Jul
Als know there are no guarantees despite great start
Courtesy Montreal Gazette:
There was no Formula One race this year, the excitement has subsided at the Bell Centre and you can only talk about the lousy weather or Earl Jones for so long.
And so, it seems, much attention has turned to Montreal’s Canadian Football League team. The Alouettes are 3-0 this season heading into tonight’s game at Molson Stadium against the surprising Hamilton Tiger- Cats (7:30 p.m., TSN, RDS, CJAD Radio-800, CHOM 97.7 FM). They beat three straight West Division opponents with relative ease, winning twice on the road.
They lead the league in scoring, averaging 44.3 points per game – more than enough considering their aggressive and swarming defence also leads the league, allowing an average of only 17.7 points.
Are they that good? Are they for real? Can they continue such domination? Even TSN announcer Chris Cuthbert wondered during a telecast whether this team can go undefeated? Plenty of questions for which the answers won’t be known until November.
“We have to be careful about listening to glowing comments,” said centre Bryan Chiu, who has seen it all in his 13 seasons with the Als. “It’s dangerous to say you’re the best – and believe it. There are no guarantees in this game. In the CFL, anything can happen. We’ve started strong and have faded. And we can’t let it happen.”
The Als have won more games than any CFL organization this decade, yet have only one Grey Cup championship to show for the fruits of their labour. And that 2002 title is beginning to feel like a distant memory, isn’t it?
This is a team that traditionally starts strong, only to fade almost as quickly. They have enough juice to make it to the Cup, only to ultimately come up short.
Only in ’02, when the Als won their first eight games en route to a 13-5 record, did they hold the championship trophy. They were 6-0 in 2004, completed the season 14-4 – and lost the East Division final. They were 7-0 two years later under head coach Don Matthews, who didn’t finish the season after a six-game losing streak.
The Alouettes have built their reputations in July and August – not November, when championships are won. Suddenly, a team that has a core of veterans – a club that should have been recognized as the team of the decade – is potentially running out of time.
“We have a lot of older guys and we don’t have a lot more years,” said rush-end Anwar Stewart, 33. “It’s now or never – and now’s a great opportunity.
“We can be the No. 1 team and dominate. You have to believe in it. Honestly, we’ve got something good going on, and we haven’t played our perfect game. It’s scary. We’ve got a team that’s vicious and aggressive on offence and defence. Put that together, without mental mistakes or penalties, it’s scary.”
But that has yet to occur and the Als are far from perfect, despite their record. They’ve had three punts blocked, committed four turnovers last week against Saskatchewan and have had some difficulties completing drives, forced to settle for short field goals.
“I don’t think we have dominated,” head coach Marc Trestman said. “We’ve not played as sharp as we could. Scores are like fairy tales; they’re not real. We should be excited by where we are. And we should be energized. But the book’s a long way from being closed.”
While Trestman gives credit to his veterans, whom he said have assumed ownership of the team, the players say it’s Trestman and his assistants who won’t allow complacency.
“Trestman does a good job of keeping us on edge,” guard Scott Flory said. “You don’t walk into a meetings after a win and feel like you’re king of the world. I think everybody understands, from the coaches down, what it takes (to succeed) better than we did last year.”
When a team’s winning, everybody wants to be your best friend. Therefore, Stewart said, the farther they get into this thing, the more players will have to ensure they don’t allow outside distractions to get in the way.
“A lot of people will want to hang out with us, ride our coattails and do this or that for us,” Stewart said. “We’ll have to walk a straight line outside the locker room.”
With an upset win, the Ticats (2-1) could move into a first-place tie with Montreal, which is a 14-point favourite in the game. Hamilton’s coming off a win last Saturday against Winnipeg – the first time since 2006 the team has won two consecutive games. Quarterback Quinton Porter, pulled at halftime against the Blue Bombers and replaced by veteran Kevin Glenn, will start against the Als. But the Ticats will miss veteran middle-linebacker Otis Floyd, who is out with a concussion.
