Alouettes' roller-coaster season ends in East Final loss to Ticats thanks to poor cover teams

The Montreal Alouettes saw incredible highs and lows this season, but in the end, their quest to make it to the Grey Cup came up a game short thanks to a 40-24 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Final Sunday. Getting there at all is impressive for a team that started the year 1-7 and was described as hitting "rock bottom," but falling at this hurdle is a little disappointing given how much potential this team showed in their 8-2 stretch run. In the end, the Alouettes' undoing came from a surprising source; their kick coverage teams.

The Montreal defence was key to their successful stretch run and their 50-17 East semifinal demolition of B.C. last week, and it showed up again Sunday in Hamilton. On the day, they held Ticats' quarterback Zach Collaros to 199 passing yards, and while they did give up a lot of rushing yardage to Nic Grigsby (who had 93 yards on 18 carries), a lot of the points the Alouettes allowed were thanks to turnovers by their offence. Even with that, though, the Montreal offence did almost enough to win under normal circumstances; Jonathon Crompton threw for 335 yards and three touchdowns (albeit with three interceptions) and Brandon Rutley collected 52 rushing yards. What really doomed the Alouettes were the two punt return touchdowns they gave up to Hamilton speedster Brandon Banks.

Banks almost singlehandedly made the difference for Hamilton in this one, picking up two tremendous return touchdowns on punts and having a third nullified by a penalty. His first punt return touchdown was an impressive play, and it gave the Ticats their first lead of the day (20-14). However, the second punt return showed off not just his tremendous skill, but also the struggles of Montreal's kick coverage unit; they appeared to do a good job of closing off his routes, but then couldn't make the tackle, allowing him to escape and really put this game away, giving Hamilton a 37-24 lead they wouldn't relinquish. Banks finished the day with 226 return yards; he also had 35 rushing yards and 33 receiving yards, and he was essential to the Ticats' triumph. After the game, he told TSN's Matthew Scianitti his belief in his own abilities was key to his success.

"I've got a lot of self-confidence," Banks said. "Every time I get the ball in my hands, I want to score so bad. It's working out for me so far, and I'm so happy to be here."

However, it was Montreal's decision to keep kicking to Banks after the first return that really took a lot of criticism (and deservedly so) on Twitter, including from Winnipeg defensive end Jason Vega:

That decision may well have cost the Alouettes the game, and it ends what was a promising turnaround. This team was so bad to start the year, but they managed to find their way back into contention thanks to excellent contributions from new assistant coaches like Turk Schoenert and Jeff Garcia, plus the elevation of Crompton to the starting role and the defence elevating its play to a new level. Now they have an offseason full of could-have-beens; if only they'd been a little better two weeks ago against Hamilton to claim the bye and home-field advantage, if only they'd had a few less turnovers Sunday, if only they'd covered Banks better, things might well have been different. In the end, it's a season with some promise for Montreal going forward, but one with a bittersweet ending.