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Article July 20, 2022

Preview: Alouettes travel to Ottawa to take on Redblacks on Thursday

HARELIMANA, BRIAN #0 of the Montreal Alouettes Awe, Micah #2 of the Montreal Alouettes

The Alouettes are on the road again this week, as they’ll take on the Redblacks in Ottawa on Thursday night. The Als won three of four games against their East Division rival last season, including both games at TD Place.

Montreal will head into this game with a 1-4 record, while Ottawa sits at 0-5. This will be the first matchup between these two teams in 2022. They’ll face each other three more times between now and the end of the season.

Here’s what you need to know heading into this crucial matchup:

Adarius Pickett is back:

There’s some excellent news on the injury front to report.

Linebacker Adarius Pickett will be back in the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. The 25-year-old has been a force on defence and on special teams this season. In three games, he has 11 defensive tackles, an interception and two tackles on special teams.

“It brings energy, it brings a lot of passion, it brings some attitude, and it brings a coaching piece because he knows what everybody is supposed to be doing, all 12 guys,” head coach and GM Danny Maciocia said of Pickett’s return. “He’s going to be able to line up our guys right in case their misaligned.”

First return to Ottawa for Davis and Ellis:

It will be a special night for a pair of Als players on Thursday. Quarterback Dominique Davis and defensive end Avery Ellis will be making their first trips to Ottawa since signing with the Als in free agency over the winter.

Davis spent three seasons with the Redblacks from 2018 to 2021. His best year came in 2019, when he passed for 2,216 yards and rushed for 115 yards and six touchdowns.

“Of course, I have that game circled (on my calendar),” Davis said during last week’s Alouettes post-game show on Facebook Live. “I’m going to just take it like a regular week. I’m not going to get too high or too low, but this is one I’ve got circled.”

The 33-year-old has been terrific in short-yardage situations for the Als in 2022. He’s already rushed for four touchdowns including two against the Elks last Thursday.

Ellis spent four seasons in Ottawa between 2017 and 2021. He accumulated a career-high six quarterback sacks during the 2017 and 2019 seasons.

The 27-year-old has nine tackles and two sacks in his first five games as a member of the Alouettes.

“I’m a guy that zones in. I’ll treat it like every other game,” Ellis said after practice on Sunday. “I have a process and I like to stick to that. I don’t treat it any bigger than what it is, actually. It’s a game I love to play. I go out there and try to kick someone’s butt on every down.

“Some of my old teammates are still there. Those are some of the things that when I look back, it stays on my mind.

“I’m not a big smack-talker. If I could talk smack to anyone, it would be on defence. It would be Avery Williams or someone like that (laughs). If I would, and I see him, I’m talking smack to him.”

Offensive improvements:

One of the positives that came out of last Thursday’s loss to Edmonton was the ability to finish in the red zone. The Als made five trips inside the Edmonton 20-yard line, and they managed to come up with four touchdowns and one field goal.

Yes, one of those touchdowns came off a Marc-Antoine Dequoy interception that was taken down to the one-yard line, but they were still efficient overall with Anthony Calvillo calling the plays.

The Als also made some improvements when it came to second-and-long situations.

“We realized that we had issues in that area,” Calvillo said on Tuesday when he was asked about the red-zone offence. “We also realized that we had issues on second and long – I think we were the worst team in the league in that category. We really tried to focus, one, on the play-calls. What are we going to call down there? And then go down there and execute them. Not just once but twice. And then when we’re talking to the players when we’re watching film, we say: ‘okay guys, this is the play we’re going to call on second and long and these are the looks; this is what could happen. There was a lot of discussion in that aspect, and I think that carried into the game.

“In the red zone, we actually did more last week on Day 2 (of practice). Just to get some extra looks added, so the players know these are the plays we’re going to call down there. We’re going to practice them today; we’re going to practice them tomorrow.

“That’s what we try to do, is analyze where our issues are at and see how we can get better…Now we have to do it again.”

The Opposition:

The Redblacks are in the basement of the East Division standings for now, but they’ve been extremely competitive this year. They opened the season with two difficult losses against the defending Grey Cup Champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and they came up just short in last Saturday’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Ottawa will be without starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. He’s out for an extended period of time after undergoing surgery on his leg. He was injured during a game in Regina two weeks ago.

Caleb Evans, who made his first start of the season last week, is expected to get the nod again this week. The 24-year-old is in his second CFL season.

“[Ottawa is] a desperate football team that’s going to come out and get after us,” Maciocia said on Tuesday. “They’re going to bring the energy and the passion, and they’re going to try to set the temp from the outset of the football game.”

Depth Chart:

There are a couple of tweaks that have been made to the depth chart ahead of this game.

Tyrell Richards will move from middle linebacker to WILL linebacker, while veteran Micah Awe will play in the middle. This will be the first time Richards, Awe and Pickett all line up together in the starting defence but expect the first overall pick to line up at a couple of different positions against the Redblacks.

“I think he’s someone that deserves to be on the field when the defence is on the field,” Maciocia said of Richards. “We’re going to use him in a rotation as a linebacker and on the defensive line. He has nice qualities. We know what he brings to the field at that position. We’re going to take advantage of his athletic abilities on Thursday.”

Richards has experience playing defensive end in college at Syracuse.

Canadian running back Jeshrun Antwi is listed as the starter ahead of Walter Fletcher this week. Expect to see both players get their touches throughout the game.