran, and the one who has witnessed so many of the highs — and lately, the lows. “We didn’t listen to the naysayers who said we were going to be 0-18.”
The Als, a team that won only five games in 2018 and one that hasn’t played a meaningful November game since 2014, are finally going to the Canadian Football League playoffs for the first time since then. And they accomplished it as they seemingly have all season — by rising off the canvas when they appeared dead, ready to be buried.
The Alouettes defeated the Calgary Stampeders — the defending Grey Cup champions — for the second time this season. The latest was a hard-fought 21-17 victory Saturday at Molson Stadium.
Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., returning from a one-game suspension, struggled at times and appeared rusty, leading Montreal to only one offensive touchdown on their opening possession. Adams passed for only 206 yards and completed 18 of 29 attempts while generating 18 first downs and 293 yards’ net offence. But you win as a team. Mario Alford, making his Montreal debut, returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown to begin the second half, providing his team with a spark. And the rest was left to the Als’ defence.
In the opening half, Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, the most outstanding player in 2018, found every hole in the Als’ zone defence, repeatedly striking for big gains as the visitors took a 17-7 lead at one point.
Mitchell passed for 313 yards alone in the first half and appeared primed to feast on the ravaged Montreal defence over the final 30 minutes. The Als, after all, lost outside linebacker Tevin Floyd and field cornerback Ryan Carter to undisclosed injuries during the game. Both players are imports. Both were replaced by Canadians — D.J. Lalama and Dominique Termansen, respectively.
Incredibly, the Stamps were held without a point in the second half. Calgary, which turned the ball over twice in the second quarter on an interception and fumble, committed three more turnovers over the final 30 minutes, the last coming on downs as they attempted a late comeback.
“They were slinging the ball around all first half,” Bowman acknowledged. “We came in here (at halftime) and did a little something, went back into our playbook and we forced a lot of turnovers. We stayed together.”
Mitchell still passed for 464 yards and a touchdown, while the visitors produced 547 yards’ net offence. But in the end, what did it matter?
“They were coming off a bye week. We knew they were going to come in and give us their first strong 15 plays,” defensive back Greg Reid explained. “They had two weeks to prepare for us. We never let our guard down. We came out in the second half and continued doing what we do, continue to play assignment football.
“This team has heart, man. We didn’t really make any adjustments. We just continued to play our football.”
The Als were nursing a onepoint lead when Adams, playing without left-tackle Tony Washington, who appeared to sustain a serious lower-body injury, finally generated an effective and time-consuming eight-play drive in the fourth quarter. Faced with a third-down gamble from the Calgary 18, Adams was stopped short.
It brought back memories of last weekend’s game at Vancouver, when the Als gambled from the Lions’ two with 70 seconds remaining rather than kick a field goal. The gamble proved moot when Antonio Pipkin, who was backing up starter Matthew Shiltz, fumbled.
“Coach went for it on third and one,” Bowman said. “We said: ‘Hey, put it on our backs.’ He could have went for it again. We would have stepped up again.”
Bowman sacked Mitchell on second down, forcing the Stamps to punt following the Montreal turnover. And this time, faced with a third-down gamble, head coach Khari Jones elected to have Boris Bede kick a 25-yard field goal — meaning the Stamps would have to score a touchdown.
Calgary got to the Montreal 39 before gambling on third down; Mitchell’s pass knocked down by safety Bo Lokombo.
“It doesn’t bother us to be down,” Jones said. “This team’s so resilient. They don’t worry about the negative things. I hope I’ve helped with that. I don’t dwell on them, either. I’m so proud of the defence. To give up no points in the second half just speaks volumes about that group.”
The Als have four games remaining, divided between home and away, and now realize they’ll host a playoff game Nov. 10, something that appeared unthinkable when they launched their season with two losses.
“I’m really proud of the guys for believing,” Jones said. “There were a whole lot of reasons not to believe in the beginning of the season. Nobody worried about any of those things. We just went out and played.
“I’m really proud of them for this accomplishment.”