John Bowman, Tyrell Sutton and the Alouettes edge the Argos to clinch a playoff berth Sunday

After starting the year 1-7, the Montreal Alouettes have become the first East Division team to clinch a playoff berth.  They pulled that off with a narrow 17-14 home win over the Toronto Argonauts Sunday, improving their record to 9-8 (and becoming the first East team to be above .500 at any point this season) in the process, and they got that victory largely thanks to the efforts of their defence (in particular, thanks to a vital sack from defensive end John Bowman) and running back Tyrell Sutton. While there's still plenty for Montreal to improve upon, the Alouettes continued their remarkable turnaround here, and they've now locked up a place in the postseason. They also now have an excellent chance to take first place in the division.

The Alouettes' defence was terrific all game long, as they have been for much of the second half of this season, but they particularly came through inside the three-minute warning. At that point, Montreal led just 17-14, a lead that didn't seem particularly secure against star Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray. The Alouettes had the wind on their side, though, and they also got some great defensive plays. Perhaps the most crucial came with 2:27 left and the Argos deep in their own end, when Bowman broke through the Toronto line and sacked Ray hard. That set up a 2 and 18 situation, but it also led to Ray leaving the game, and that may have been even more decisive.

After Ray left the game, backup quarterback Trevor Harris was able to complete an eight-yard pass to receiver Mike Bradwell, but the Argos then elected to punt on 3rd and 10. That proved to be a good call, as Swayze Waters' punt was dragged back by the wind, and he alertly raced downfield to become the first Argo to touch it. (Punts can be recovered downfield by an onside player, as we saw earlier this year, and Waters, as the punter, was the only Argo onside.) The ball squirted loose, but another Toronto player touched it last before it went out of bounds, giving the Argos the ball back near midfield with another chance to win.

However, without Ray, that proved difficult. The Argos didn't get far on their first two downs, thanks in part to a drop from Bradwell, and Als' linebacker Winston Venable made a terrific play in coverage on 3rd and 10 to knock the ball down, putting Montreal back on offence. Even then, victory wasn't assured, as there were still almost two minutes left on the clock. Some terrific blocking from the Alouettes' offensive line and some great running from Sutton allowed Montreal to grind out enough first downs to hang on for the win, though.

The Alouettes' success Sunday had plenty of architects. This was always a talented group of players assembled by GM Jim Popp, but earlier this year, they weren't all on the same page. Their offensive design looks much better in recent weeks following their coaching additions and reassigments, and their defence has turned into a truly imposing unit, with this group of players really starting to pull off defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe's various blitzes. Head coach Tom Higgins did an admirable job of keeping this team from completely collapsing during this season's early tribulations, and he and his staff have made some solid personnel calls down the stretch, with the decisions to go with quarterback Jonathon Crompton and Sutton in particular paying dividends.

On the day, Crompton only completed 13 of his 26 passes, but he threw for 251 yards and a touchdown without an interception. He showed terrific chemistry with receiver Duron Carter, who had 11 catches for 181 yards and a touchdown (and could have had more if not for a couple of drops), and he seemed to be pulling off Montreal's offensive gameplan well. He also got a lot of help from Sutton, who finished with 135 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. In the end, though, this one came down to the defence, and there were numerous important figures there too. Linebacker Bear Woods was all over the field, notching a team-high 10 tackles, while Jerald Brown had eight and Venable had seven. The most critical play may have come from someone with only a single entry on the stat sheet, though; Bowman, who only notched that one sack of Ray, but did so at a vital time. That sack played a crucial role in securing this win and sending Montreal into the playoffs.