(Montreal) The pun is easy to make, but we’re going to use it anyway; The Montreal Alouettes are booming. A boom that began a little after mid-September 2023 after four consecutive defeats, the last two against a club from the eastern section, which later this week will try to slow down a Montreal team that has since become irresistible.
That rival is the Toronto Argonauts (2-0), who will host the Alouettes (3-0) at BMO Field on Friday night.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since head coach Jason Maas’ men dominated the Argonauts 38-17 on the same field during the Canadian Football League East Final on Nov. 11. Eight days later, the Alouettes won the Gray Cup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
This is a matchup defensive back Marc-Antoine Dequoy is eagerly anticipating against a team he respects to the highest degree even in the absence of quarterback Chad Kelly. He has been serving a nine-game suspension since the league announced in early May that he had violated the circuit’s policy on gender-based violence.
“It is a really strong team. We should not think that because Chad Kelly is not there, they are any less strong. They are excessively strong,” Dequoy said after the Alouettes’ practice Wednesday afternoon in Saint-Léonard.
“They’re well managed and they still have big players on both sides. We’re not taking this lightly by any means. It’s going to be a good team that we’re going to face. It’s just a matter of coming away with the win,” he added.
Records
The Alouettes will present themselves in the stronghold of the Argonauts as they experience their best moments in many years.
For example, it is the first time since 2011 that they have won their first three games in the program. If they win Friday night, they will match their start to the 2009 campaign, a season in which they had a 15-3 record and won the Gray Cup.
Furthermore, the 47-21 rout they dished out to the Ottawa Rouge et Noir last Thursday during their home opener allowed the Alouettes to match their team mark of eight straight regular-season wins, accomplished on three other occasions either in the same season ( 2002) or over two years (1976-77; 1996-97).
The current lineup covers the last five games of 2023 and the first three of 2024.
Even better, they’ve won their last 11 games – eight in the regular season, three in the playoffs – erasing their old record of 10 straight wins – six in the regular season and four in the playoffs – dating back to the 1949 season . 50.
After two questions on the same theme Wednesday afternoon, Maas ended up suggesting that such streaks — which he didn’t know existed, he said — are not trivial. But he quickly comes back to the basics.
“My short answer to that is ‘we don’t care, we just want to win, that’s all’. We go about our business week in and week out, we care about ourselves, our process. I think we had an excellent training week ,” Maas said when a reporter asked him about the possibility of winning a ninth straight game in the regular season.
“Would a win like that be special? Absolutely! But they’re all special,” Maas continued, to the second question.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Jason Maas
I’ve said it before: In this organization, we never take victory for granted, we never take our preparation for granted. We just focus on that and when you win and you keep winning, good things happen. That would be a huge accomplishment for this organization and for this group of guys, but that’s not why we do what we do.
Jason Maas, head coach of the Alouettes
One thing is certain: The Alouettes are currently nothing like the club that, on September 15, 2023, had just suffered its fourth straight loss and sixth in 13 games, 23-20 at home against the Argonauts.
Over its last eight games of 2023, including the playoffs and the Gray Cup game, the Montreal team has scored 239 points and given up just 123, for an average of just over 15 points per game.
“I think as an organization we just keep getting better,” Maas said when asked to explain his team’s impressive transformation.
“We learned our lessons throughout the season last year. Every week we learned more, we improved as the season progressed. This year we picked up where we left off,” he added.
In his analysis, Maas did not forget to pay tribute to his players.
“The guys are focused on their task. They know how to prepare, they know how we run the team, they know our systems. Above all, we have a wonderful group of guys who love to play for each other. And we work hard to achieve this. But there have been lessons along the way and there will be plenty to learn this season. We don’t take a day for granted, and that’s what I love about this group of guys.”
