THE CANADIAN PRESS Photo
MONTREAL — Another loss, and the chorus of questions grows louder in Montreal.
The Alouettes dropped a 28-18 decision to the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Friday night at Percival Molson Stadium; the offence sputtered for the better part of three quarters, while the defence held firm — outside of a 16-point second quarter.
At quarterback, Jeff Mathews — signed less than a month ago — finished the game 18-of-30 for 260 yards and a touchdown. Respectable numbers on their own, and stellar given how often he was under pressure/sacked.
“Considering the situation he was in, having gone through pre-season and the first part of the season without a ton of reps, I thought he handled himself admirably,” said Montreal head coach Mike Sherman of his quarterback. “Couple throws I wish we hadn’t made, but he made some pretty impressive ones throughout the game.”
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When handed the ball, feature back Tyrell Sutton ground his way to 41 yards on 11 carries.
It will be back to the drawing board for the Alouettes, who at 1-3 and with a minus-62 point differential have some serious reflecting to do.
“You fix something, and something else goes astray,” continued Sherman. “We have to put it all together.
“There were some positives today; the offensive line performed at a better level today, but we spent the entire week talking about eliminating penalties.”
That reflection must bare results, because Mike Sherman’s team is staring down a road trip to currently-undefeated Calgary in Week 6.
“We’re not scoring points at the rate we need to win football games,” said Sherman. “I always have concerns about everything that’s not working. Anybody sitting in my chair would be the same way. You do your best to fix it with what you have, or you go get something to help you fix it otherwise.”
Blowout Week-2 loss to Winnipeg aside, Montreal’s shiny new defence has done its job; an average of 22 points against is respectable and ought to give the team a chance to win.
Now, it will be up to the brains behind the Als’ X’s and O’s to sort out how to put up points on offence.
“When they come back from the bye, we’ve got to immediately address the issues and get us going in the right direction,” summarized Sherman.
