Courtesy Montreal Gazette:

Every Alouettes fan wishes Anthony Calvillo a successful, and healthy, season this year. But at least we now know, for the first time in years, if something happens to the veteran starter, there won’t be any urgency to fall on the sword.

For years, the Als quarterback situation has been Calvillo and a prayer that nothing happened to him. Remember the 2004 East

final, when he was replaced in the second half by the lamentable and rotund Ted White?

Remember Nealon Greene and Ell Roberson? Tavares Bolden? Matt Lytle? Eric Kresser? Dan Gonzalez and Jamie Barnette? It was enough to cause nightmares.

But those days appear over. Montreal’s talent at quarterback might be the deepest - and healthiest - in years. We all know it was only the first exhibition game of the season, but it didn’t matter who was behind centre. Brad Banks, Adrian McPherson and Ricky Santos all performed admirably against a Toronto defence that blitzed frequently in a 34-34 tie Thursday.

Marcus Brady, expected to backup Calvillo, didn’t start against the Argonauts because of what the team said is a minor back injury sustained during the warmup. And we haven’t seen Chris Leak, the former Florida Gators star, yet.

“They all did well, and that bodes well for our future,” assistant general manager Marcel Desjardins said yesterday. “It’s a good problem to have, and we’ll see how it unravels. It’s good to know that three, four, five years down the road, we’ve got a number of options.”

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