PLENTY ON THE LINE AS REDBLACKS FACE IMPROVING ALOUETTES
Early season division matchup is a key test
There are no axes to grind, there’s no bad blood, and Friday night’s Canadian Football League game between the Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes will be anything but a grudge match.
But it sure means a heckuva lot to the two teams involved.
Several Redblacks players, coaches and football operations folks have ties to the Alouettes and vice versa. But it’s not about that. It’s also not a free spot on the bingo card for the Redblacks, who had too many hiccups of their own in a 24-14 loss in Calgary last week to take anybody for granted.
Besides, the Als are coming in with some momentum of their own. After two lopsided losses to open the season, Montreal went into Saskatchewan and beat the Roughriders 23-17.
“It’s huge,” Redblacks quarterback Trevor Harris said. “It’s East versus East, so it’s always going to be a big game, a fourpoint game. It’ll be a fun challenge for us. Winning in Saskatchewan is no easy task, and they did. Their defence really shut (the Roughriders) down. They’re impressive — personnel-wise and scheme-wise. Any time you have a Rich Stubler defence, high respect to that and to him. We’re on our toes this week, we’re going to come out, play our game and see what we can do.”
The Alouettes won just three times in 18 tries in 2017, but the CFL is a “What have you done for me lately?” league. And if lately means what the Redblacks did on offence a week ago, well, this could be a football game.
“We’re coming off a loss, so it’s big for us to get a win,” Redblacks defensive back Antoine Pruneau said. “It’s a divisional rival. We don’t want to give them momentum, we don’t want to give them hope that they’ll have a good year. The danger (of taking another team lightly) is always there, but I would say it’s not within our team philosophy to think that way. The goal is to show up and play the same against everybody.”
Defensive co-ordinator Noel Thorpe, who was fired by the Alouettes last September and took the Redblacks job in December, isn’t looking at it as revenge or getting back at anybody, but instead an important opportunity for his team to jump back in the saddle.
“This is another opponent,” Thorpe said. “In coaching, there’s going to be change and there’s going to be movement. It’s a small league. You’re going to play against teams you have coached with. Having coached 11 years in Montreal in two different stints, you raise your family there, you have a certain association with the city and the organization that runs deep.
“There’s an appreciation I had for the organization. The relationships I developed within those walls were very special. I had the opportunity to go to four Grey Cups and win one. I had an opportunity to work with Don Matthews and Jim Popp. It was the organization that gave me my professional start, and for that I’m appreciative and will always be thankful. We’re going in there to win a football game. That’s how I’m approaching it. It’s no different than going to Calgary.”
Offensively, the Redblacks will need a bounce-back week from their starting QB, his offensive line and the receiving corps.
“Every week’s not going to be perfect,” receiver Brad Sinopoli said. “We have to be able to realize the mistakes we made and fix them. I think a lot of guys felt like they didn’t have their best game (last week). You feel like you let everybody down. That’s not what you expect and not what you want. You have to be able to come back strong. That starts mentally, it transfers into practice, and then into the game.”
Defensively, the Redblacks have been very good. But they, too, can get better.
“There are still things we need to clean up,” Thorpe said. “We had to deal with some injuries to our end spots last game. That tested the depth on our roster.
“The guys who came in — Andrew Marshall and Nigel Romick — they’ve dealt with limited reps in practice, and went in and did a great job for us. We’re still growing as a defence, we’re getting better. You’re not going to be satisfied, particularly after a loss. Even when you win, you’re constantly looking at getting better and climbing the mountain.”
You can bet the Redblacks will do everything they can to shake and confuse Alouettes quarterback Jeff Mathews, who a month ago was in Montana fishing after being released by the Toronto Argos. He’s starting by virtue of an injury to Drew Willy.
“Jeff is a guy who’s going to want to manage the game, not put the offence in difficult decisions,” Thorpe said. “They can be explosive, they want to get the ball downfield, and they want to balance that with a running attack. Whether it’s Jeff or any quarterback, you have to do some things to affect him in the pocket, through pressure or coverage, and not let him feel comfortable back there.”
The Redblacks will pay special attention to receiver Chris Williams, the former Redblack who had more than 1,200 yards in receptions in back-to-back seasons in Ottawa before he was sidelined by a knee injury. Two other former Redblacks — Ernest Jackson and Patrick Lavoie — are also in the Als’ receiving mix.
“You have to limit the big plays against those guys,” Pruneau said. “You have to keep Ernest from catching the ball. We all know when he’s got the ball in his hands, he’s pretty physical. We don’t really want that contact if it’s not necessary.
“I’m looking forward to hitting Pat. We talked this week. He’s pretty confident, especially after (last week’s win). He thinks he’s on the better team. We’ll see about that.”