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Montreal – The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes are looking to finish the year with a win as the playoff picture has already been determined and doesn’t feature either team.
⇒ WHAT NOT TO MISS ON NOVEMBER 8
That’s a change of scenery for the Alouettes, who will be left out of postseason action for the first time since 1996, a span of 19 years. The mark is the second-longest in CFL history and was just matched by the BC Lions this season and both sit behind the Edmonton Eskimos in that regard.
Like the Riders have been doing for a number of weeks, the Alouettes will use this opportunity to evaluate some players who may not have otherwise seen playing time had the team still been in the playoff hunt.
Brandon Bridge, the quarterback out of Mississauga, Ont., saw relief duty for the Als in Week 1 but has not been on the field since outside of short-yardage situations. This week, he will now become the first Canadian pivot to start a game since 1996. He will also be the Alouettes’ fifth starting quarterback on the year, joining a list that includes Jonathan Crompton, Rakeem Cato, Tanner Marsh and Kevin Glenn.
It can be tough for a team to prepare for an opponent who has such limited game footage. Instead of getting ready to face Glenn, who was traded from the Riders to the Als at the deadline, head coach Bob Dyce is simply focused on what his team does on the field.
“We can’t be focused on who’s playing for them,” said Dyce. “Obviously, they’re two different quarterbacks but for the most part we have to worry about what we do. We have to take care of us. If we don’t play sound, we’re not going to have success.”
The Riders are facing quarterback questions of their own. Brett Smith and Keith Price have split reps over the last two games with Smith getting the starting nod, however it will be Price who will have his name called for the finale.
Dyce indicated that Smith may still see some game action but that will likely be indicated based on game scenarios.
“He does a good job of running and controlling the offence. He did a good job, for the most part,” said Dyce of Price. “He does have to get better in staying consistent and staying true to his reads but there were certainly a lot of positives.”
It wasn’t until last week when the Als’ playoffs hopes were officially dashed but they did not go down without a fight. Montreal jumped out to an early lead over Edmonton but they could not hold on down the stretch. That game saw Noel Thorpe take over head coaching duties after Jim Popp was unable to make the road trip with the team and it is unclear at this point if Thorpe will be the man in charge on the sidelines once again.
Veteran players like John Bowman and SJ Green have spent their entire careers playing with the Alouettes and this is the first time they will be forced to watch the playoff action through a television set instead of on the field. It’s a new feeling for the duo but they are stressing professionalism in their approach to this contest.
“I’ve never missed the playoffs,” said Bowman. I’ve never been in a position where we had to watch the West to see if we could get into the playoffs so I didn’t know how to feel. Every organization has its ups and downs and unfortunately for us it comes at this point of the year.”
Bowman sits just one sack back of the league lead and will be looking to overtake Jamaal Westerman for the title. The defensive end boasts six sacks over his last three games.
For an organization that boasts as impressive a playoff record as the Alouettes do, it’s easy to think that the ship will be turned around sooner rather than later.
“The future is bright,” said Green. “This is a strong organization that always has talent, always has a group of guys that are going to fight until the end and I expect nothing more than what I expect every other year and that’s to come back and perform and come back and fight and compete for a Grey Cup.”
For both Dyce and the Als, the message being preached for Sunday afternoon is simple: play hard and win.
“The main message is winning, as it always is. Nothing really changes,” said Dyce. “The one thing I talked to them about this morning is a lot of times at the end of the year, you don’t know whether it’s your last game. This week, we know it’s our last game. We know that this is our last time as a group to fight together and we got to take advantage of that, put everything we have into that and come out with a great performance on the weekend.”
Game Notes:
-The Alouettes’ run of 19 consecutive years in the playoffs (the second-longest in league history) came to end with their loss last week. By making the playoffs this season, the Lions have matched Montreal’s 19-year run and they each rank behind Edmonton’s 34-year run.
-The Als will have a losing record at home for just the second time since re-entering the CFL in 1996. They finished 4-5 at Molson Stadium in 2013 and are just 13-13 at home since the start of 2013. By comparison, Montreal compiled a record of 36-9 (.800) at home from 2008 to 2012 at Molson.
-The Riders are led on defence by Jeff Knox Jr. who is #2 in the CFL with 107 defensive tackles, a new club record for most tackles by a first-year player (previous: George White in 2000 with 105). Knox needs 14 to tie the CFL record for first-year players which was set by Calvin Tiggle in 1994 with 121 (corrected total). His 2015 total now ranks #4 all-time:
-The last time that Saskatchewan did not win a single road game in a season was 1999.
-This will be the first time since 1995 that at least one of Saskatchewan and Montreal will not be participating in postseason play.
-One of the main reasons for the Riders and Alouettes absence from the playoffs in 2015 has been a rash of injuries on both sides. The Riders have had 40 different players spend at least one game on the Injured List and a total of 248 player-games. For Montreal, the totals are even larger at 44 different players and 298 player-games. Those two totals for player-games missed trail only Hamilton at 334 games missed.
-Dressler needs 72 yards this game to reach 1,000 for the 6th time in his CFL career. His total of 7,784 career yards ranks #41 all-time, and only Ray Elgaard and Don Narcisse with 8 season of 1000+ yards have more in a Rider uniform.
