The Montreal Alouettes committed too many mistakes as the B.C. Lions converted two turnovers into 10 points en route to a 35-19 win on Sunday night, dropping the Als to 2-2 on the season.
As has been the case in every game this season, Montreal’s pass protection has been a major issue. The offensive line gave up seven sacks to the Lions on Sunday, including two to game-wrecker Mathieu Betts. Add in a blocked field goal attempt and there appear to be major protection problems across the board right now.
Cody Fajardo’s numbers looked decent as he completed 24-of-38 pass attempts for 280 yards but he didn’t make the big plays needed to keep pace with Vernon Adams Jr. and the Lions. Fajardo completed deep shots to Kaion Julien-Grant and rookie Quartney Davis but didn’t seem keen to regularly test B.C.’s defence deep.
Meanwhile, the erosion of William Stanback as an elite CFL running back has continued. The burst and power fans grew accustomed to seeing has complete disappeared and his lack of production frequently left Montreal in second-and-long. You have to wonder when the team will turn to Walter Fletcher or someone else in the backfield for a spark.
For B.C.’s part, they teed off on an Alouettes secondary that’s clearly missing defensive back Ciante Evans and his three interceptions. He didn’t suit up for the second straight game. Lions receivers were open virtually the entire game, a stark contrast to the stout defence that Montreal displayed the first two games of the season.
The Alouettes will try and get back in the win column next Friday at home versus the undefeated Toronto Argonauts, while B.C. is off until July 22 when they take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Quick hits
It was refreshing for Als fans to get a break from Marshall Ferguson’s monotonous play-by-play calls on TSN and instead have the pleasure of listening to Dustin Nielsen. His ability to generate excitement was outstanding and he even rubbed off on Glen Suitor, who was more animated than usual as the colour commentator.
Canadian receiver Hergy Mayala picked up an astounding three holding penalties, including two on special teams.
Marc-Antoine Dequoy’s early pick-six was called back due to a penalty and the infraction was marginal at best upon replay. The call really altered the tone of the game and impartial pundits on television and social media seemed to be unanimous in wondering why head coach Jason Maas didn’t challenge the play.
Montreal generated three sacks on the defensive line but were unable to keep Vernon Adams Jr. in the pocket enough to hamper B.C.’s passing game.
B.C. bounced back from last week’s rough loss to the Argos to improve to 4-1.
