The Montreal Alouettes delivered a beatdown to be remembered by Hamilton on their home opener in which the Alouettes won 38-12. It was the largest margin of victory on the season so far.

Alouette’s Receiving Room Is Deep

Austin Mack has been a very impressive rookie receiver for Montreal who leads the team in yards, targets, catches, and receiving touchdowns. Mack in two games has caught 9 of his 12 targets for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He is the only player currently with over 100 yards per game receiving who has played more than 1 game. Mack had 81 yards on 5 catches and 2 touchdowns against Ottawa.

Kaion Julien-Grant had the most targets and yards for Montreal in week 2 as he pulled in 6 of his 8 targets for 94 yards against Ottawa.

Keshunn Abram, Cole Spieker, and Hergy Mayala have all shown themselves to be capable receivers as well when called upon.

Montreal has found success in the passing game despite having 3 noteworthy names on the 6 game-injured list to start the season and all 3 of them were considered very likely to be starters before the season Reggie White Jr, Tyson Philpot, and Greg Ellingson. Reggie White Jr. was second in receiving yards for Montreal last year. Tyson Philpot showed great development as a rookie throughout the year after being a first-round pick for Montreal.

Montreal’s Defense Played Well, Run Defense Among Best in the League

Montreal had an impressive performance in week 1 containing Ottawa to just 40 yards rushing on 13 carries from their runningbacks. They followed that up by keeping James Butler limited to 14 yards rushing although he only was given 5 carries. On the season so far Montreal has 54 yards rushing allowed to opponents runningbacks on 18 carries, an average of 3 yards per carry.

Hamilton had a very quick first drive that saw them 1st and goal at Montreal’s 4. Montreal’s defensive line made a huge stop making Hamilton lose a yard as Butler attempted to run the ball. Hamilton had to settle for a field goal on this drive and no team has yet scored a touchdown against Montreal’s defense.

On this particular play, Dionte Ruffin quickly read it was a run play and slipped past the receiver he was covering before he began to be blocked. Butler saw him and appeared to look for another option before being brought down by Almondo Sewell. If Ruffin did not quickly read this as a run play he would likely have been blocked and Butler likely could have bounced outside for a touchdown.

Montreal’s defense has not allowed any touchdowns to be scored against them in either game. Despite allowing 345 passing yards from Matthew Shiltz Thursday the defense looked very good. Time White had a 61-yard reception on Hamilton’s first drive and a 54-yard reception on Hamilton’s 2nd drive. Montreal’s defense seemed to get better as the game went on. Montreal held Hamilton to just 19 yards on their last 3 drives.

Montreal Was the Most Underrated Team Heading Into the Season

The Montreal Alouettes have shown that they were arguably the most underrated team. Despite the fact the Alouettes finished second in the East last year they were listed very low on most power rankings before the regular season. Last season Montreal won 7 of their last 10 regular season games, beat Hamilton in the East Semi-Final by 11, then went on the road and lost by 7 to the eventual Grey Cup champs, the Toronto Argonauts.

The story many were saying is Montreal lost quarterback Trevor Harris and they lost receiver, Eugene Lewis, they are now going to be bad. CFL.ca’s own power rankings put Montreal dead last in the league before the season. Toronto also lost their starting quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson yet they were listed 3rd in the league and first in the East.

The Narrative that Montreal had a Massive Downgrade at Quarterback Needs to be Put to Rest

The narrative that Montreal had a massive downgrade at the quarterback needs to go away. Cody Fajardo indeed had a down year last year, but he was also playing with some of the worst pass protection in recent memory and doing so while playing through injuries. Regardless it was a down year. However, people quickly forgot that Fajardo has been one of the best quarterbacks at gashing defenses with his legs and picking up big rushing yards. He was also named the 2019 CFL All-Star at the quarterback position due to his performance as a passer.

As of right now, Fajardo leads the league in yards per attempt and in QBR. He is also the only quarterback to start a game and not yet have an interception. I am not saying he has proven he is the best quarterback in the league by any stretch. Having the 31-year-old Cody Fajardo and losing Trevor Harris who is 37 years old and was last named a Division All-Star in 2015 is not necessarily a bad thing for the direction of a franchise.

Fajardo completed 19 of his 25 passes for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns on Friday and also picked up a rushing touchdown.

Chandler Worthy

This highlight from Chandler Worthy speaks for itself as he shows once again why he was an East Division All-Star last season.

Montreal will have a big test on Canada when an angry Winnipeg Blue Bomber team comes to town Saturday after being beaten badly by BC on Canada Day.

You might also like:

Week 4 Quarterback Rankings

Week 4 Runningback Rankings

Week 4 Receiver Rankings (Coming Soon)

Mike Mitchell’s: Week 4 Power Rankings

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