MMQB: The Montreal air force

Pat Steinberg

CFL.ca

@Fan960Steinberg

So much of Montreal’s Grey Cup run last season was focused on its dominating defence…and rightfully so. But as part of a sparkling 3-0 start, the defending champs have served notice that this offence is more than just about game management.

In fact, in their 47-21 win over Ottawa to kick off Week 3, the Alouettes emphatically made the rest of the league aware of just how explosive this offence can be.

If you remember, it was only about 18 months ago that Cody Fajardo’s career was at a crossroads. With an expiring contract in Saskatchewan and coming off a frustrating non-playoff 2022 season, Fajardo was admittedly contemplating retirement.

Now Fajardo is a Grey Cup champion and just put together the second-best game of his career, at least statistically speaking. Fajardo threw just seven incomplete passes while racking up 393 yards and three touchdowns in Thursday’s win; he also added 39 more yards and an additional touchdown on the ground.

Safe to say, Fajardo’s career is not on its last legs.

I love how Fajardo is playing to the strengths of his offence right now. Fajardo has a group of talented, explosive and competitive receivers and he’s using them brilliantly. When a quarterback is confident his receivers are consistently going to win 50/50 battles, you’re going to see way more deep shots than you might in other offences. That’s exactly what we’re seeing right now.

It starts with the dynamic Canadian duo of Kaion Julien-Grant and Tyson Philpot. Now in his third CFL season and with his game-winning touchdown in last year’s Grey Cup game still fresh, Philpot has arrived. Philpot has gone over 140 yards twice already this season, including popping off for 150 and a touchdown against Ottawa. He’s now tied for the league lead with three receiving touchdowns and his 340 yards are second only to BC’s Alexander Hollins (402).

Then there’s Julien-Grant, who would almost certainly have gone over 1,000 yards for the first time last year had he played more than nine games. Julien-Grant, in his fifth season with Montreal, put up 116 receiving yards against Ottawa, which was good for the second-highest total of his career.

When Austin Mack signed with the NFL Atlanta’s Falcons in early January, the Als were confident in their ability to fill internally. Now we know why. With Julien-Grant and Philpot leading the way, Montreal has a wide array of passing options that also includes the likes of Cole Spieker, Tyler Snead (currently injured), Reggie White Jr. and even tailback Walter Fletcher.

Montreal’s defensive unit has been on point so far this season too, with mainstays like Tyrice Beverette and Mustafa Johnson among the many standouts. With what we’ve seen through a 3-0 start, this offence is right there in lockstep with what we all expected to see on defence.

Encouraging signs

I know Edmonton players and fans alike are tired of hearing about positive signs as part of a frustrating start. The Elks are 0-3 out of the gates for a third straight season, with a combined 14-point margin of defeat. All three losses have been decided in the fourth quarter and any one of them could have gone Edmonton’s way.

But in all three games, one or two key mistakes have led to an Elks’ loss. The team’s start to 2024 has been especially hard to swallow knowing all the positives we’ve seen. But that doesn’t mean those positives are irrelevant.

After a year away, quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson has jumped back into the CFL as if he never left. Bethel-Thompson’s 978 passing yards through three games ranks him second overall, as do his six touchdown passes. And his 73.0 per cent completion rate is the highest of his career by a significant margin. It’s been a great return thus far.

We’ve also seen all three of the Elks’ high-end receivers go to work early on. Dillon Mitchell, Eugene Lewis and Kurleigh Gittens Jr. all have a touchdown catch and are each over 170 yards through three games. And newcomer Hergy Mayala has been a really nice fit, too; the fifth-year National has already racked up 170 yards and three touchdowns.

We’ve also.seen plenty of positive defensive signs.

After getting his feet wet last year, defensive tackle Noah Curtis is off to a great start. The 2023 fourth-round pick has three sacks in his first three games, which is a positive sign knowing the Elks finished with just 39 of them last season. Curtis and fellow CFL sophomore Elliott Brown have combined for five sacks early on.

The Elks also appear to have found something in defensive back Leon O’Neal Jr. Signed in January, O’Neal has started all three of Edmonton’s games at SAM linebacker and leads the team with 17 defensive tackles.

There’s no doubt head coach Chris Jones and the Elks need to start turning positive performances into wins and anyone inside the locker room will be the first to tell you so. But this isn’t a hopeless 0-3 start for Edmonton as they roll into BC to open Week 4 on Thursday night.

Quick hits

After pulling a pair of games out of the fire to start the season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders said enough of that to wrap up Week 3. The Riders rolled over Hamilton 36-20 in their home opener and did so on the back of a couple big name newcomers.

Tailback AJ Ouellette racked up 145 yards of total offence while linebacker Jameer Thurman finished with a pick-six, a forced fumble, and five defensive tackles.

The only negative about Sunday’s win was seeing quarterback Trevor Harris exit the game late in the first half with an apparent lower body injury. According to head coach Corey Mace, though, Harris was held out for precautionary reasons. “Why risk it,” Mace said postgame. “I talked to him at halftime, and he was in pretty good spirits. In the second half, he was in my ear saying ‘Coach, I can go!’ But we wanted to play it just a little bit safe.”

The 3-0 Roughriders have a bye in week 4, which affords Harris even more time to recover.

Finally, remember when Alexander Hollins was a raw talent with a lot of potential in 2022? Now, a little less than two years later, he’s the league’s leading receiver with 402 yards and three touchdowns. Hollins went for 215 yards and a touchdown in BC’s 26-24 win over Winnipeg on Friday night. Goodness.

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