The Montreal Alouettes have looked unstoppable for most of the CFL season, and are pulling away in the East Division standings behind a seven-game winning streak.
Their next test comes in the form of a road game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday, in a matchup that Alouettes offensive coordinator Anthony Calvillo thinks could be very challenging for his team.
Calvillo joined TSN690 Montreal’s Morning Show on Tuesday to discuss the impressive start to the season for the Alouettes, his role as a play caller and the difficult task of putting up points against the Blue Bombers defence.
The Alouettes enter Week 13 action at 9-1, a game and a half ahead of the Edmonton Elks for the best record in the CFL and four games ahead of the Toronto Argonauts in an East Division race that is all but decided before Labour Day weekend.
They own the second-highest scoring offence in the league (36.7 points per game) and the defence allowing the second-fewest points (26.3) per game, and their quarterback Davis Alexander improved to 20-1 in his career as a starter in the CFL with last week’s 46-16 romp over the Ottawa Redblacks.
“I think the biggest challenge every athlete has is being consistent, and that’s a thing that I think is very important,” Calvillo said, when asked what has impressed him most about the Alouettes’ young quarterback. “People who can be consistent week in and week out, year in and year out, have the capability to do special things. And this is one thing that we stress here.
“Davis has taken it to heart. We’ve been together now for five years, working together, and Davis has worked under some great quarterbacks. He learned under Cody Fajardo, Vernon Adams Jr. and Trevor Harris as well, and these are elite quarterbacks he got a chance to learn from. Now he’s kind of made it his own.”
Calvillo is no stranger to excelling at the quarterback position - before he got into coaching, he had a decorated 20-year career as a QB in the CFL that ended with a spot in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He is a four-time Grey Cup champion, and owns the CFL record for passing yards, passing touchdowns and completions.
“I think the thing he’s doing right now is he’s being consistent, and he’s playing consistently at a high level that you normally don’t see from a young quarterback,” Calvillo said. “You gotta give him a lot of credit for his routine to get himself ready physically and mentally, every single week. And that’s the stuff that people do not see - the commitment to make sure that he’s ready to play week in and week out.”
Alexander leads the CFL in passing yards (3,400) and is tied for third with 20 passing touchdowns. A large part of his success is owed to his preparation throughout the week, according to Calvillo, and to his ability to “[do] a great job of adjusting as the game goes along.”
A lot of credit is owed to the Alouettes receiving corps as well, says Calvillo. Tyson Philpot (1,229 yards) and Tyler Snead (982 yards) are first and second in receiving yardage this season.
“When you talk about Tyson [Philpot] and Tyler [Snead], they’ve been around here for the past four years, so we’ve seen them develop into who they are now. We saw early on what they were capable of doing,” Calvillo said. “These guys are in the room because they give us the best chance to win, and then it’s up to us to make sure that we give the guys enough targets during the game.
“There is a special bond between these players, on and off the field, and when they step on the field, they want to play for one another. I’m always excited when [I’m at] practice and Cole [Spieker] catches a touchdown pass and Tyson gets excited, Tyler’s excited, there’s no jealousy, there’s no ‘Hey I need the ball,’ they’re here to work. When you see these guys work in practice, my goodness, it carries over to the game. It’s our top guys doing it for four quarters ... It’s a standard that we’ve created for ourselves and the guys have really bought into it, and I think that’s what’s paying dividends for us right now.”
The Blue Bombers enter Friday’s game against Montreal sitting at 5-5. Inconsistency has haunted them at times throughout this season, and the Bombers have just one win in their past four games. Calvillo isn’t taking them lightly though.
“They’ve got a unique defence, and everybody knows it that goes against them,” Calvillo said. “You have teams that play man, you have teams that play zone, but they have this concept on defence that we call ‘match coverage,’ and it’s a foreign language for the normal person but it’s a very challenging zone/man defence that they play, and Jordan Younger, who’s their defensive coordinator, has really helped this defence master it.
“They are very good at disguising it, doing different things that challenge the quarterback so that’s always what it starts with there. Then of course you have the defensive linemen, starting with [Willie] Jefferson as well. Each team always has a different challenge, but the good thing is our coaches and players are always aware of what we’re going to go up against and we’re always going to have a plan to go out there and succeed.”
The Alouettes are coming off a season in which they fell in the Grey Cup final to the Saskatchewan Roughriders by a score of 25-17. The sky’s the limit this year if they continue this torrid stretch into the playoffs.
