How Alouettes beat Redblacks in Week 2
On Friday night, the Montreal Alouettes defeated the Ottawa Redblacks, 39-18. The win was the Als’ ninth in a row over Ottawa and their 11th consecutive victory at TD Place. That’s an impressive streak that’s hard to explain.
In 2024, the Redblacks lost just one home game all year and that came at the hands of these Alouettes.
There’s no denying that Montreal has Ottawa’s number right now, and they’re confident walking into that road stadium.
Here’s what stood out in Friday’s win.
1 – D-FENSIVE DOMINATION:
On three consecutive first half drives, the Redblacks started in Montreal territory. Once, they started at the 26-yard line (turnover on downs/goal line stand), the second time they began at the Als’ 54 (interception), and the third time they began at the Alouettes’ 51-yard line (two-and-out). They came away with no points all three times.
On the drive that followed the Caleb Evans touchdown in the second quarter, the Redblacks began their sequence from the Montreal 54. Again, that drive ended in a turnover, as Geoff Cantin-Arku batted a ball up into the air that he was able to intercept himself.
In the CFL, when you start your drive inside enemy territory, you’re almost guaranteed to come up with at least a field goal. But the Als held the Redblacks to zero points on those four drives.
“That’s the identity of our defence,” safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy said. “Last year, we asked ourselves what we could do better, and it was capitalizing on big plays. There were 10 interceptions we could’ve made last year that we didn’t. That’s a huge number. We want to create defensive turnovers.”
Every turnover is critical, but there’s nothing like a goal line stand. They Als managed to shut down the Redblacks on second and third down from their own one-yard line. That allowed the defence to set the tone very early on.
“We don’t want to give up anything,” defensive tackle Shawn Oakman said. “We gave up 18 points today and that was a little too much. We have a high standard for ourselves and for our team. Anytime we can get a stop in the red zone, that’s always a bonus for us.”
2 – QUICK STRIKE OFFENCE:
If the Redblacks had awesome field position for most of the first half, the Alouettes were on the opposite end of spectrum. They started back-to-back drives from the Ottawa two and six-yard lines. As you’d imagine, they couldn’t muster much on those drives. But in the middle of the second quarter, that all changed.
After an Ottawa field goal, the Als elected to take the ball on their own 40-yard line up 6-3. On the first play of the drive, Davis Alexander hit a wide-open Tyler Snead for a huge gain that got the Als to the one-yard line. Evans punched the ball in from there, and the Alouettes took a 13-3 lead. It was the first real explosive play on offence, and it came at a critical moment. The Alouettes still settled for more field goals than they would’ve liked, but that play got the offensive unit kick-started.
In the end, Alexander threw for a career-high 344 passing yards in the victory. That’s a career-high for the 26-year-old, and the two long passes to Snead helped get him to that impressive number.
“It felt good (offensively) tonight,” Alexander said. “We’re starting to reach that potential that we want to get to. It shows that anybody can be used as a huge weapon as Mack and Snead went over 100 yards. Philpot had 40 on the first drive. You never know who’s going to get you.”
3 – THE TYLER SNEAD SHOW:
On top of that long 65-yard catch-and-run from Snead, he also had a 35-yard reception a little later in the quarter. The Alouettes receiver finished the half with four receptions on five targets for an incredible 117 yards. He also scored bonus yardage on both of his big plays because Ottawa defenders brought him down via horse collar tackles, which are major fouls.
Alexander went to Tyson Philpot three times on the opening drive of the game, but Snead took over the target share the rest of the half. Austin Mack, who finished with 103 yards, got the majority of the targets in the second half.
4 – JOSE MALTOS’ BIG NIGHT:
Maltos, who spent time in the Redblacks organization, put together a spectacular performance in the first half. The global kicker made all four of his attempts and connected on the lone extra point in the first half.
His fourth field goal was particularly big, as it came with no time left on the clock in the second quarter and it was from 49 yards out.
Maas clearly has a lot of faith in his kicker because the Als had all the momentum at that point and a 16-3 advantage. Yes, the points were huge in that situation but missing that kick would’ve allowed Redblacks star returner DeVonte Dedmon to bring the ball out of the end zone with a lot of green grass in front of him.
In the end, it didn’t matter Maltos made the kick to put the Alouettes up by 16 points at the break.
“My mentality is like a point after a touchdown,” Maltos said of his long field goals. “I don’t realize the yards; I don’t check the yards. I don’t see anything. I just need to trust in my technique. I know that if I do a good technique and make good contact, the field good should be good.”
In the fourth quarter, Maltos hit another massive kick. With the Als up by eight points, the Mexican nailed a 50-yard field goal attempt to restore Montreal’s two-possession lead.
He finished the game six-for-six on field goals and three-for-three on extra points.
5 – WELCOME DES HOLMES
The Alouettes were forced to dress a rookie left tackle tonight because two-time East All-Star Nick Callender was out with a foot injury. Des Holmes made his CFL debut and looked rock-solid along the offensive line. Replacing Callender isn’t easy, but Holmes did a solid job in his first game.
“I was super proud of him,” Alexander said of Holmes. “I congratulated him after the game on his first CFL start. He’s a good guy to have in the locker room, and I know he’s already bought in to our culture.”
The 25-year-old spent parts of two seasons with the Redblacks in 2023 and 2024 but has seemingly found a home in Montreal after a strong training camp performance.
CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
6 – NAIL IN THE COFFIN:
The Redblacks offence moved the ball a little bit more in the second half, but Wesley Sutton put the game to bed with a pick-six in the fourth quarter to give the Als a 36-18 lead. 6-foot-8 defensive tackle Shawn Oakman deserves a lot of credit for tipping the ball up into the air before Sutton was able to grab it.
7 – THE OAKMAN ASSISTS
In each of his two games as an Alouette, Oakman has delivered key assists to his teammates. Of course, the deflection on the Sutton interception was key, but he also helped force a fumble in last week’s game against the Toronto Argonauts, which Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund scooped up for a touchdown.
“You have to give credit to coach Thorpe,” Oakman said. “I’m all over the place in this defence. He’s playing me everywhere…I’m enjoying it and taking advantage of the matchups, I have.”
