The Montreal Alouettes haven’t won in B.C. since August 20, 2015. Not only did their losing streak continue on Saturday night but they left Vancouver with more questions than answers, especially at the quarterback position.
Below are my thoughts on the 27-3 loss.
Not the time to panic, but…
Offensively, the Alouettes have a lot of questions to answer before November 9. Cody Fajardo looked exactly like a player who hasn’t played in over two weeks, finishing seven-of-nine for 67 yards in a half of action. The biggest problem with that is Davis Alexander is waiting for an opportunity to lead this team. Fajardo needed to reassure the organization and the fans that wouldn’t be necessary and he didn’t do it.
Alexander played the second half but didn’t explode the way he should have, completing 11 of his 16 passes for 67 yards. The common denominator between both quarterback performances was the lack of help from their teammates. The Als shot themselves in the foot with useless penalties and dropped passes.
A total of 216 net yards is not going to win you many games and against Vernon Adams Jr., who was on fire on Saturday, it was mission impossible.
The missed opportunity
Alexander had the opportunity to make a statement to his coaches that he could lead the team in the playoffs. Since returning from injury, Cody Fajardo hasn’t played his best football and the offence has struggled to score points.
Alexander has been effective and hasn’t still lost as a starter in the CFL. Saturday night, he couldn’t perform miracles with the offence and that might be costly for him.
I don’t see the Als not going back to Fajardo for the next game against the Blue Bombers and rolling with him for the playoffs. Had Alexander found a way to bring the Als back in the game, it might have been enough to win Jason Maas’ trust. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t happen.
The offensive line issues
In a blowout game like this one, struggling units are often exposed. This was the case for the Alouettes’ offensive line when it came to running the football.
The Als couldn’t establish the run game early on and were forced to end their drives because of it. This has been a known problem since last year but considering how badly the rest of the offence was performing against B.C., it was even more damaging for the team.
When you have a second-and-short situation, everybody in the stadium knows a run is coming, but the offensive line should at least allow the running back to get back to the line of scrimmage. They couldn’t even perform that task reliably.
The line lost a member when Joshua Donovan left the game early after suffering an apparent knee injury. He couldn’t put weight on his left leg and it did not look good for him long term. Jamar McGloster, who played good football last year, stepped up and did his part to hold down the fort.
Maksymic wins another battle
There is only one team in the CFL that the Als haven’t beaten since Maas took over as the head coach of the organization: the B.C. Lions. Only one offensive coordinator has constantly succeeded against Noel Thorpe’s defence: Jordan Maksymic.
Before the game, his offence had averaged 35 points against the Als in three contests and B.C. added 27 points Saturday night. Thorpe can’t find solutions to beat Maksymic’s schemes and that’s something to keep in mind if the two teams meet again on Grey Cup Sunday.
When asked this week about teams adjusting to his blitzes better this year, the coordinator told 3DownNation that was a question for his opponents. I’m going to answer it for him: yes, they have.
Not only was the blitz virtually ineffective Saturday night, but Adams Jr. always had the answer: either throwing beautiful throws to his receivers or escaping. The quarterback told reporters after the game that he had anticipated that strategy from Thorpe all week and was eager to play against it.
The Alouettes’ defensive line isn’t able to apply the necessary pressure on its own right now and teams are ready when the defensive backs come down in support. This is a dangerous trend with the playoffs around the corner.
Testing DBs, testing Dequoy
Everybody knew Adams Jr. would be fired up with an unexpected opportunity to become the starting quarterback. He didn’t disappoint, throwing precise deep balls like he likes to do.
The Als’ defensive backs were heavily tested and couldn’t perform miracles. Safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy was targeted a couple of times, something we haven’t seen in a long time. Justin McInnis beat him on the first offensive play of the game, which opened things up for the locals.
Defensive back Wesley Sutton didn’t mince words in the Alouettes’ post-game show. “We came out flat, we got our asses kicked in the first half, and we wanted to be better in the second.”
A worrying trend
Are we living out a reverse scenario from last year? In 2023, the Argos were cruising towards a historic season and stopped playing high-level football at the end of the year. On the other side, the Als picked up a lot of rhythm with five consecutive wins at the end of the season that allowed them to run the table in the playoff and win their eighth Grey Cup.
This season, Montreal is cruising toward the East Final and has stopped playing complementary football. Conversely, the Argos aren’t showing signs of stopping their well-oiled machine. Linebacker Darnell Sankey used some strong words to describe the situation.
“We haven’t had a complete game in a while,” he said on the post-game show.
As Pierre Vercheval, the RDS football analyst, mentioned on the live broadcast, it’s okay not to show everything with nothing to play for late in the year but you have to show something. He’s absolutely right.
James Letcher Jr. is ready
The only positive thing about the game for the Alouettes was James Letcher Jr.’s level of play. He is ready for the playoffs and demonstrated once again why he’s one of the best returners in the CFL, with good patience and explosiveness when needed. It seems that, finally, the whole return unit is clicking.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the returner is sidelined for the last game of the season to avoid an injury.
What’s next?
The Alouettes (12-4-1) will face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-7) at Percival-Molson Stadium next Saturday, October 26. The kickoff is scheduled at 3:00 p.m. EDT.