Alouettes show some vital life in 34-2 win over Argos, who didn't show up

Veteran quarterback Kevin Glenn's debut with the Montreal Alouettes last week was uninspiring, but his sophomore performance was a masterpiece. With more time to acclimatize to the Montreal offence than the few days following a mid-week trade last week, Glenn put on a clinic against the Toronto Argonauts in Hamilton Friday night. He completed 27 of his 35 passes (77.1 per cent) for 294 yards and three touchdowns, and he led Montreal to a dominant 34-2 win. Meanwhile, the Argos looked utterly uninspired in this one, with both starter Trevor Harris and titular backup Ricky Ray (making his first appearance of the season) unable to generate points offensively. Heading into this one, many wouldn't have expected a dominant win from the 5-10 Alouettes over the 9-6 Argos, but that's what happened, and it gives Montreal continued life in the playoff race while worsening Toronto's chances of hosting a postseason game.

Glenn's first performance for the Alouettes didn't accomplish much, as he threw for just 226 yards and a touchdown with three interceptions and a 59.1 per cent completion mark in last week's loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but with an extra week to study the playbook, he was downright dazzling. He looked like the quarterback who led Saskatchewan's offence to early dominance in 17 of 30 categories and the guy who's seventh all-time in CFL passing yardage, not the guy who struggled after returning from injury with the Riders. On Friday, Glenn showed good chemistry with a number of his receivers, spreading the ball around to eight different targets (S.J. Green led the way with seven catches for 69 yards), but perhaps even more importantly, he demonstrated solid efficiency and avoided turnovers. If he can keep that up, the Alouettes may be able to keep their push for a crossover playoff berth alive.

The Montreal defence also shone Friday night, holding the Argos to 209 passing yards with an interception. They put Harris and Ray under plenty of pressure, recording five sacks and countless other rushed throws. Three of those sacks came from veteran defensive end John Bowman, who's now second in the league with 14 on the year despite the bizarre decision to make him a healthy scratch early in the season. Defensive tackle Alan-Michael Cash also came up with two big sacks, while linebacker Winston Venable had seven tackles and a forced fumble and defensive back Jerald Brown had a crucial interception. The defence has been key to the success the Alouettes have managed to find this year, and its continued strong performance will be vital to their hopes of making the postseason.

This also was about an underwhelming showing from the Argos, though. Yes, it was awfully tough for them to play this game in front of a sparse crowd in Hamilton (thanks to Rogers deciding it now takes longer than it ever has historically to convert the Rogers Centre from baseball to football and back in case the Jays manage to make the World Series), but this team has faced adversity all season long, and has generally thrived on it. On Friday, they folded instead. Harris continued his disappointing recent form, completing 11 of 14 passes for 102 yards but proving unable to sustain drives and throwing a painful interception, while Ray didn't look like a saviour either in his first appearance of the season, completing 12 of 15 attempts for 105 yards but continuing Toronto's inability to score points. Running back Brandon Whitaker was okay on the ground, collecting 70 yards on 14 carries (5.0 yards per carry), but the Argos' passing attack is generally the key element for them, and it just wasn't clicking Friday. Depending on other results this weekend, that could end their chances of winning the division and/or hosting a playoff game at all.