October 1, 2018

Our Alouettes fall short against the Riders, but will continue to play with pride

”I’m having fun playing this game again. I didn’t know if I would ever feel like this again”, admitted a positive Johnny Manziel after Sunday’s matchup against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Words that feel good to hear after a loss, especially coming from a man who hasn’t had the smoothest of comebacks. Our Alouettes hit the field dressed in their winged jersey in honour of the Canadian Armed Forced. They were gassed up, ready for battle, and they fought until the last minute.

”I’m going to continue playing with pride. I saw progress in a lot of areas. It’s tough to fall short like this, but I don’t see discouragement in the locker room”, Johnny followed.

Johnny Manziel

Pride is also something that kick returner Stef Logan talked about in a post-game interview.  Regardless of their record, the guys are determined to put on good shows for the fans until the end of the season. And that’s exactly what Stef did when he hauled the ball on 74 yards into the end zone to top off the third quarter, making it a one-possession game precisely when the team needed a little pick me up.

Our 37-year-old agent zero wasn’t the only one to show grit and determination yesterday. Both sides of the ball had their ups and downs, but what we detected, from an offensive perspective mostly, was progress. Exactly what you need when in the process of rebuilding your team.

The pace was set early as the good guys scored at their second possession. After Jesse Joseph and Ryan Brown partnered up to force Collaros to turn over the ball in his first offensive attempt, Johnny Manziel stood in good position at the Saskatchewan 32-yard line. It took a whole 39 seconds for the Alouettes offence to reach the end zone. The confusion over a procedure penalty against Montreal that ended up being an offside against the Riders lasted longer than the series itself. Johnny first connected with Ernest Jackson for a 24-yard gain, then took matters into his hands (or feet), stopping his run at Sask’s one-yard line and passing the torch to fellow QB Antonio Pipkin who easily sneaked into the end zone to give our Als a seven-point lead after seven minutes of play.

Antonio Pipkin, Eugene Lewis

When asked how he felt about his mechanics, Johnny provided an honest, yet encouraging answer. ”I think I could have cut it loose a little more. However, for the most part, I felt like my feet were solid under me and that I was reading what was in front of me. We had a good rhythm in the first half.”

Surely, the number two team in the West wasn’t going to stand there and watch the game unravel. Who would have wanted that anyways? Tight matchups are so much more fun, right? The green men quickly replied with two consecutive touchdowns, the first on the ground as RB Tre Mason glided far too easily through the Montreal defence and the second when Collaros completed a 23-yard pass to receiver Kyran Moore with no time left in the first quarter. It was 13-7 after 15 minutes.

Visibly, the morale was still good in the huddle and the focus still sharp because the offence struck back with an interesting trick play slightly over a minute after the start of the second quarter. The ball went from Johnny to running back William Stanback, to star receiver BJ Cunningham, then back to Johnny who spotted Adarius Bowman running upfield. A 47-yard gain that led to Johnny’s first passing TD in the CFL and Bowman’s first TD as an Alouette.

”We had been trying to call that play since the beginning of the game, said Manziel. I wanted BJ to give me the ball back as quickly as possible because I saw Adarius was open.”

Adarius Bowman

The defence followed suit by rapidly shutting down both the run and pass game in the Riders next two offensive series. Special shout out goes to Chip Cox who led the team with nine tackles and is now fourth in CFL history. While Chip and his teammates were taking care of the tackles on the field, you, as well as partners BMO Financial Group, Old Dutch Foods, PepsiCo, Le Maraîcher A. Barbeau et fils inc., Les Producteurs de pommes du Québec and Confiserie Regal helped Purolator tackle hunger by raising 31,169 pounds of food for Moisson Montreal.

If you take a glance at the possession time, it is clear that the defensive unit wasn’t able to maintain its aggressiveness throughout the game. After Boris Bede put up another three points on the scoreboard, the Riders hit hard with a rushing touchdown and a successful two-point conversion. Add another field goal and it was 24-17 in favour of our opponents at the half.

”We did enough good things to win the game”, said Coach Sherman during his locker room speech. ”But we also did enough bad things to lose the game. We’re not going to look at the good things tomorrow. We’re going to spend a lot of time looking at what went wrong. ”

We’re guessing they’ll be looking at the third quarter because it seemed to be when everything just fell flat. The Riders rushed into the end zone again shortly after the break, taking their lead to 31-17, and our Alouettes really only got their mojo back right before the final quarter when Stef Logan flew on 74 yards to tighten the score.

”My guy upfront was pointing to show me where the ball was going. They tried to fool us, but I didn’t move”, said Stef Logan whose experience continues to be an asset for the special teams group.

Stefan Logan

Henoc Muamba was next to show off his rushing skills when he intercepted a pass and ran on 39 yards. The imposing linebacker started his football career as an RB in high school. Trying to find gaps with the ball in his hand in the fourth quarter certainly brought back some memories.

Speaking of memories… We sure held our breath when Johnny Manziel slid head first into the end zone trying to successfully complete a two-point conversion. Johnny threw a 20-yard pass to Ernest Jackson with 9:30 minutes left on the clock, good for E-Jack’s first TD of the season. In an attempt to tie the game, our QB then rushed towards the end zone the same way he did in his second CFL game, in Ottawa. Thankfully, this time, he wasn’t in a daze when he got back up. Unfortunately, this time, no points were scored on the play.

After another field goal by the Riders, it was 34-29 for the Riders and the game was in the books.

While the most frustrating part for Johnny was the missed two-point conversion, it had to be losing in front of you, the fans, for Coach Sherman. ”Our fans are loyal, they are loud, and they stay until the end. They deserve to go home with a win in their pocket. It’s the most frustrating thing to me. We have every reason to be winning because our fans are supporting us”, he declared in his press conference.

There are two home games left on the schedule. Two more opportunities to win in front of our favourite crowd and we will fight to make the most of them. Next up: Family Day on Monday, October 8 as we take on the Calgary Stampeders.