The Montreal Alouettes will be forced to finish their Week 14 game with the Toronto Argonauts without top receiver Austin Mack after the 26-year-old was ejected for rough play in the first quarter.
The six-foot-two, 205-pound pass catcher was engaged in blocking Argos’ cornerback Qwan’tez Stiggers when he was wrestled to the turf. Mack took issue with the play, delivering an open-handed blow to the defender’s helmet after jumping back up. A scrum quickly ensued, with Argos’ safety Royce Metchie attempting to defend his teammate. The receiver appeared to deliver several more blows before the melee was separated.
Mack was immediately ejected for the incident, while Metchie was assessed an unnecessary roughness penalty.
Still in his first CFL season, Mack has established himself as one of the league’s premier players. He entered the game top on the receiving leaderboard with 60 receptions for 971 yards and four touchdowns but had yet to catch a pass at the time of his ejection.
This is the second time this season that Mack has been involved in a controversial incident. He was on the receiving end of a post-game shove from Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ strongside linebacker Chris Edwards in Week 3, which received a maximum fine.
