OTTAWA — Just two games separate the Montreal Alouettes and Ottawa REDBLACKS for first in the East Division with five to go, making Saturday’s matinee a must-watch.
Montreal heads to TD Place holding down top spot in the division with a 10-2-1 record. But they can’t afford to look back, as Ottawa sits four points behind with a record of 8-4-1.
A win for Montreal, along with a Toronto loss on Friday night, locks up a home playoff date. A win for Ottawa secures a playoff berth for the first time since 2018.
Both teams failed to come away with wins in Week 15, as Montreal tied Calgary 19-19 and Ottawa fell to Hamilton 37-21.
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The Als have averaged 21 points over their past three games and need the right arm of Cody Fajardo to lead the way.
As he remains without top targets Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot, who’s out for the season, making plays downfield falls on Kaion Julien-Grant, Tyler Snead and Charleston Rambo. The last time to two teams met, which ended in a 47-21 Montreal victory back in Week 3, Julien-Grant pulled down 116 yards.
Running back Walter Fletcher will also be utilized in the pass game while attempting to make his presence felt on the ground. He totalled 93 yards back on June 20.
Fajardo recognizes the offence has lacked big plays of late but isn’t worried about their ability to move down the field efficiently.
“Over the last three games that I’ve played, it’s been 90 per cent zone,” Fajardo said of the defences they’ve faced recently. “There’s things I need to clean up in my game to help our receivers to get them more accurate footballs. By no means are we hitting the panic button, I think it’s just kind of how defences are playing us. We have to go the long haul, we have to go seven, eight, nine play drives in order to score points, which is very difficult to do in the CFL but we have the guys that can do it.”
Ottawa sits right in the middle of the pack in net yards allowed at 284.3. When the ball goes in the air, Deandre Lamont, Alijah McGhee and Damon Webb pose the biggest defensive threats. Lamont sits in the top 10 in defensive tackles with 71 and McGhee and Webb both have three interceptions.
The REDBLACKS have taken a hit in the front seven, however, as linebacker Adarius Pickett is out for the season with an Achilles injury. Without Pickett, more pressure is placed on the defensive line.
Fortunately for Bob Dyce’s team, Lorenzo Mauldin IV and Michael Wakefield have been among the most impactful linemen in the league having registered 11 sacks combined. Disrupting Fajardo and containing Fletcher before he reaches open space will be critical in slowing the Als offence.
When it comes to Ottawa’s offence, it’ll be Dru Brown under centre despite him splitting time with Jeremiah Masoli last week.
The last time he saw the talented Als secondary, he found receiver Justin Hardy seven times for 143 yards. With Dominique Rhymes coming off a 129-yard performance, he’ll have two formidable options.
Staring down Brown and his receivers is a secondary holding opposing teams to 252.3 pass yards and 22.2 points per game. It’s a unit that’s received production across the field from the likes of Kabion Ento, Wesley Sutton and Dionté Ruffin. They’ll need to band together as they’ll be without veteran Marc-Antoine Dequoy who’s set to miss the game with a head injury.
If Dyce decides to lean on his run game, he’ll be doing so with increased confidence after Khalan Laborn carried the ball 13 times for 84 yards in their loss to Hamilton.
The Montreal front has struggled to limit yards on the ground, surrendering an average of 114.2, a mark that ranks them eighth. That statistic may not stand out in a good way, but much of the front seven has been impressive.
Linebackers Tyrice Beverette and Darnell Sankey are two of the most dynamic defenders in the Canadian Football League as they are first and third in total defensive plays with 103 and 93, respectively.
In front of them is a defensive line anchored by Mustafa Johnson and his five sacks, along with Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund who’s produced seven tackles for a loss.
Als head coach Jason Maas hasn’t been shy about his goals for the team but knows it’s going to take a lot of work the rest of the way to accomplish them.
“You want to make the playoffs, you’d like to have a home game, you’d like to finish in first,” Maas told reporters. “All those things are goals at the beginning of the year but ultimately they all happen by doing the daily work and staying in the process rather than thinking too much about the outcome of every week. Our focus is always going to be on where we are right now and that’s playing Ottawa this week. They’re tough and they’re proving it. They’re playing well in all three phases. We’re expecting a battle.”
If Montreal can remain undefeated on the road, they’ll take another step towards locking up the East Division.
Ottawa, meanwhile, can make the race for the top spot interesting with four games to go.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET. Canadians audiences can tune in on CTV and RDS while International and American viewers can watch on CFL+.
– with files from MontrealAlouettes.com