Fumble-happy Als have to cut back on turnovers
CFL Montreal looks to correct bad habits tonight on the road against Winnipeg
Everything has been positive for the Montreal Alouettes offence except for one thing - they have fallen into a habit of turning over the football.
That was the message from coach Marc Trestman as the Alouettes (3-3) got set to face the Blue Bombers (1-5) in Winnipeg tonight (TSN, 8:30 p.m. Atlantic).
"I'm more concerned about turning over the ball the way we have the last three games than with how our defence has played," Trestman said this week. "There's a reason some of those scores took place.
"We turned the ball over five times in the last two games, so we should feel lucky to be 1-1 in those games. Turnovers are the real issue in football."
The Alouettes fumbled once and had a pass picked off in a 40-33 win at home last week against lowly Hamilton, and coughed up a pair of fumbles in a 36-34 loss in Vancouver the week before. They also fumbled once and had two passes intercepted in a 41-33 loss on July 19 in Regina.
They are the black marks against a team that otherwise leads the league in points scored (197) and touchdowns (20) and whose quarterback Anthony Calvillo leads the CFL in completions (231) and passing yards (1,979).
The Alouettes will be tested by a Winnipeg defence that is coming off its best performance of the season in a 19-11 loss last week in Toronto, where the Argonauts were held without a touchdown on offence. The Bombers, Grey Cup finalists last season who were expected to dominate the East Division, will have Ryan Dinwiddie at quarterback for a third straight week in place of struggling Kevin Glenn, but will be missing receiver Terrence Edwards to sore ribs.
There has been no panic yet in Winnipeg, but the situation will be urgent if they lose to a divisional rival and drop to 1-6. It would also cost them the season series with the Alouettes, who beat them 38-24 in Montreal on July 4.
The Alouettes are 3-0 against Eastern rivals and 0-3 against the West.
, while the Bombers are 0-3 against Eastern clubs.
"My feeling is there's little difference between the team that's 6-0 right now (Saskatchewan) and the team that's 1-5," added Trestman. "It's about 12 plays that separates all the teams from being just like us - 3-3.
"We're going into a tough situation on Friday night against a championship calibre team."
Blowing leads in the second half of games has been a sore spot for Montreal, and turnovers have played a part in that. They wasted a 24-6 lead in Vancouver and a 33-25 margin in the final three minutes at Saskatchewan.
Calvillo said the offence was as much to blame for the losses as the defence.
"We could have closed out those games, so we put that on ourselves," he said. "No matter how many points we put up, we need to improve.
"We could have sustained more drives, killed more clock and that would have really improved our chances of winning. We did a good job against Hamilton last week with three minutes to go and we have to do the same."
In Winnipeg, veteran receiver Milt Stegall is a question mark again with a sore knee after his return from injury against Toronto, when he had three receptions for 38 yards. Stegall remains 159 receiving yards short of former Calgary Stampeder Allen Pitts' career record of 14,891.
The go-to guy of late has been Romby Bryant, who has TD catches in his last three games, including an 85-yard effort against the Argos. Bryant leads the CFL with 580 receiving yards.
But the debate rages on about the quarterbacks.
Dinwiddie, the starter in last November's Grey Cup game in place of the injured Glenn, was spectacular with more than 400 passing yards in a 32-28 win over Calgary two weeks ago, but was held to 16 completions for 224 yards against Toronto's stingy defence.
In a newspaper column this week, former Bombers kicker Troy Westwood urged coach Doug Berry to go back to Glenn.
"With all due respect to Ryan, he is not the best quarterback on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers," Westwood wrote. "Kevin Glenn, playing well and being supported, is the only chance the Bombers have to fight their way back into the playoff race."
Dinwiddie looks like he'll get at least one more chance, however.
Berry is also looking for more from running back Charles Roberts, who is averaging a weak 4.1 yards per carry, the lowest among the top 14 CFL rushers. In their last meeting with Montreal, Roberts was held to 11 yards on six carries.
"We've got good talent here, it's a matter of everyone working together," Berry said this week."We had one good game offensively and if we have another, maybe we will have turned the corner."
Kerry Johnson is expected to replace Edwards. Ian Logan is likely to bump Jason Nugent to bring more speed to the safety position. The battered offensive line should get help with the return of Kyle Koch, and Dominic Picard is almost ready to return from injury at centre, but may be rested an extra week.
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