The Montreal Alouettes are one win away from returning to the Grey Cup but they don’t believe they are being treated like top-ranked defending champions.
“About who’s going to be the underdogs, I haven’t seen what the media said about the game, but I’m pretty sure they’ll put us unfavored once again against Toronto,” safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy told reporters earlier this week. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they do. At the end of the day, if they want to do it, fine, it will be extra motivation for us.”
“We’re not defending a title; we’re conquering another one.”
The first-place Alouettes are actually short favourites in the East Final but the rival Toronto Argonauts have been a sexy pick as of late. Arguably the hottest team in the CFL, the Argos have won four of their last five games and scored 58 points against the Redblacks in the East Semi-Final. They’ve played against Montreal three times this season, winning twice.
That does not seem to faze Dequoy, who says he isn’t frightened by the Double Blue attack peaking at the right time.
“Not at all — that’s just the reality of football,” he said. “They have an explosive offence, but we know what we need to do. It’s just not talk to the media; we gotta do it on the field.”
Last year, the Alouettes were heavy underdogs facing a 16-win Toronto team on the road in the playoff. Players like Dequoy thrived in that role as the team upset the Boatmen and ran the table to win its first championship in 13 years.
Now, the roles are reversed after Montreal comfortably won the division with their best record since 2009. The Argos’ offensive explosion against Ottawa, which was highlighted by a perfect passer rating by Chad Kelly, positions them to take advantage of an Alouettes team that won just two of their final seven games after clinching a first-round bye.
“No shame to Ottawa, but I feel like we’re more prepared,” defensive back Wesley Sutton offered as a rebuttal. “We have seen them a lot and are familiar with their receiving corps and Chad Kelly. We are feeling confident about Saturday and putting on a good show.”
The common denominator in the Alouettes’ two losses to Toronto this season was a failure to stop the run, which has been a point of emphasis over the past two weeks of practice. Both Dequoy and Sutton admitted that they will need to do a better job at filling run gaps on Saturday than they did in their previous meetings in order to shut down Ka’Deem Carey and force Kelly into second-and-long.
“We just gotta bring our A game,” Dequoy said. “They bring the receivers in the box to run; we need to bring our DBs as well and make sure we make the tackles. We can’t miss tackles.”
The Montreal Alouettes (12-5-1) will host the Toronto Argonauts (11-8) for the Eastern Final on Saturday, November 9. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EST at Percival Molson Stadium with a sellout crowd already announced.
