Aug 16 Alouette's Defense More Than "OK"

Leading up to the game pitting the Alouettes against the Bluebombers, Winnipeg running-back Fred Reid said the Als' defense "isn’t that good. They’ve got an okay defensive line. The linebackers aren’t all that good. Not to me.” Maybe he should have left well enough alone.

It's not as if Montreal's defence needed any more motivation, but in this game that would either see the two teams tied atop the CFL standings, or have Montreal pull away, both offense and defense would shine as the Als defeated the Bluebombers convincingly 39-12 and contained Reid to only 49 yards in the process.

Anthony Calvillo who until last night's game had gone 10 consecutive quarters and 117 pass attempts without a touchdown pass, made up for lost time, starting in the first quarter, rifling off three consecutive majors in a row and got a fourth later in the game.

Adrian McPherson, called upon ever so rarely by coach Marc Trestman, also proved he was capable when the team looked to him to move the ball forward, even gaining extra yards on a surprise run that caught most Winnipeg players looking to stop the forward motion to gain a few inches.

And what about the "OK" defensive core?

Although Calvillo got picked twice during the game, Montreal's defense limited the Bluebombers to only a field goal for their efforts, and in fact, Winnipeg's only scoring came off of 4 field goals for the night as the Als' D kept them on their toes, intercepting the ball twice themselves, as well as recovering a fumble off a kick return. Diamond Ferri, who openly took offence to Reid's remarks, took any means necessary to stop the tailback including grabbing him by his horse collar for the takedown, for which the Als were charged a 15 yard penalty, but the Bombers would not capitalize on that run.

Matthieu Proulx, who looked like he may have been out for some time after seeing him writhe in pain after a tackle, favoring his right hand, came back to play and before you know it, he was the key in the aforementionned fumble recovery as well as one of the Als' 2 interceptions.

Montreal is now sitting pretty, atop the CFL standings, with no one, for now, seeming like they will threaten to de-throne them any time soon.

They now have 5 days rest before they face the 3-5 Roughriders who wont have the same luxury as they have a game to play today against Hamilton before they have the Alouettes to worry about.

Kickoff is at 7:30 PM.

pic from tsn.ca

Tags: cfl \ defense \ Diamond Ferri \ football \ Fred Reid \ Marc Trestman \ Matthieu Proulx \ Montreal Alouettes \ recap \ score \ Winnipeg Bluebombers