Eskimos thump Alouettes and stay in West contention, while Montreal hopes fade

Monday was a happy Thanksgiving indeed for the Edmonton Eskimos, who posted an impressive 40-20 road win over the Montreal Alouettes in the day's first game. They picked up that win thanks to a combination of a great ground game, an impressive passing game and a solid defence, which bodes well for their chances heading into the CFL playoffs. They also solidified their hold on a playoff spot with the victory, improving to 8-7, which puts them closer to 9-5 B.C. and 9-6 Winnipeg in the West and boosts them further in the crossover race. Meanwhile, the Alouettes' already-faint playoff hopes are all but extinguished following this loss, and they'll have to start thinking even more about developing for next year.

Montreal got off to an excellent start in this one, holding the Eskimos to a 3-1 lead after the first quarter and then taking an 8-3 lead themselves after capitalizing off a Troy Stoudemire fumble on a return. However, the rest of the game was all Edmonton, with the Eskimos pulling ahead 16-11 at the half and outscoring Montreal 21-0 in the third quarter. The Alouettes' eventual nine fourth-quarter points were too little, too late, and this one illustrated that Montreal still has a lot of work to do to compete consistently. They won't be competing much this year, either; while the 4-10 Alouettes are still technically in the postseason chase, they'd need to win their remaining games, have Edmonton lose their remaining games, and pass Toronto in the standings as well. That seems unlikely, so it appears that it's probably going to be building towards next year for Montreal going forward.

One big difference in this clash was the ground games. Edmonton's John White picked up a very impressive 145 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries (7.6 yards per carry) while adding another 13 receiving yards on five catches, while Montreal's Brandon Rutley was held to 36 yards on 11 rushes (3.3 per carry). The Eskimos consistently gained first downs and set up second and short situations on the ground, making things much easier for quarterback Mike Reilly, who completed 25 of 34 passes (73.5 per cent) for 346 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. By contrast, Alouettes' quarterback Rakeem Cato only completed 20 of 31 passes (64.5 per cent) for 268 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and much of that came in garbage time. Some of that was on Cato himself, but the difference in the rushing games also made it difficult for Montreal to do much through the air.

The Eskimos can be thrilled about their effort all around here, though. They had excellent games from their receivers, with recently-activated rookie Brandon Zylstra (six catches for 104 yards and a touchdown) joining the typical dominant duo of Adarius Bowman (six catches for 112 yards) and Derel Walker (five for 96). Their defence turned in a great showing, recording two sacks, a forced fumble and an interception, and containing Montreal both on the ground and through the air. Their combination of rushing and receiving production will be tough to stop, too. This Edmonton team is looking more and more like the one that won the Grey Cup last year rather than the one that struggled earlier this year; this was their third-straight win, and it showed continued improvement.

This result also sets the Eskimos up for postseason success. While they're still only in fourth in the West, they're within striking distance of the two teams ahead of them, so they might even wind up hosting a playoff game. Alternatively, they could stay in fourth and cross to the East to face the teams there, which have been much worse over the course of this season. Either way, whoever they play will have a lot to contend with.