THE CANADIAN PRESS
CFL.ca Staff
TORONTO — There’s plenty to take from each week of exciting CFL action, and every Monday we deliver some of the things we learned from the week’s biggest plays. The Semi-Finals failed to provide any big upsets, as both home teams are moving on to the Division Finals — but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any surprises. The Montreal Alouettes made a bold statement by putting up 50 on the BC Lions and shutting down Kevin Glenn, while the Edmonton Eskimos relied on their defence and special teams to grind out a tight matchup against the Riders.
The stage is set for the Division Finals, but before we delve into those matchups, we look at what we learned in the opening round of the 2014 CFL Grey Cup Playoffs.
1. The Alouettes are who we thought they were!
When the Alouettes rattled off six straight wins to bounce back from a 1-7 start, many still had their doubts. The offence wasn’t shooting the lights out, while some games they had to win pretty. It was understandable why some didn’t believe the Als were the real deal.
An ugly loss to the Ticats raised more doubts for many, as the team showed some signs of cracking. But in what’s been a theme for this team in 2014, the Alouettes bounced back in a huge way in the Eastern Semi-Final. Six different players scored seven touchdowns, as the team put up 50 points and the defence played lockdown football against a respectable Lions opponent.
The Alouettes are proving to everyone that they’re a heck of a lot more like the team that is now 9-2 with Jonathan Crompton as a starter than the team that started the season 1-7 and lost to the Ticats in the regular season finale. Stay tuned for more as this story is ongoing, but so far, you have to like what you’ve seen from the Alouettes over the last 11 games.
2. The Als’ running back depth saved their season.
