Surging Alouettes come calling on hapless RedBlacks

Sep 24, 2014 - 3:35 PM Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Despite having only four wins through the first 12 games, the Montreal Alouettes are still in the hunt for the East Division title as they pay a visit to the slumping Ottawa RedBlacks at TD Place on Friday night.

Montreal is currently tied with Hamilton and Toronto for first place in the division standings, with regard to points earned heading into Week 14 action, although the Tiger-Cats still have a game in-hand. Perhaps even more remarkable than Montreal's status is that of the RedBlacks who, despite having won just one game in 11 tries, are still in the hunt mathematically as well.

Since winning only one of the first seven games on the schedule, the Als have shown signs of life in recent weeks with three triumphs in four outings. Against a Calgary team which was without its starting quarterback, Bo Levi Mitchell, the Alouettes put together a solid game plan and scored an upset at home as they more than doubled-up on the Stampeders with a 31-15 victory last weekend.

Jonathan Crompton, the latest quarterback of record for the Als, converted 20- of-28 passes for 220 yards and two scores, while backup signal caller Tanner Marsh landed in the end zone on a one-yard run for the first points of the meeting in the second quarter.

Controlling the ball for nearly 37 minutes, Montreal held the visitors to just 272 yards, picking off one pass and recovering a pair of fumbles.

As for Ottawa, the latest addition to the CFL, it has bowed in eight consecutive outings since defeating Toronto by a scant 18-17 score at home back in Week 4.

Against the Saskatchewan defense, the RedBlacks found plenty of holes to exploit, allowing them to generate a hefty 32 points and get the meeting into overtime. Unfortunately, the offense mostly dried up for Ottawa following the third quarter, leaving the squad with the hard-fought 35-32 double-overtime loss on the road last weekend.

Henry Burris put up solid numbers as he converted 23-of-38 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns, against just a single interception. The signal caller also used his legs to expose the Roughriders as he gained 22 yards and tallied a major on four carries.

Wallace Miles caught just four passes for 35 yards, but he was able to turn those efforts into a pair of TDs for the visitors.

Defensively, the RedBlacks held the Riders to a modest 345 yards of offense and kept the hosts off the board in the first overtime period before kicker Chris Milo connected on the game-winning field goal in the second OT, a 22- yard effort.

Outside of last weekend's display, the offense for the RedBlacks has been rather anaemic and is still last in the league with a mere 15.7 ppg. The program has scored a mere four rushing touchdowns, which means all of the pressure continues to fall on Burris and the slumping passing attack. Burris has managed to complete close to 60 percent of his attempts for almost 2,500 yards, but he has thrown almost as many interceptions (eight) as touchdowns (nine), and that is no way to build a successful squad.

As if having a faulty defense were not enough, Ottawa is also last in the CFL in terms of yards allowed, giving up 388.4 ypg, which is almost 50 ypg more than the second-worst squad, Montreal (342.7 ypg). Opponents have connected on a league-high 65.8 percent of their pass attempts versus the RedBlacks and that has led to 26.6 ppg being scored by those foes, the second-highest average in the league behind only idle Toronto (27.1 ppg).

Although the RedBlacks are new to the CFL this season, there is still an extensive history between Montreal and a program from Ottawa in the league, with the latter owning an 87-71-4 advantage, considering only regular-season meetings dating back to 1946.

Late last month Montreal hosted the RedBlacks and came away with a 20-10 victory as Crompton threw for 245 yards and Marsh logged a rushing touchdown. Burris also threw for 245 yards for the RedBlacks, but the team generated a mere 60 rushing yards, compared to 183 for the hosts, and also committed 16 turnovers for a loss of 135 yards.

The Als have now won three straight and eight of the last nine games played against a representative from Ottawa.