By Noah Sidel,

MontrealAlouettes.com

Up, down, and around again… where will it stop?

For the Montreal Alouettes, hopefully at the Grey Cup.

It may just be five games into the 2008 CFL season, but the Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have already had their fill of emotional twists and turns and are both ready to set their ships right heading into Week 6 this Thursday night at Percival Molson Stadium (7 p.m., RDS, TSN, CKAC SPORTS, CJAD).

On the Montreal side of the ball, the Alouettes (2-3-0) got off to a great, if unexpected start, going 2-0 out of the blocks with wins over the Ticats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Following those two wins, however, the Als have dropped three straight, albeit by a grand total of 14 points – and they led late in each of those losses.

The Ticats (1-4-0), on the other hand, have continued to struggle mightily, having won just eight of their last 41 games.

They are currently second-last in the CFL with just 99 points for in five games – compared to Montreal’s second-best total of 154; they have exactly zero touchdown passes on the ledger – compared to Montreal’s league-leading 14; and they have allowed the second-most yards in the league so far this year.

That last category, however, is where the teams match up a little better.

In fact, as the Alouettes sit sixth in the eight-team league in, they are accompanied by their whole lot of East Division brethren – Winnipeg is last and Toronto is just ahead of Montreal.

The bottom of the defensive standings are rife with Eastern teams, with Hamilton in the bottom two of 10 different categories and Montreal in the bottom pairing of five sections themselves.

Not to be outdone, however, Winnipeg is dead last in nine categories, while Toronto is last in six.

Clearly it’s been a rough go for defences in the East.

Thursday’s matchup could be a great opportunity for either team to turn their fortunes, however.

Montreal features one of the league’s most electrifying offences, and will have a great shot of exposing Hamilton’s defence.

The Ticats, on the other hand, will try and expose the Alouettes’ inconsistency with the ball and boost their defensive stats in Montreal.

What remains to be seen is how the Ticats will react as incumbent starter Casey Printers will likely miss the game with an injured thumb, giving Richie Williams the start at quarterback.

The players in Alouettes’ secondary are likely licking their chops.

The Alouettes host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats this Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Percival Molson Stadium (RDS, TSN, CKAC SPORTS, CJAD).

Click here for tickets or call 514-871-2255.