Alouettes put damper on Eskimos’ playoff hopes
Big win all but eliminates Edmonton’s chances of grabbing crossover berth
> ALOUETTES 47 > ESKIMOS 24
EDMONTON— The CFL playoff picture is a lot clearer.
Arland Bruce and S.J. Green each reeled in a pair of touchdown passes as the Montreal Alouettes pretty much eliminated Edmonton’s chances of catching them for a crossover playoff spot through the East Division, crushing the Eskimos 47-24 on Saturday.
It was the second consecutive win for the Alouettes, who improved to 6-8.
“Any win is big for us this year,” Bruce said. “We’ve let a lot of wins get past us. We lost some games that we should have come out on top of. To get back-to-back wins is good for us. We can’t stop here, though. We have to keep going and piling up the wins.”
Als quarterback Josh Neiswander, who threw for 251 yards and four TDs, said it was good to essentially remove the Eskimos from their rear-view mirror.
“It’s nice to have the breathing room,” he said. “We knew that this was a big game for both teams. Winning certainly gives a bit of space but we still have a lot of work to do.
“Any time you can get a win, whether against the first-place team or the last- place team, it is big for confidence. You can tell that in our locker room right now. Just getting a win of any kind was big for us.”
Edmonton (3-11) would need to win its remaining four games and have Montreal lose its final four games to even have a shot at playing in the post-season.
It was pretty obvious that even Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed considered that chance as tantamount to slim or none.
“It was really disappointing,” he said. “I apologize to our fans that we didn’t give them the kind of season they deserved. That’s a personal apology. It’s extremely disappointing that we have played this way today, again.”