Post game Alservations: Deeing it Up

The Montreal Alouettes relied on the defensive side of the ball in their 27-4 victory past the Edmonton Eskimoes. Here are this week's Alservations...

- Chip Cox may still be behind some other contenders but is making his claim as one of the top defensive players in the game. He had 4 tackles, 2 sack and a pair of forced fumbles.

- Moton Hopkins making his Als debut sacked Ricky Ray a pair of times himself, The Als in all had 6 sacks... None by John Bowman.

- The Als Dominance in run defence continued as the Esks had 7 carries for minus 1 yard. Jerome Messum was a non-factor on the ground.

- Speaking of the ground, not only did the Als Sack Ray 6 times, they hit him 10 more times.

- Another Milestone or two for AC. Calvillo now has 400 career touchdown passes and over 70 000 passing.

- The pass protection on AC wasn't as strong as Coach Trestman would like. he was sacked 3 times and was rushed out of the pocket more than he normally is.

- Calvillo still has never thrown for 3 TDs in 18 head to head match-ups with Ricky Ray. He had two tosses both to Jamel Richardson.

- Ramon Guzman's hit on Jerome Messum will make the plays of the year.

-Kicking wise Sean Whyte has hit 19 straight FGs on the season with 4 in the game, But he punted and kicked off better than he has all season long. Maybe he was trying to prove something to Damon Duval making his return to Montreal.

-Tim Maypray tweeted this morning that he only has an ankle sprain and nothing will keep him down. he was finally able to break a big run on Duval's MFG.

- Scott Flory said he may wrestle a Bear or "A Coyot" on his Bye Week

The Als don't play until August 27th in Calgary as they will get a coming days off. We'll break down the first unofficial half of the season this coming Tuesday on The Als This Week on The TEAM 990 www.team990.com at 7pm eastern.

The Watch List: Marquee Match-Up

The Alouettes return home to face top team in the west the Edmonton Eskimoes. Here is what to watch in tonights game.

-RB Jerome Messum should see a lot carries early on, Kavis Reed will want the Als to concentrate on the run game to give Ricky Ray more time in the pocket later in the game.

-To counter the Als injuries on the Defensive Line (McElveen and Bekasiak), look for Ferri and Emry to get more blitzes than normal.

-John Bowman had 4 sacks in his first 3 games, none in the last 3 weeks. He is too good not to hit Ray at least once tonight.

-Look for shorter and quicker passes form Ray throughout the game as Fred Stamps and Adarius Bowman will not play. Marcus Henry will see more balls. Take the over of 6 balls to Jason Barnes at slotback.

-For the Als, success goes through Brandon Whitaker, he’ll need to catch 3-5 balls to go with over ten carries for an Alouette win.

-Anthony Calvillo only has 2 TD passes in his last 3 games. He’ll have at least 2 tonight.

-If Damon Duval misses just 1 FG, he will hear it from the Alouette faithful.

Here are some interesting numbers heading into tonights game, The Eskimoes have lost their last 3 games at Percival Molson Stadium. The average margin of victory for Montreal has been 29 points. Montreal also holds a 10 point playoff win over Edmonton at the Olympic Stadium in 2008.

The spread is 6 and a half, so it is tempting to take the Alouettes by a TD. But I like the way that Kavis Reed has his team thinking let alone playing. In an exciting tight game I’ll take the Alouettes by a late Sean Whyte FG 38-36.

Watch List: AC vs AC

The Montreal Alouettes head into Hamilton to face Avon Cobourne for the first time. Cobourne will want to impress his former mates as the Tiger-Cats look for their 3rd win in a row.
Montreal will have their own AC in the line-up, as Calvillo is good to go after leaving last week with blurred vision.
Sorry for no Watch List last week, but alas it is back for week 5

-Look for AC to find Kerry Watkins within his first 3 throws.

-Brandon Whitaker will be used more this week, as he was stuck in the backfield helping Jeraill McCuller block for the most part last week against Saskatchewan.

-Brandon London may see less balls thrown his way but he still remains a threat downfield. So look for any throws his way 20plus yards.

-Avon Cobourne will at some point in this game will be jawing with Shea Emry

-Kevin Glenn will look to go deep down the middle with Jeff Hecht starting at Safety in place of Etienne Boulay. Marcel Bellefeuille will be testing him early.

-Dwight Anderson and Billy Parker will have their hands full with rookie WR Chris Williams he has looked great in the 1st few weeks.

Prediction time, The Alouettes dont lose twice in a row that often. It is on the road so I expect this to stay close. Big games from Calvillo and Whitaker will carry the team. Montreal 30, Hamilton 28.

Post- Game Alservations: Put it in the Record books

Well it was going to happen for Anthony Calvillo sooner or later, he just decided on sooner. AC hit Eric Deslauriers in the 1st quarter to break the CFL's all-time TD mark as the Als trumped the Argos 40-17.

-This game wasn't all AC, RB Brandon Whitaker played a huge role with 27 touches and 214 total yards. The fact that Whitaker caught 11 passes means that the Argos DBs were doing their job.

-It did seem however, that Jim Barker did not implement a game plan for the one they call B-Whit. He showed a tremondous ammount of vision on numerous run plays finding not one or two holes but sometimes three.

-Back to AC, he's thrown 2 INTs this year, both started in the hands of his own receiver (Jamel Richardson and Eric Deslauriers).

-Chip Cox set a CFL record of his own with his 108 Fumble return. The previous mark was that of Ottawa Roughrider Al Washington in 1984 of 104 yards.

-Including special teams Chip Cox played 69 plays total in this game, He also had a pic and 7 tackles.

-Chad Kackert was washing dishes before the game and forgot to dry off his hands before playing, 2 fumbles at critical points in the game.

-Decent night for the Alouettes D line, 4, hurries, 4 hits and 2 sacks on Cleo Lemon.

-It was OL Scott Flory's 35th birthday, He was forced to play tackle when Josh Bourke got hurt. He hasn't done so since 2005. He prefers Guard as he was called for a holding penalty in the tackle position.

-Great to see Brandon London improve his game for the 3rd straight game. game 1: 1 reception, game 2: 3 receptions and game 3: 6 receptions. Anthony Calvillo is developing confidence with the wideout.

-What would have happened if Jamel Richardson and Kerry Watkins were in the line-up?

-It was a nice ceremony for Ben Cahoon, it is always great to see him in Montreal. But I have always believed if its a no-brainer to retire an athletes number, then there is no reason to wait. Just do it right away.

The Alouettes now have a long week of rest a recuperation as the host Saskatechewan next next Saunday evening a Percival Molson Stadium.

The Watch List- Keeping an Eye on History

The Montreal Alouettes host the Toronto Argonauts in an east division battle. With a Win the Als will be all alone in top spot as an Argos win would create a three-way tie with Winnipeg. Here's what to look for tonight.

- It's all about the Alouettes first series as Anthony Calvillo will break the tie with Damon Allen for top spot on the CFL all-time TD passing list. AC and Trestman would love to get it over with so they could just concentrate on football.

- If the Als aim for the endzone early on a bomb, look for SJ Green or Brandon London to be on the other end of it.

- If the Als march up the field and get into the Redzone, look for either Brandon Whitaker or Brian Bratton to notch the historic TD much like their last week TD receptions.

- #80 Eric Deslauriers will get his first start of the Season with the offense, He better catch the first few to him, or AC may never look at him for the rest of the game.

- The Alouettes Special teams coverage which has been an issue this year will have their hands full with former WR/KR Chad Owens. He may score the Only TD for the Boatmen.

- Look for Montreal's front four to concentrate a little more on Cleo Lemon than Chad Kackert. With no Cory Boyd it frees up for more pass rushing plays other then playing run defense against one of the leagues best.

- Don't Miss Ben Cahoon being honored at halftime, he deserves your attention, even though he doesn't want it.

-It's week 3, Dwight Anderson, Billy Parker or Mark Estelle would like to nab the Alouettes 1st INT of the season. It'll happen, give me Parker.

Prediction time: if you know me, You know I will not go against the Alouettes at home with Anthony Calvillo at the helm. I do not like the Argos Chances without Cory Boyd, their one true offensive star. The Argos defense will focus on Ac as he is missing some receivers. But I expect 5 plus receptions from Bratton, Green, Whitaker and London. Montreal 35, Toronto 15.

Post- Game Alservations: AC tops Darian and Damon

The Montreal Alouettes went into Mosaic Stadium and put the hammer down with a 39-25 road victory over the Roughriders. Here’s this week Alservations:

-Anthony Calvillo throws for 5 TDs for only (yup only) the 3rd time in his career. He ties Damon Allen for the most TD passes in CFL history with 394. Maybe he’ll hit number 400 next week.

-Great game for WR Brian Bratton, the 5 receptions, 76 yards and 2 TDs doesn’t tell the whole story. His key catch set-up Whitaker’s TD and he laid out a great WR block as S Green scored. Plus on more than one occasion Bratton was pass protecting for AC.

-Very rough game for some of the Alouette stars on Saturday. On separate occasions, Jamel Richardson, Mark Estelle, John Bowman, Brandon Whitaker and SJ Green all had to be tended to and helped off the field. Whitaker did not return and according to HerbZ of Alsinsideout has a concussion but hasn’t been ruled out for Friday at home against Toronto.

-But it was great to see Whitaker on the sidelines late in the fourth signally in plays to Dahrren Diedrick.

-Loved Dwight Anderson’s aggressiveness and ability to close the gap on Dressler on numerous occasions.

-Ever wonder why Chip Cox plays special teams when he’s an all-star on defence. Well watching him chase down returner Tristan Jackson, should answer that.

-All the pushing a shoving after the whistles makes me want to skip week three against Toronto and to invite Saskatchewan to town now. The Riders are easily the Als best rivalry in the west.

-After the game Darian Durant said he sees Anthony Calvillo as the greatest QB ever in the CFL. He only ever ‘heard’ of Doug Flutie.

-Speaking of Durant, I thought he looked a lot better than last week. He didn’t turn over the ball and put together a couple of very nice looking drives. He just doesn’t have the arsenal of receivers that he had to play with last season.

-The Riders Coaching staff did not get Wes Cates the ball enough he only had 9 touches overall in the game

-All three of Brandon London’s catches were for first downs

-With 419 passing yards, AC is now only 3490 yards away from passing Allen on the All-time passing yards list.

Rematch Watch List

Week two for the Alouettes is an afternoon Grey Cup rematch with the Saskatechwan Roughriders. As per usual there is alot to focus on.

-Marc Trestman is 6-2 against The Riders with Ken Miller as Head Coach, letès see how Greg Marshall prepares for the Alouettes.

-The Riders DBs had a tough time with Eskimoe tall WRs Bowman and Barnes in week one. It only gets tougher with Jamel Richardson and SJ Green

-The Riders gave up 42 points and 294 yards in the air as the could get any sustained pressure on Ricky Ray. Anthony Calvillo doesn't need time but if you give it to him then he'll rip the DBs apart.

-Wes Cates will be tough to defend and should get upwards of 20 touches between receiving and running. The Riders don't have the depth at WR like they have seen in years past.

-De'Audra Dix returns to the Als as a starter, how long will it last? if there are any more injuries on to the DBs they'll really have to search for replacements.

-Can Brandon Whitaker bring his A game on the road. The Als only have 1 win in 3 years when visiting Regina.

Prediction time.
I like the Als, pretty much on the basis of how the Riders played against Edmonton last week. If I didn't watch the game I'd probably pick Saskatechwan at home as they have not lost more than 3 games at Mosiac Staidium in any of their last 5 seasons.
The Als DBs will be tested and I'd probably go with the over.
Alouettes 42, Roughriders 37