The Montreal Alouettes will travel to Vancouver where they will take on the BC Lions Sunday night. The Alouettes are coming off a 17-3 loss to Winnipeg.
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RB Rankings, Stars of the Week
WR Rankings, Stars of the Week
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Thoughts Following Montreal’s Loss
Montreal Alouettes (2-1): The Alouettes opened the season with 2 wins against Ottawa and Hamilton. They are in a tough stretch of their schedule as they go to BC after having lost to Winnipeg. After traveling to BC Montreal will host last year’s Grey Cup Champs the Toronto Argonauts before going on the bye.
B.C. Lions (3-1): The BC Lions are coming off a 24-45 loss on the road in Toronto. The big storyline of their last game was the 6 interceptions thrown by BC quarterback, Vernon Adams Jr. For the 2nd week in a row Montreal will face an opponent who is coming off a tough loss and will have extra motivation to play their best football.
Game Details:
Date/Location: Sunday, July 9 / BC Place, Vancouver, BC
Kickoff Time: 7:00 PM ET, 4:00 PM PT
Channel: TSN (Canada), CBS Sports (USA), CFL+(International)
Odds:
Spread: Montreal +7.5 (-115), BC -7.5 (-105)
Moneyline: Montreal +250, BC -300
Over/Under: 45.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Montreal Alouettes vs BC Lions
The final CFL game of the week is one to look forward to. Both teams are coming off tough losses against challenging opponents.
Montreal quarterback, Cody Fajardo, leads the league in QBR as he has been a very efficient passer in his first 3 games as Montreal’s new quarterback. Rookie receiver Austin Mack has been his favorite target collecting 15 catches for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns. Mack is the only player to average more than 100 yards a game so far who has played in more than 1 game. Kaion Julien-Grant has emerged as a superstar as he has 14 catches for 285 yards and is third in the league in yards per game. Mack and Julien-Grant’s performances with big names from Montreal’s receiving room on the injured list such as Tyson Philpot, Greg Ellingson, and Reggie White Jr have been much needed.
BC’s defensive play has been elite so far this season. In 3 of their 4 games, they have held their opponents to under 200 passing yards. Montreal is going to need a big performance by their offensive line. Last week 3 Montreal’s offensive linemen, Nick Callender, Kristian Matte, and Landon Rice, were named to the Pro Football Focus Team of the Week following their efforts against Winnipeg. BC had both of their interior defensive linemen in Tibo Debaillie and Josh Banks named to the PFF Team of the week and they also have Mathieu Betts on the end who leads the league in sacks with 7 in just 7 games.
Although not talked about very often Montreal has had very good defensive play and currently has the lowest points allowed per game at just 13.6. Last week they held Winnipeg’s talented offense to 17 despite key injuries to DB Ciante Evans and LB Avery Williams.
Montreal Players to Watch:
#31 William Stanback, RB
Montreal needs to hand him the ball this week and establish the run. Stanback has the potential to take over a game.
#81 Austin Mack, WR
2nd in yards in the league with 316 yards on 15 catches and 2 touchdowns. The Ohio State product is an early candidate for Rookie of the Year.
#11 Kaion Julien-Grant, WR
5th in yards in the CFL with 14 catches and 285 yards. Yet to have a touchdown this year but every game has been a bigger performance than the last so far.
#11 Quartney Davis, WR
The Texas A&M Product will be making his first start in the CFL. Davis has a great ability to go up and over defenders. He caught 9 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown in the preseason which was the third most receptions of anyone in the preseason.
#11 Tyler Snead, WR
Tyler Snead is also making his first CFL start. He played for East Carolina where he scored 18 receiving touchdowns, 2 kick return touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, 2 kick return touchdowns, and even 3 passing touchdowns over his 37 games played. He was a player for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022 until his release following the preseason.
#94 Mustafa Johnson, DT
Leads the team in sacks with 2.
#12 Najee Murray, DB
Leads the team in tackles. Played the first 2 games at linebacker and the last game as a defensive back.
#10 Nick Usher, DE
Usher had his first sack of the season last week against Winnipeg. Montreal will need a big day from him.
#26 Tyrice Beverette, LB
Had 5 tackles last week and is tied for 2nd on the team in tackles on the season so far with 13. Was asked to fill a big role last week with Avery Williams out and Najee Murray being moved from linebacker to defensive back due to injuries and he performed well in the game.
Montreal Alouettes Injury Report/Game Status:
Ciante Evans missed last week due to a leg injury. He is listed as questionable this week. He still leads the team in interceptions with 3.
Avery Williams will return to middle linebacker after missing last week due to an upper-body injury and Dionte Ruffin will be back at defensive back after missing time due to a lower-body injury.
Philippe Gagnon is listed as out. Gagnon started at left guard last week. He was listed to have the 7th highest pass-blocking grade last week by Pro Football Focus. Pier-Olivier Lestage will return to the starting lineup after he missed last week due to injury.
Depth Charts:
Score Prediction:
Cody Fajardo has played very well at quarterback for Montreal but he has shown a tendency to overly target just 2 receivers. Austin Mack and Kaion Julien-Grant have been very good this season for Montreal but if Fajardo does not spread the ball around to the other receivers and Montreal does not commit to establishing the run again then I don’t see the offensive performance being good enough to beat a BC defense. Montreal’s offense so far has looked good, but it’s also been predictable. Montreal is bringing in 2 exciting rookie receivers for this game. If Fajardo spreads the ball around better this will be a very close game.
I predict BC to win 24-27 in overtime.
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