Montreal Alouettes preparing for Zach Collaros and Dru Brown ahead of East Final

Montreal Alouettes

The Montreal Alouettes don’t yet know which quarterback they’ll see when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers visit for the East Final on Saturday, and so they’re preparing for both of them.

“[Zach Collaros and Dru Brown] have their strengths and everybody has some weaknesses, but they’re outstanding players, so we know what we’re getting with both of them, and we’ll be prepared for both,” head coach Jason Maas told the media on Tuesday.

“We’re preparing for the offence, and we know both of the quarterbacks that are playing. I know they have a ton of weapons. We know who we believe they go through, but they’re a veteran offence (coached by) a veteran offensive coordinator.”

The Blue Bombers did not practice on Tuesday and held a closed practice on Wednesday, making it unclear which quarterback is taking first-team reps.

Collaros did not play in the East Semi-Final due to a ribs injury. He was a limited participant in practice leading into the game, and was officially listed as questionable.

Dru Brown started in his place and completed 18-of-30 pass attempts for 206 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions in a 25-22 win over the Toronto Argonauts. He threw the game-winning score to Nic Demski with less than one minute left in the fourth quarter.

Maas indicated that the Alouettes practiced twice during last week’s bye. They spent one of the days preparing for the Blue Bombers and the other preparing for the Argonauts, which he feels has given his team a leg up heading into this week’s preparations.

“It goes back to what we always believe in our building, which is we need to put the necessary work in to have the belief that we can go out any given day and beat anybody,” he said. “We respect our opponents. We don’t care who they are, but we respect them, and we respect them by putting in the work every single day.”

Montreal and Winnipeg met twice during the regular season, and split the two meetings. The Blue Bombers won 44-28 at Princess Auto Stadium in August, which was one of the biggest upsets of the year. The Alouettes evened things out with a 37-10 victory at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in October.

Maas remembers the two games well, including when things got out of hand in Winnipeg.

“In the third quarter, they made a hell of a lot of plays against us that we didn’t match, and I thought in the rematch, it probably went the other way. We made more plays than they did, so I think ultimately football generally comes down to that,” said the veteran coach.

“Protect the ball, be disciplined, but you’ve still got to make plays when they’re there. I thought they did a very good job of that in their building, and then I thought we did an outstanding job of that when we were at home, so the team that’s going to protect the ball and take it away, and then also make the plays that are there is going to win. Our belief is we’re going to do that.”

Franchise quarterback Davis Alexander admitted after the loss in Winnipeg that his emotions got the better of him. He declined to specify what made him feel so frustrated during the game, though it appears to have been penalty-related, as he admitted he talked to the officials “probably way more than [he] should have.”

“We did lose a little bit of control of our emotions — a lot of us, including myself, and then it just kind of trickled down,” said Alexander. “The difference at home, we were much more relaxed, much more calm, and we just played our game. It’s just important for us to play our Alouette football, Alouette standard.”

Montreal appears to be getting healthy at the right time, as receiver Cole Spieker, defensive back Kabion Ento, and kicker José Maltos Diaz were each full participants in practice. Offensive lineman Nick Callender and return specialist DeVonte Dedmon were both limited participants.

“I think everybody just about is available to us this week,” said Maas. “It’s going to be great to be able to pick the 45 that represent us at the end of the week, but right now, everybody’s available to us, which is a great thing this time of year.”

The Montreal Alouettes (14-4) will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-9) for the East Final at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium on Saturday, November 7 with kickoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET. The teams met twice during the regular-season with both teams winning at home.

The game will be broadcast on TSN, CTV, and RDS in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 680 CJOB in Winnipeg and TSN 690 (English) or 99.5 Montreal (French) in Montreal.