The Montreal Alouettes no longer need to prove their worth. A championship, two victories in the west at the start of the season and a packed house of 23,035 spectators for their opening match. But just because a team has established its value doesn’t mean it can’t improve it. And the Alouettes have understood this well.
The second quarter of Thursday night’s game between the Alouettes and the Ottawa Rouge et Noir was still in progress when the words began to construct this text. A way of doing things that is usually not recommended, because the beauty of sport lies in its unpredictability. However, even the least attentive neophyte would have understood, at 27-1, after Tyson Philpot’s 51-yard touchdown, that this clash was over. “It was this catch that set the tone for the match,” said Cody Fajardo at the end of the match.
From the first quarter, Montreal controlled the pace of the game. The match began with the unveiling of the 2023 season champions banner and ended with a 47-21 win.
Jason Maas’ men returned home with a perfect 2-0 record thanks to wins in Winnipeg and Edmonton. They then faced the worst team in the Canadian Football League on paper.
And the Alouettes players wasted no time in proving their superiority. In the first half of the game alone, runs by Cody Fajardo and Caleb Evans for touchdowns, two turnovers by linebacker Tyrice Beverette and three successful field goals by David Côté allowed the Sparrows to snuff out their prey like hungry boas do: gradually, saving themselves and taking advantage of the weaknesses of their enemies.
“It was probably the best football we could play,” Maas admitted of the first half.
The Rouge et Noir’s defense could not have offered Fajardo and his attack a better playing field. The Alouettes’ quarterback took advantage of the insufficient defensive scheme proposed by his rivals to inflate his personal statistics. After two quarters, he had completed 20 of his 22 passes. He ultimately missed only seven passes and accumulated 393 yards.
But the porous Ottawa defense above all allowed the Alouettes receivers to express themselves fully. Plays of 49 yards to Kaion Julian-Grant and 41 yards to Philpot, in particular, seemed to delight the fans gathered at Percival-Molson Stadium. Almost as much as the show by the group Kaïn at intermission.
Philpot, by the way, has really established himself as the number one receiver on this team, even if Maas and the coaching group hate to bring up this idea of hierarchy. The Canadian receiver and hero of the last Gray Cup set the tone at the start of the game with numerous catches in the back of the territory. Fajardo turns to him now, almost by reflex. And also for insurance, because Philpot has become the most reliable receiver in the group. “That’s how we play, the Alouettes. Cody believes in me and I’ll get the job done,” #6 breathlessly revealed after the match.
Honorable mention, however, to Reggie White Jr. In his first game in 2024, the receiver caught two passes from Fajardo in the end zone, in the span of four minutes, in the fourth quarter.
Even if this meeting was certainly not the most exciting, the Alouettes can, with good reason, rejoice in this victory against this division rival. At the end of the season, it’s this kind of innocuous and somewhat forgotten victory that can make the difference between a home and away match once in the playoffs. Especially since with a differential of 26, the Alouettes give themselves good chances in the event of a tiebreaker.
It becomes redundant, but it remains extremely profitable for the Alouettes. The defense excels and as in 2023, the players of this unit shine in relays.
Marc-Antoine Dequoy in the first game, Nafees Lyon in the second and Tyrice Beverette in the third. From the start of the match, the Alouettes linebacker made it clear to quarterback Dru Brown that he was going to have to endure a real ordeal for 60 minutes. “It’s difficult to explain,” assured Beverette regarding the versatility of his unit. It’s like before every game we know we’re going to win, but we just don’t know how.
Beverette’s mother, visiting from New Jersey, was at the game. The trip was worth it, because son was in all the fights with an interception, a sack and a fumble recovery. For his part, Brown suffered 14 incomplete passes in addition to being the victim of a larceny.
In this title defense season, it would have been difficult to ask for better from the Montreal defense. In three games, they have allowed an average of 17.3 points per game. Aware of the victory acquired, the Alouettes slowed down a little in the second half. The fact remains that for a third week in a row, their work was almost impeccable in defense. And it gives a strange feeling of déjà vu.
However, the Alouettes suffered a real momentary slump in the third quarter. The locals were dominated 11-0 after half-time.
Obviously, the head coach had difficulty being completely happy with the outcome of the match given this slight clash.
Indeed, despite the elements that displeased Maas, he still leads the best team in the CFL according to the ranking. With a 3-0 record, the defending champions couldn’t find themselves in a better situation heading into another rival, the Toronto Argonauts.
The match concluded with a standing ovation from the fans. The ball sat as the final seconds ticked down and John Denver blared through the stadium speakers with Take Me Home, Country Roads, although The Ride of Happy People also lent itself quite well to the pace of this emotional encounter .
