Thomas Skrlj/CFL.ca
The 110th Grey Cup is the ultimate David vs. Goliath football story.
The team everyone wrote off at the start of the year with a new head coach, quarterback, receiving corps and losing a lot of star defensive players against a team that is appearing in their fourth straight championship game.
The matchup could be clearly seen as one sided as some of the oddsmakers have made it out to be, but those around the CFL know this game has the makings for a much closer competition.
Or, are the Alouettes running in hot enough to go from a David to a Cinderella story to end their season.
So here’s my final prediction of the season:
110th GREY CUP
» Costabile: Sankey brings championship, underdog mentality to Als
» O’Leary: Grant sizes up another big game moment
» Landry: A Biggie-sized question looms over Bombers
110TH GREY CUP – WINNIPEG VS MONTREAL
The biggest story going into the Grey Cup is the defensive juggernaut the Montreal Alouettes have turned into. I pointed out their turnover differential last week on how good the Alouettes have been at taking the ball away and also their offence playing disciplined enough not to give it back.
Of course, after writing a piece that pointed to the possibility of an upset, I went with the default pick of going with Toronto.
I should have followed my gut.
However, the Alouettes are up against a much more experienced quarterback in Zach Collaros, who is making CFL history this week as the only quarterback to start in four straight Grey Cup games.
This moment will not become too large for Collaros, like it appeared to be for Chad Kelly in his first ever playoff start. And before you start talking about last year’s Grey Cup, it’s always a lot easier for a guy to come off the bench and have zero time to think about the moment than it is to have all the pressure on your shoulders.
The Bombers bring in an offensive line and run game that if they can establish it will absolutely wipe out the high flying, ball seeking attack of the Alouettes defence.
It’s a lot easier to run over this Als defence than it is to run by them. Brady Oliveira is a must to control the game and keep the ball in the Bombers hands and the potential to own the field position game for the Grey Cup.
Of course on the flip side, you have the Bombers defence who were all over a clearly hobbled Vernon Adams Jr. in the Western Final, totalling 10 sacks.
The Montreal Alouettes have given up plenty of sacks this season and the Bombers have traditionally been able to attack Jason Maas’ offence with Cody Fajardo over the years when they were in Saskatchewan, though overall it’s a completely different team.
Fajardo has been safe with the football but as we’ve seen in the playoffs is due to have one ‘oops’, so far it hasn’t haunted the Alouettes because the defence has been able to lock it down.
What we haven’t seen from Montreal is to their offence moving the ball with much consistency in the playoffs.
I believe we need to see the Alouettes do more of what they did against the Tiger-Cats and establish the run and cut Fajardo loose a little by using his legs to extend the play. Four carries for 62 yards in the Eastern Semi-Final was Fajardo in his element.
The other aspect, which I’ll write about as well in more detail, is the advantage of the special teams going slightly to the Alouettes. James Letcher Jr. has been another great Alouette diamond in the rough like Mario Alford and Chandler Worthy before him.
All in all, maybe it’s the lack of sleep during Grey Cup week or wanting to believe in the underdog or my mind saying the Als are faster, less beat up and are riding an amazing wave of momentum and belief into this game.
I expect an extremely close game and I believe the Alouettes defence makes one or two more plays than the Bombers.
I’ll even give you a score this week: 24-22
PICK: MONTREAL
