Alouettes not taking struggling Stamps lightly ahead of Saturday's clash
The Montreal Alouettes are coming off a 37-23 loss to the BC Lions and are hitting the road looking to correct course Saturday night against the Calgary Stampeders.
As the reigning Grey Cup champions, the Alouettes have won 10 games this season, with Friday’s loss to the Lions just their second of the season.
Meanwhile, Calgary is last in the West Division at 4-8 and have lost four games in a row. After benching quarterback Jake Maier in Saturday’s 37-16 loss to the Edmonton Elks, Maier will be back under centre for the Stampeders.
Despite the disparity in the standings, Alouettes head coach Jason Maas isn’t taking the Stampeders lightly as they head out on their three-game road trip, knowing they have won four of six at home and have been in a lot of close games late in the fourth quarter.
“I think they’ve been in 10 games that have been decided by a one score game in the last three minutes of the game. Ten of them if I’m not mistaken there,” said Maas on TSN 690. “That means they’re a good football team, it’s just that at the end of the day, it’s sometimes hard to finish games and win them. That’s what it’s like in this league.
“We know what they’re about. Obviously they’re coached extremely well, the majority of their staff has been together for quite some time, all their coordinators have been together, so the messaging around their team, the guys will know what to do and they have talent. So it’s about putting it together.”
Maas also provided an update on defensive back Marc-Antoine Dequoy, who missed practice on Tuesday. He said Dequoy needed more time to recover from an injury but is expected to suit up this weekend.
“He needed an extra day to recover, it might be a couple more days of that but the expectation is that he is going to be playing for us this week,” said Maas.
Dequoy has 22 defensive tackles and two interceptions this season with the Alouettes.
Wide receiver Tyler Snead has been practising in full since last Tuesday and is possible for Friday, per TSN's Kenzie Lalonde. He injured his right ankle in the first game of the season and has not played since.
In 15 games last season, Snead ran for 788 yards with five touchdowns as he helped the Alouettes capture the Grey Cup.