The Montreal Alouettes were at home to face the Ottawa Redblacks on Sunday night following a loss in Week 3. The Als came away with a 37\u201335 win, but once again played with fire.<\/p>\n
Below are my thoughts on the game.<\/p>\n
Story repeats itself<\/p>\n
When the media entered the Alouettes\u2019 locker room, there was a feeling not felt in a long time. Players were frustrated \u2014 even after a win. Some were more expressive than others, but the overall mood was far from celebratory as Montreal nearly let another game slip through its hands.<\/p>\n
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Free. Unsubscribe anytime. By signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, Once again, the pattern was the same: a strong start, a dreadful third quarter, and an explosive fourth quarter.<\/p>\n After building a 21\u20136 lead at halftime, Montreal allowed Jake Maier to march down the field twice in the third quarter, resulting in two Ottawa touchdowns. A missed two-point conversion and a missed convert by Brett Lauther saved the Als from a tie game.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, offensively, the Alouettes couldn\u2019t get anything going and were forced to punt twice, managed 15 yards of net offence in the third quarter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe gotta finish,\u201d linebacker Tyrice Beverette<\/a> said post-game. \u201cWe came out, we played lights out in the first half. We came out in the second half, we put our guard down. That\u2019s not our brand of football. We gotta learn how to play a full 60 minutes of football.\u201d<\/p>\n Receiver Tyson Philpot had similar thoughts about his team\u2019s second-half performance.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we watch the film, it\u2019s not the win we want,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is something about that third quarter we need to clean up. It pisses us off when we let teams back in and we know when we play championship teams, we\u2019re not going to win games like that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAgainst a good team, a team that\u2019s battle-tested like us, it\u2019s not gonna happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The third quarter is becoming a recurring issue for the Als. Last week in Edmonton, they lost that frame 13\u20130, and this week it was a 12\u20130 deficit. Those stretches flipped both games, and had Ottawa been sharper, they could have taken the lead \u2014 and possibly the win.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a good sign that players are publicly acknowledging what has been pointed out in media analyses for weeks. If it continues, even Jason Maas \u2014 who has remained largely positive about his team\u2019s struggles to protect leads \u2014 may begin addressing it more directly.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the first step toward a fix. Now that it\u2019s out in the open, the Als will need to respond in two weeks against Calgary.<\/p>\n Response<\/p>\n
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