Montreal Alouettes head coach Khari Jones has a lot to be happy with regarding his team.

The Alouettes find themselves in first place in the East Division after defeating the Toronto Argonauts on Friday night and got strong play from both the quarterback and running back positions.

Jones joined TSN 960 Montreal on Tuesday to talk about how impressed he was with quarterback Matthew Shiltz and the confidence he has in him.

“I think the game is moving at a nice pace for him and I think one of the reasons for that is that he’s been in the game for a while,” said Jones. “Even though he hasn’t been playing a whole lot, he’s been there, and he’s seen it.”

Shiltz finished 12-of-18 for 212 yards and two touchdowns on Friday, but Jones believes it probably should have been even better.

“I think he should have been 15-of-18 because we had a few drops,” said the head coach. “He was in a nice rhythm and nice zone. I think he’s going to get better as well, and there are a few things he wants to get better at.”

Jones: The benefit of a great running gamre

Was done a great running game do for your offense?

Along with Shiltz, the standout on Friday night’s game was running back William Stanback. The 27-year-old ran for 203 yards with a touchdown and, along with teammates Eugene Lewis and Monshadrik Hunter, was named a CFL top performer of the week.

“Most teams don’t invest in the run like we do, but those teams don’t have William Stanback,” gushed Jones. “It just opens up everything and makes the defence get away from the things that they’re used to doing.

“It opens up the playbook for me and allows me to call a game where I can keep the defence guessing”

The game against the Argonauts was the Alouettes’ most important of the season thus far and Jones was thrilled with how his team responded.

“It was a game where it was worth something and it’s been a while where we could play in a game for first position,” said Jones. “You want to see how your guys respond to that, and I thought all three phases of the game responded in just a great way.”