Montreal Alouettes’ strong-side linebacker Patrick Levels is feeling confident heading into Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“I feel like we have the better team, for sure,” Levels told the media in Montreal. “But we have to be the more disciplined team. Teams that played us, they know they scraped out. Every loss we had I can tell you the turning point.
“Nobody has walked in there and scrubbed us. Our record doesn’t show what I feel and that’s OK. You get into the playoffs and you see what happens. The regular season is just jockeying for playoff position. We get into the playoffs and it’s going to be hell.”
The Alouettes are currently tied for second place in the East Division with a 6-5 record. The team’s four-game winning streak was snapped by a 19-14 home loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week.
Left tackle Tony Washington seems to feel the Blue Bombers haven’t beaten many good teams, though he stopped short of overtly saying so on Thursday.
“They’ve played B.C., Edmonton three times, and they’ve played Toronto. You know, they haven’t really, I don’t think they …” said Washington, trailing off. “We’ll see. We’ll see what they are.”
Montreal allowed five sacks in last week’s loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, which Washington chalked up to injuries as well as starting a rookie centre. Winnipeg’s Willie Jefferson and Jackson Jeffcoat are among the CFL’s best pass-rushers, but that doesn’t seem to concern Washington.
“I don’t necessarily go into a game looking at it as a challenge. They’re good at what they do, but I think we’re good at what we do. We just gotta play our game, honestly,” he said. “It’s just another game. We have to execute. If we execute, it’s not a challenge at all.”
Winnipeg has already clinched first place in the West Division with a 10-1 record amid an eight-game winning streak. Levels doesn’t view Saturday’s game against the Blue Bombers as a measuring stick, but instead another opportunity to get a win.
“I’m going in here with one thing on my mind and that’s to win. I’m not going to come close and not going to get a judgement on who we are. I’m going to go to Winnipeg to get a win because last week we came up short,” said Levels.
“For the rest of the year, it’s balls to the walls. Winnipeg, they’re just in the way. They feel a certain way about themselves and they have the right to, but that don’t mean that we’re not showing up as a group.”
The Alouettes and Blue Bombers are slated to kick-off at IG Field on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
