Vernon Adams Jr. has become the CFL’s comeback king.
If the Montreal Alouettes want their offence to get going earlier in a ball game, they should consider asking to have a 10-0 deficit before every kickoff, because that’s when Adams Jr. seems to turn it on.
A dreadful first half effort from the Alouettes defence saw them give up 34 points and four touchdowns on Winnipeg’s first four drives. Montreal was behind the eight ball, trailing by 17 heading into the third, and 20 prior to the fourth.
It looked pretty bleak until the tail end of the third. Adams moved the ball down field, a 10-play drive ending in Chris Matthews’ second touchdown of the game early in the fourth. They were his first two with the Als and it comes against the team who cut him earlier this year.
.@TheRealCMaTT13 with touchdown number two on the day! ????#CFLGameDay pic.twitter.com/buyeIyamRE
— CFL on TSN (@CFLonTSN) September 21, 2019
A missed 53-yard Justin Medlock field goal attempt proved very costly, as their lead stayed at 13 rather than 16. He also missed a point after kick earlier in the game.
A Jeff Hecht red zone interception looked too much to overcome for the Als, but that wasn’t the case.
Big defensive stops on top of overcoming a pass interference call meant it was back to work for Adams. A quick six-play drive ended in a DeVier Posey 29-yard touchdown, cutting the lead to six.
.@bigplay_va finds @DPo8 downfield, and now the @MTLAlouettes trail by just six with two minutes to go! ????#CFLGameDay pic.twitter.com/NJDkwfNu6j
— CFL on TSN (@CFLonTSN) September 21, 2019
With the game on the line, Adams turned to Posey and Jake Wieneke more and more often. And it was, in fact Wieneke who put things to bed. 11 seconds to go, Adams threw to the big target for a poetic 15-yard, game-tying score. Boris Bede didn’t flub the point-after and Montreal did it.
They erased a 24-point deficit and took down the Blue Bombers 38-37. Exhale.
Wieneke had 134 receiving yards on eight receptions while Posey had 132 on seven catches, each with a touchdown.
NO WORDS. #CFLGameDay pic.twitter.com/h1JUI3NBpH
— CFL (@CFL) September 21, 2019
As much as Adams Jr. was the highlight of the second half – I mean, he did throw for 488 yards and four touchdowns – it shouldn’t be lost that Montreal’s defence held the Bombers to three second half points, completely turning it around after the break.
Before this one, everyone was looking at the running backs. Andrew Harris played after serving his two game suspension for failing a drug test and William Stanback has been enjoying a standout year.
And Harris did leave his mark on the game in the second, on a wildcat play which initially gave the rushing yard leader a touchdown before it was marked down at the one. It stretched the Bombers lead as the Alouettes defence forgot how to tackle. Chris Streveler plunged it across the goal line for his third rushing touchdown of the half.
Welcome back, Andrew Harris!
Darvin Adams throws a bomb to Harris who gets to the one-yard line for yet ANOTHER Chris Streveler touchdown! #CFLGameDay
WPG 28 | MTL 10 pic.twitter.com/peeRTCMVTF
— CFL (@CFL) September 21, 2019
Harris had 76 rushing yards on 12 carries, beaten out by his quarterback Streveler who chipped in 84 to go with his 180 passing yards on 19-for-22 throwing.
Momentum started to swing in the Als favour towards the end of the second after looking down and out following a fumble returned for a touchdown for the Bombers.
A Ciante Evans interception queued up Adams Jr. to later find Matthews in the end zone to trim the deficit to 17. A beautiful Posey snag came before it.
Then a quiet third quarter turned into the crazy fourth and left Montreal fans grinning ear to ear with the opposing Bombers faithful and team with their jaws dropped.
Montreal (7-5) travels to B.C. (2-10) next week while Winnipeg (9-4) heads home to battle Hamilton (10-3).
