Alouettes drop road decision to Argonauts
Alouettes drop road decision to Argonauts on Saturday
The Montreal Alouettes dropped a 37-31 decision to the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday night at BMO Field. Prior to the game, the Als found out that they had clinched first place in the East Division because the Ottawa Redblacks lost to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
But Saturday’s game was wacky in a lot of ways. The Alouettes opened the scoring on a Cody Fajardo pass to Walter Fletcher after defensive back Dionte Ruffin managed to pick off Argos quarterback Chad Kelly. The rest of the game was a rollercoaster.
Let’s take a look at what happened:
James Letcher Jr. shines again:
Let’s start with an obvious positive. James Letcher Jr. continues to be dynamic in the return game. With the Als trailing in the second quarter, the returner managed to take a punt 100 yards to the house to give the Alouettes a 22-19 lead.
When he initially caught the ball, it seemed like the Argos had him pinned to the sideline. But thanks to his patience and speed, Letcher Jr. managed to find an opening.
“The return was crazy,” Letcher Jr, who scored a touchdown off a kick-off return at BMO Field in last year’s East Division Final win over the Argos, said. “We didn’t even call a return on that punt return, but coach (Byron Archambault) always tells me to get what I can get. I saw the sideline was sealed off for me. I just hesitated a little bit and I took off. The rest is history.”
Ground Game:
The Als ran the ball particularly well in the second half. Fletcher managed to churn out carries of at least seven yards on multiple occasions. Unfortunately for the Alouettes, they lost the battle on the ground by a wide margin. Montreal ran 16 times for 68 yards while the Argos gained 234 yards on 30 carries. That works out to an average of 7.8 yards per carry. It’s tough to win games when you’re giving up that many rushing yards.
“We didn’t get the job done,” defensive back Wes Sutton said. “It sucks. We didn’t win. But we did everything we could do. We gave our offence a chance at the end. It didn’t go our way today. We’ll watch the film, touch up some things. We have to be better defending the run. We need to stay true to our gaps.”
Noel Thorpe’s defence gave up yards tonight, but they also forced the Argos to settle for field goals on eight occasions.
Consistency on offence:
The Alouettes offence managed to capitalize on Ruffin’s first-quarter interception, but things were a little quieter the rest of the opening quarter.
They ended up trailing 17-9 in the second frame when the offensive unit came to life. Quarterback Cody Fajardo led the team down the field before ultimately completing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Cole Spieker. That got the Als back into the game. Just a few moments later, Letcher Jr. scored his touchdown.
The offence also went to work in the fourth quarter when they were down by eight points. Fajardo completed a deep pass over the middle to Reggie White Jr. which got the Als down to the Toronto two-yard line. Three plays later, Dominique Davis punched the ball into the end zone. Fajardo then hit Tyler Snead on the two-point convert to tie the game.
Overall, the Alouettes weren’t consistent enough in any facet of the game, but they showed signs of life at different times. Now, they just have to put it all together for 60 minutes.
There are still three games left to perfect the things they want to work on.
What’s next?
The Alouettes have a bye week on the schedule next week. They’ll be back on the field on Monday, October 14th at home against the Ottawa Redblacks.
