Alouettes’ four-game winning streak comes to an end Thursday

The Montreal Alouettes’ four-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday night, as they dropped a 47-17 decision to the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg.

Two pick-sixes by the defence

There’s a lot that didn’t go the Alouettes’ way tonight, but let’s start with the fact that they managed to score two touchdowns on defence tonight. Linebacker Tyrell Richards managed to intercept Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros on the first throw of the game. Richards returned the ball to the end zone for a touchdown to give the Als a 7-0 lead at the time.

Unfortunately for Richards, he exited the game with a lower-body injury in the second half and did not return. There was no update on his status after the game.

Late in the first half, safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy collected his second interception of the game, and he returned it to the house for a touchdown as well. That score gave the Als a 17-14 lead.

They found themselves down 20-17 at the break.

“In the first half, we were right there with them,” linebacker Fred Chagnon said after the game. “As the game went on, there was a big drop off in our play. How do you explain that? I have no idea. We’re going to go back to work in the next couple of days and we’ll come back stronger next week.”

Turnovers in the third quarter:

The Alouettes were outscored 17-0 in the third quarter. All 17 of Winnipeg’s points were scored off turnovers. There was an interception, a fumble and a turnover on downs. It’s difficult to win when you make those kinds of mistakes against any team, let alone the Blue Bombers.

On another injury note, receiver Austin Mack came out of the game in the second half. He did not return. No update was given on his status.

Penalties & Field Possession:

When the team commits turnovers and penalties in a game, the outcome is usually a loss.

In fairness to this team, penalties haven’t been a problem for them this season. On Thursday night, it was a different story. All three phases (offence, defence, special teams) took penalties against the Bombers. In the end, the Als took 13 penalties for 142 yards as a team.

“Penalties killed us tonight,” Chagnon explained. “Those are mental errors. It has nothing to do with fatigue. We weren’t good enough tonight, and we need to correct that.”

In the first half, the Als finished with 80 penalty yards and a lot of those came on special teams, which put the offence in tough when it came to field position. The team was backed up in their end zone once and they also started at their seven-yard line two other times. It’s tough to ask your offence to go on extended drives over and over again.

“We just have to clean up the little things,” defensive end Shawn Lemon said. “We need to clean up things, watch the film and learn from it. When we come out and play fast and we execute our assignments, we can play with anybody in this league. We just need to clean up the small things and we’ll be fine.”

What’s next?

The Alouettes will be back in action next Saturday, September 2nd when they host the B.C. Lions at Percival Molson Stadium. They will be honouring five former members of the team that will be going into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame this year in Josh Bourke, John Bowman, Jacques Dussault, Lloyd Fairbanks and Larry Smith.

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