The spotlight continues to shine on the Montreal Alouettes offensive line and another good challenge awaits.
The Montreal football club (2-3) will host the Calgary Stampeders (2-4), Sunday night at Percival-Molson Stadium. It will be a duel between the team that has allowed the most quarterback sacks in the CFL during the first seven weeks of activity and the team that has managed the third highest total.
Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia noted earlier this week that his team needed to improve on either side of the line of scrimmage. If he offered reinforcements to the defensive line by hiring veteran Shawn Lemon, the offensive line will have to continue to progress.
“We have revised all aspects related to the offensive line, whether it is production on the ground and protection for the aerial game. We have to do better on all fronts, but we don’t want to focus on individuals, coach Jason Maas said. The squad only have five games experience as a unit and that’s not a lot. We prefer to keep them together while improving the different facets of the game around them, whether it’s quarterback movement, understanding patterns, communication between the center and the ball carrier in terms of protection, etc. . »
It should also be remembered that different factors can explain a sack – an unexpected move by the quarterback out of the pocket, the quarterback holding the ball too long because his receivers can’t get out of the way, predictable play selection because the ground game not working, etc.
“Last game we gave up four sacks,” Maas said of the 35-27 loss to the Toronto Argonauts on July 14. There is one where Cody [Fajardo, the Alouettes quarterback] dropped the ball and one on an option play which was possibly a bad idea and whose blame can go to the coaches. On another, Cody backed up too far.
“It all adds up and increases the pressure on the offensive line. Yes, the numbers aren’t pretty, but the offensive linemen aren’t solely responsible for every sack. We cannot look at the situation individually, but rather as a whole. »
Guard Pier-Olivier Lestage believes the unit has improved since the first week of the season.
“We communicate better what we see in the opposing front and we use signals to relay information to the ball carrier,” he said. Receivers also need to know what to do if they support protection. »
Lestage and his teammates will be watching James Vaughters and Mike Rose on Sunday, who have each had five sacks for the Stampeders since the start of the campaign.
Quarterback Jake Maier is also off to a strong start to the season. Going into week eight, he ranked second in the CFL with 1,672 passing yards and third with 8 touchdowns.
“Their turnover differential is zero,” Maas said. When they [the Stampeders] protect the ball, they’re tough to beat. Otherwise, they may be prone to bowing. They have played several close games and their record could be better.
“Every game is tough in this league. We will therefore focus on our work in hopes of exploiting their weaknesses,” Maas concluded.
