Preview: What Alouettes need to do to beat Tiger-Cats
The Alouettes will head into Friday night’s clash against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-2) with a 1-0 record. After beating the Redblacks in the home opener on June 10th, the Als had their first of three bye weeks in Week 2.
Having a break so early in the season is strange, but it gives the team the ability to rest up after a busy training camp and first regular season game. It also allows them to get a more in-depth look at this week’s opponent, who has played two games.
“There are pros and cons,” starting quarterback Cody Fajardo said of the early bye week. “I got to see my family and I got to see my little guy. I hadn’t seen him in a month. A con is that you kind of lose the momentum. You feel like the season is starting over again. Another pro is that coming out of training camp, your body usually has these nicks, bumps, and bruises, and having that week off allows you to get your body right. Also, our opponent played two games, so we have two of their games to break down and they only have one of ours.”
There will be a lot of key matchups that will determine the result of this first road game of 2023. Let’s break some of those down.
Can the defence do it again?
The Als defence was nothing short of incredible in Week 1. According to Pro Football Focus, the defence scored an impressive overall grade of 83.2. They were led by their ball-hawking secondary, as they came up with three interceptions (two by Ciante Evans and one by Najee Murray).
As good as this unit is, they won’t be able to register three interceptions per week, but they can continue to make life difficult for opposing offences. In Week 1, Redblacks quarterback Nick Arbuckle was held to just 176 passing yards while starting running back Devonte Williams had just 36 rushing yards on 11 attempts.
“They played sound football,” head coach Jason Maas said of his defence’s Week 1 performance. “They attacked the ball, they attacked guys. When anybody (on Ottawa) touched the ball, they attacked them. There is nothing passive about our defence. I really enjoyed watching them.”
The challenge will be different on Friday night. The Ticats have proven playmakers like running back James Butler and receivers Tim White and Duke Williams. Starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell isn’t expected to play in Friday’s game, as he’s dealing with a lower-body injury. Former Alouette Matthew Shiltz will suit up in his place.
“I don’t know if their offence would change much,” Maas said. “I think each of them possesses a different skillset or plays that they’re comfortable or not comfortable with. I know that Shiltz has the dynamic ability with his legs that Bo doesn’t generally possess. Bo is a great athlete; he has great feet in the pocket and a great presence about him. Shiltz can get out and break a run like he did against in the preseason. We know that’s part of his game.”
Offensive Improvements
The offence played well enough to win in the first game of 2023, but like the other two phases of the game, they’ll need to be sharper.
They kicked off the season with an explosive play, as Cody Fajardo found Austin Mack for a 61-yard gain on second-and-12 on the team’ opening drive. That big play resulted in a one-yard touchdown run from Fajardo. The Als never gave up the lead after that.
To create explosive plays, a quarterback needs time to throw the football. Fajardo was sacked six times for losses of 57 yards. That’s too much, but it’s also too easy to pin this squarely on the offensive line. Protecting the quarterback is a collective effort. The quarterback, the offensive line, the receivers, the running backs all have to be on the same page, and the schemes need to be on point.
“We watched the tape (from Week 1),” offensive lineman Pier-Olivier Lestage said. “We feel like we corrected what we needed to correct. We feel like it was a communication issue and things we hadn’t seen before. Yes, we had a game plan, but we didn’t have much film on our opponent, and they did things we didn’t see on film. We don’t want to give up six sacks again, and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
On a positive note, Fajardo looked comfortable in his first game action as an Alouette. He finished the night 14-for-21 for 261 yards, and he added 15 more on the ground.
Mack, who was playing in his first CFL game, finished with a game-high 120 receiving yards on four receptions. The former Ohio State Buckeye will be counted upon this week against a young Tiger-Cats secondary.
Kaion Julien-Grant only had two receptions, but he showed his explosiveness on a 51-yard pick up early in the second half. Expect the 26-year-old to see a lot more targets as the season progresses.
Special Special Teams:
The special teams unit was virtually perfect against the Redblacks. Kicker David Cote went 4/4 on the field goals, punter Joseph Zema was on point all night, and the coverage unit was as physically dominant as we’ve seen them in a long time.
The Special teams don’t have the most glamourous job, but it’s a key part to winning a game in the CFL. Even if that unit doesn’t score a touchdown in a game, they still have a major impact on field position. Getting your offence the ball higher up the field gives them a better opportunity to score majors against the opposing defence.
“Both Cote and Zema did their jobs at an extremely high level,” Maas explained. “To have four field goals over 40 yards, I believe, and right down the pipe on all of them. And wherever Zema wanted to put the ball that night, he put it. However he wanted to punt it, he punted it extremely accurately and very well. That helps our special teams out a tremendous amount.”
