We’d like to suggest it was the halftime speech, but Alouettes’ head coach Jason Maas swore he didn’t have any pearls of wisdom for his struggling team. At least none he was willing to share.
“We don’t ever give up nothing and we just learn,” Maas said. “I think our guys did a very good job of staying steady at halftime, cool-headed, and allowed us to coach. Our guys absorbed the information. We just go out and continue to play. We know it’s a 60-minute game, no matter what the score says at halftime. You have to play for 60 minutes in this league and finish games. We do an incredible job of doing that.”
On a night when the organization honoured members of the 1974 Grey Cup-champion team, it appeared — at least through 30 minutes — it was those 70-plus-year-olds who were on the field at Molson Stadium.
Despite trailing Edmonton 17-6 at halftime, the Als rebounded following intermission and held on for a 21-17 victory over the Edmonton Elks Sunday night before 19,048 spectators. Montreal improved its East Division-leading record to 10-1 and has won 18 of 19 games, including playoffs and the Grey Cup, dating back to last September. And while the Elks (3-8) remain last in the West Division, Edmonton carried a three-game winning streak into the contest.
How bad was Montreal through 30 minutes? The Als were held to seven first downs, 129 yards’ net offence and ran only 23 offensive plays while controlling the ball only for 12:36. Quarterback Cody Fajardo, in his return from a hamstring injury that sidelined him six weeks, passed for 109 yards and was intercepted once. Tailback Walter Fletcher gained 21 yards on six carries while the Als’ leading receiver was Canadian Nate Behar, an unlikely source.
Defensively, the Als weren’t much better, especially their run defence. Their secondary appeared confused by quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who passed for two touchdowns — one to former Alouette Eugene Lewis, playing his first game in Montreal after signing with the Elks last season as a free agent.
Everything changed in the second half.
The Als scored touchdowns on two of their opening three possessions, both to Cole Spieker, on passes of 33 and 22 yards. That propelled Montreal into an 18-17 lead, an advantage that would have been greater had the team not twice unsuccessfully attempted two-point converts.
Defensively, the Als started to apply more pressure on Bethel-Thompson, did a better job of containing the run and eliminated big plays. Edmonton failed to produce a first down in the third quarter.
“I think we made great adjustments at halftime,” said Fajardo, who completed 22 of 34 passes for 336 yards. “I felt like it gave me time to recoup. I came out (at the beginning of the game) a little rusty. I felt more confident in the second half.”
Not only was Fajardo operating behind a makeshift offensive line missing starting guards Philippe Gagnon and Pierre-Olivier Lestage — Gagnon was scratched during the pre-game warmup, while Lestage injured his shoulder on the opening play — the Als played most of the game without iPads after the visitors lost their wifi connection early in the game, so both teams were forced to operate on equitable footing.
“Halftime allowed us to take a deep breath and understand what was going on,” Fajardo said. “I feel banged up right now but am extremely proud of this team: the grittiness and the way we find ways to win when it’s not always pretty. That’s what good football teams do.
“I need to be better. I need to be more confident in the pocket, but I wanted to use my legs because of how much zone they gave us. I was able to extend drives because of it.”
If the Als did just enough offensively to salvage this victory, Montreal’s defence produced a stellar effort over the final 30 minutes. Not only did the Als hold Edmonton without a point, they twice stopped the Elks late in the fourth quarter from deep in Montreal territory. The Elks’ longest passing play covered 25 yards, to Tevin Jones, an Als’ free-agent last winter who was released at training camp in favour of Charleston Rambo.
With 89 seconds remaining and faced with third-and-10 at the Montreal 12, linebacker Tyrice Beverette held Lewis to a six-yard gain, the Elks turning the ball over on downs. Beverette, arguably the CFL’s top defensive player, had a team-leading 10 defensive tackles.
The Elks had one more possession, operating from the Montreal 46 with 47.1 seconds remaining. The visitors advanced to the Montreal 19 before Bethel-Thompson threw a pair of incompletions and time expired. Safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy was the closest defender to Kurleigh Gittens Jr. on the final play and got his fingertips on the pass.
“We had time on our advantage,” Dequoy said. “We knew if we played our defence … just giving up the short s–t, we know we had it. We just had to execute it. Make big plays at big moments, and we did. Just before the last play I said, ‘We’re going to win this’ in my head.”
The Als now enjoy their second bye week of the regular-season before hosting B.C. Sept. 6. Edmonton, incredibly, now has an 0-7 record in one-score games — the difference between winning and losing is that slim in the CFL. But Montreal’s a good team, and good teams invariably find ways to win.