Nye: Alouettes facing must-win game vs. Argonauts

Jamie Nye

CFL.ca

@jamienye

‘Must-win’

It is the most overused cliché in breaking down a team’s desperation to win. It can be used way to early, especially in the CFL’s 18 game season.

Some believe ‘must-win’ should only be used when the math indicates you lose and your season is over.

But in saying that, let me say this about the Montreal Alouettes as they prepare to take on Toronto on Friday night.

This is a ‘must-win’ game. No cliché, just fact.

This will be the Alouettes 10th game of the season, meaning there is just under a half a season to go but in reality, they are running out of track to catch up to the rest of the East Division if they have any hope of proving the doubters wrong when many predicted they’d end up right where they are right now.

They are dead last and struggling for wins.

Let me break it down for you if you think I’m adding to the list of those who have overused ‘must-win’.

Take a look at the standings if they were to lose. 1-9, behind Hamilton and Toronto at 4-5 and the first place REDBLACKS, who are 6-3. Of course, with the crossover in play this season, Montreal will likely have to fight there way over two teams to make the playoffs.

Here is the biggest problem for the Alouettes, Hamilton and Toronto play each other three more times this season so one of those teams will also have AT LEAST six wins. With Montreal only have eight games left, a loss tonight and they’ll almost have to run the table.

There was promise a few weeks ago when the Alouettes held strong and lost late to the Ottawa REDBLACKS.

And it’s not like Toronto has exactly lit the world on fire in the last two weeks, with two late game comebacks.

But the urgency has to be there or General Manager Kavis Reed and Head Coach Mike Sherman will have to start giving opportunities to other players to see what they have.

Antonio Pipkin will make his second-straight start against the Argonauts this week (The Canadian Press)

The problem with Montreal has been the lack of play makers on either side of the ball. Big plays are lacking and on defence takeaways are not happening.

There is more than enough opportunity in Montreal for someone to show they’re going to put it all out there despite the record and realize opportunities to play professional football are rare no matter your record or whether you have a shot at the playoffs or not.

One of those players that knows that more than others is quarterback Johnny Manziel, who almost had his professional career end before he turned 24.

Manziel is still out of the lineup this week and can’t help the team on the field, but quarterback Antonio Pipkin has another chance to start a game and it’s important to him to continue to show a presence that could lead to more opportunities later in the season.

Tyrell Sutton is out so the Alouettes have 24-year old William Stanback getting an opportunity. He is a quick running back who can make things happen in the open field.

But it’s also time for veterans Ernest Jackson and Adarius Bowman to start contributing because a new wave of players is about to arrive with NFL cuts coming.

Montreal doesn’t need to look too far to see how quickly things can turn around with some inspired play. Three weeks ago, the Argonauts were sitting with Montreal with one win and wondering what it was going to take to turn it around.

McLeod Bethel-Thompson added a spark and just like that, the Argonauts have a chance to put three wins between them and the Als.

So where is that spark going to come from? If they were waiting for it to be Manziel, it’ll be too late.

Anybody and everybody needs to get this team a win right now or the 2018 season is going to finish with eight games that will be more important to finding what this team has for 2019, because they’ll be too far back in the race for the finish line this year.

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