Post-game : Alouettes lose in B.C. on Saturday night

The Montreal Alouettes can’t seem to catch a break on the injury front this season, and that continued on Saturday night during a 36-18 loss to the B.C. Lions. The Alouettes, who were starting their third different quarterback tonight, lost starter Caleb Evans in the first half to a lower-body injury. He didn’t return.

Fullback David Dallaire exited the game with an upper-body injury after taking a high hit from Lions middle linebacker Micah Awe. Dallaire didn’t return either. A spearing penalty was assessed to Awe on the play.

Through 10 games, the Als have rolled with four different quarterbacks. Davis Alexander, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Evans and James Morgan, who made his CFL debut in Vancouver.

The Als came into this game with injuries to nine of their starting players.

Let’s take a look at what happened against the Lions:

JAMES MORGAN’S FIRST APPEARANCE

To Morgan’s credit, he was put in a tough position and did pretty well. He finished the game 20-for-33 for 211 yards and a touchdown. That score came late in the fourth quarter when he hit Tyler Snead for the major. That was Morgan’s first career touchdown pass in the CFL.

From an offensive standpoint, in order to win these games, they need to finish in the red zone. The Als made three trips inside the Lions 20-yard line and they came away with no touchdowns. It’s tough to win when you’re kicking field goals from short distances. There is only so long you can hang in games without finding the end zone for long stretches.

“The nature of this business is that you’re always one play away (from playing),” Morgan said after the game. “You never know when it could happen. You just have to be ready. That’s how I try to approach it.

“We have to be able to finish (in the red zone). Like any loss, there’s a lot of stuff to learn from. The bottom line is we want to get the win. We have a lot of fighters. We’re just going to keep scratching and clawing trying to get better and getting a win.”

All the moving parts on offence make it difficult for guys to get the chemistry down, but they’ll have to regroup and get ready for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday night.

DEFENCE HUNG IN THERE

As the game wore on, the Lions offence found a way to connect on big play after big play. The Als defence did what they could to keep the team in the game, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

The Als were in a relatively good spot going into half-time, as they were only down seven points on the road and they were set to receive the opening kickoff in the third quarter. A big reason they were in that position was because the defence forced two turnovers.

Tyrice Beverette had a nice night, as he managed to intercept Rourke and bring him down for a quarterback sack. He was also involved in the forced fumble the Als were able to recover before the break.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The players will have a couple of days away from the field before practicing again on Tuesday. For the second week in a row, the team will only hit the field once leading up to a game. They will then host the Bombers before going on an extended bye week. The next game will be the team’s final clash in August. They’ll return to the field on Sep. 6 when they take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Percival Molson Stadium.