For Marc-Antoine Dequoy and the Montreal Alouettes players who played in the East Division final last year, returning there this year and meeting the Toronto Argonauts represents the achievement of a goal.
“I haven’t forgotten how it ended last year and I took inspiration from it to motivate me throughout the season,” noted the Quebec marauder of this 34-27 defeat suffered at such a time. date last year at BMO Field in Toronto. “Our goal as a team was to return to the same situation, but this time finish the job.
“We are much more confident than last year. On the defensive side, we have a much more solid, much more complete unit than the one we had last year, even at the start of the season. In football, it’s always good to think about the next week. But it stayed in the back of our minds, how this meeting had ended. »
The Alouettes are obviously not the favorites against the Argos and their historic record of 16-2, a feat accomplished only once before in the Canadian Football League (CFL). But many “experts” placed the Montreal team last, despite its participation in the final four last year. We don’t worry too much about this type of disrespect in the Birds locker room.
“We have never paid attention to what is said, written or happens outside our locker room,” said Jason Maas. Thinking about these things doesn’t help you to win. We only try to be the best version of ourselves. In facing this team on a few occasions, we learned several lessons. It’s time to apply what we’ve learned. »
“We did everything we had to do from week to week,” added the head coach. We have reached this important match and our expectations are as high as ever. It will be a tough task: They are 16-2, a historic record, and they are the defending champions. We know what a hostile environment their home will be. »
Twice this season, against the Ottawa Rouge et Noir and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Alouettes found themselves in a position to win a fourth meeting against the same team during the same season. Each time, the players and coaches interviewed highlighted how difficult it was to accomplish such a feat.
“The odds should be on our side, even though we’ve done that twice this season,” quarterback Cody Fajardo said with a laugh.
“I don’t have the exact stats on this situation, but beating a team four times – five times against Hamilton if you count the preseason game – throughout my CFL career, I haven’t seen that often. One thing is certain: we will have our hands full against such a good team that has just had a week off and whose members will be rested and ready to play.
“However, we can look at it from the other angle and say that having played in the first elimination round gave us rhythm. Finding ourselves in high-stress, high-intensity situations will help us in this Eastern final.
“We will have to play our best game against them. Looking at the tapes from the previous three games against them, we can argue that one of the reasons that led us to these defeats is that we lost the turnover battle. This is where we are putting our greatest attention this week. We want to give ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter. That’s the only way to approach a game against a 16-2 team. »
“We were in a situation where we had the upper hand, now we don’t have it,” Dequoy remarked. But in the playoffs, I see it as a blank page. It hasn’t been very long since we faced them, but I feel like we’re really somewhere else as a group.
“Our winning streak has given us confidence. I feel that they are the ones who can lose this match. We need to focus on what we can do, not think about what happened before. We must be aware of it, but not be paralyzed. The best team that day will win. »
Linebacker Darnell Sankey also believes that the Alouettes’ victorious push will work in their favor.
“We feel like we have some rhythm going into this game. Yes, it’s a very good team; yes, we have rhythm. But when it comes time to play the game, it’s 12 against 12, and the past no longer matters. »