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Alouettes play host to slumping Lions

Wed 1st, September 2010

Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - The Montreal Alouettes find out what life without one of the top offensive stars in the league is like this week as the team hosts the British Columbia Lions at McGill Stadium on Friday night.

The Alouettes have been enjoying some time off since defeating Winnipeg back on August 19 by a score of 39-17, but quarterback Anthony Calvillo still doesn't feel that he is up to the task of leading his team on the field and will be sitting this one out due to a sternum injury and bruised ribs that caused him discomfort the last time he attempted to practice and prepare. With Calvillo, the two-time reigning CFL Offensive Player of the Year, taking a break it is up to Chris Leak to handle the action on offense for the squad.

Leak looked solid when he subbed for Calvillo in the last game, stepping in during the third quarter and completing 10-of-15 passes for 99 yards as the Als maintained their lead in the Eastern Division with a record of 6-2. Receiver S.J. Green caught a pair of Calvillo TD passes in the decision and running back Brandon Whitaker, who was taking the place of an injured Avon Cobourne, added a team-best 74 yards and a couple of majors of his own.

As for the Lions, their season continues to spiral out of control. Since posting a 25-10 win over Edmonton in the season opener, the team has dropped seven in a row and now rests at the bottom of the division standings as a result. Last week the team had an offensive explosion that included a season- high 35 points versus Calgary, the only problem being that the squad also gave up 48 points in a game that saw the highest-scoring first half so far this season in the CFL.

Lions signal-caller Casey Printers returned to action after missing the last four games due to injury but was mostly ineffective for much of the game before tossing his first and only touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter to Emmanuel Arceneaux. Printers, who hit on 10-of-26 passes for 191 yards, did score a major himself early in the meeting on the ground, but BC still lost its seventh in a row.

In one of the scarier moments this season, play between the Lions and Stampeders was halted for several minutes at the 5:18 mark of the third after BC wideout Darius Passmore collided with signage on the sidelines, requiring him to be immobilized and wheeled off on a stretcher after suffering a cut to his neck and was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution.

Printers should be getting the start again this week for the Lions, but one never knows which signal-caller will be actually finishing the game for the squad. Back in 2005, Printers did have a huge game against the Als with 357 yards and four TD passes, but in his other appearances he has a total of just four majors and five INTs, so the odds are not exactly on his side. It should come as no surprise that the BC passing attack is one of the weakest in the league at this stage, completing just 56.2 percent of its pass attempts for a meager five touchdowns and 10 picks, leading to a league-low 69.3 efficiency rating through eight games.

Thanks to Calvillo, the Montreal passing attack is again tops in the league with a rating of 109.6, having rolled out 18 TDs and just four interceptions, but this weekend the offense for the Als will have a different look with Leak at the helm, starting the first CFL game of his career. One of the significant differences between Calvillo and Leak is the ability of the latter to actually break out of the pocket and make something happen with his feet. Chances are the coaches won't want Leak to take too many liberties in that department since they are already a QB short, but that still has to play a part in the preparations by the Lions going into Friday night.

Whitaker, who was named the Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts filling in for Cobourne, has shown that he can play a significant role in the offense when called upon, so perhaps the Als will be asking him to again shoulder a portion of the load while key components of the offense try to get healthy. Montreal, which is a perfect 3-0 this season when playing in games decided by 20 points or more, is actually second from the bottom in terms of rushing yards at this stage with just 751, averaging only 5.5 yards per attempt which is ahead of only Hamilton and that shows just how important Calvillo and the quarterback position is to this group.

This is the second meeting of the season between these two teams, the first taking place in British Columbia in the middle of July with the Als slipping by with a 16-12 victory. The win was the first for Montreal in the province in the last 10 years. Damon Duval was the star of the show for the Als as he registered all but two of his team's points.

With the win Montreal has now taken two in a row and three of the last four encounters with the Lions in regular season action. In terms of the all-time regular-season series, BC still clings to a 31-29-1 advantage dating back to 1954.