Playoff Preview: Can Als' QB Jonathan Crompton make enough plays against the Lions' defence?

The CFL playoffs are upon us, and with them comes the return of our Playoff Preview series for its fifth year. This season's playoff action gets underway Sunday, with the Montreal Alouettes hosting the B.C. Lions in the East semifinal at 1 p.m. Eastern (TSN/ESPN3) and the Edmonton Eskimos hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Eastern (TSN/ESPN2). Here's a look at how Montreal and B.C. match up. Also see our Edmonton-Saskatchewan preview.

B.C. offence: Three quarterback debates: The Lions' offence has been quite decent by a lot of metrics this year despite having primary starter Travis Lulay miss all but one game of the season (and reinjure himself during that one). So, the news that they're planning to start Kevin Glenn again despite Lulay being healthy enough to at least suit up as the backup doesn't mean their offence is doomed. With Glenn at the controls for most of the year, B.C. finished second in the CFL in gain per pass (7.9 yards) and third in passing first downs (202) and passing touchdowns (23). The rushing offence was also solid, averaging 107.8 yards per game (fourth-best in the league), albeit not particularly efficient (their gain of 5.1 yards per rush was third-worst in the CFL), and while Andrew Harris is still gone thanks to the dislocated ankle he suffered in late September, Stefan Logan's certainly a good option.

There are some question marks about this offence, though; Glenn had 17 passes picked off this year (which tied B.C. for third-worst in the league in that category), and while the Lions' yardage totals are okay (330.0 yards per game, fifth in the CFL), they don't score much (21.1 points per game, third-worst in the league). We'll see if Glenn can get them going Sunday, or if Lulay may wind up coming in off the bench.

B.C. defence: Five trash-talking interviewees: The Lions' defence has been outstanding this year, finishing third in the league in both yards allowed (315.9) and points allowed (20.3) per game. They're particularly dominant against the pass, allowing just a 60.0 per cent completion rate, 7.2 yards per pass (both second-best in the CFL) and 225.9 passing yards per game (third-best). The strength of the defence is the linebacking corps, with Solomon Elimimian (who broke the league's tackles record with 143, 54 ahead of his closest competitor, and is a deserving and historic candidate for Most Outstanding Player), Adam Bighill (seventh in the CFL with 77 tackles, returning despite a mending broken bone in his left hand) and Jamall Johnson (a long-time CFL vet and notorious hard-hitter) making up an incredibly impressive group. However, the Lions also have a terrific secondary that mixes veterans like Dante Marsh and Ryan Phillips with fresh faces like Cord Parks and Ronnie Yell. Their pass rush hasn't been as dominant, recording just 46 sacks this year (tied for sixth in the league), but defensive end Alex Bazzie has turned into a star. The question is if we'll get the B.C. defence that was dominant for much of the year, or the one that gave up 70 points and over 1,000 yards across its last two games.

B.C. special teams: Four master-versus-apprentice duels: Lions' kicker Paul McCallum is still in good form at 44, finishing the year with the best field-gold percentage in the league (38 makes on 42 attempts, 90.5 per cent). It will be interesting to see if he can keep that up in notoriously-windy Montreal, though. B.C. punter Ricky Schmitt has been pretty good, averaging 44.5 yards per punt and often pinning opposing offences deep. (Update: McCallum's going to be punting Sunday, though; Schmitt is scratched to get an extra defensive player onto the roster.) The Lions' cover teams have been solid if not exceptional, and returner Tim Brown is having a decent year, but not one up to his typical standards; part of that's been the difficulty they've had getting him onto the field thanks to ratio issues, though.

Montreal offence: Two famed quarterbacks as coaches: The Alouettes' offence was dreadful to start this year, and part of the reason was likely their decision to fire offensive coordinator Rick Worman a week into training camp. Things have been improving lately, though, and the addition of coaches Jeff Garcia and Turk Schoenert (both famed quarterbacks and famed quarterback coaches) played a big role in that, with Herb Zurkowsky writing that they "saved the Alouettes' season."  The decisions to elevate Jonathan Crompton and release Troy Smith also helped turn things around; Crompton has been solid, and Montreal actually had the most stable QB situation heading into this weekend's games. However, while the Alouettes' offence has gotten better over the course of the year, it's still far from great, and their season totals are dreadful (second-last in points per game and yards of offence per game, last in gain per rush and gain per pass). Things may not get easier with the news that they're starting inexperienced RB Brandon Rutley, who has a grand total of three CFL carries.

Montreal defence: Five bears in the woods: It would be tough for anyone to face Elimimian in the CFL's defensive player of the year balloting, but Alouettes' middle linebacker Bear Woods (yes, he was born Jonathan Woods, but he legally changed his name to Bear this offseason) is a thoroughly deserving choice as the East Division's nominee. He's battled injuries over the last few years and missed the first six games of this season after hurting his hamstring in training camp, but emerged as a dominant part of the Montreal defence afterwards and finished second in the league to Elimimian with 89 tackles. That's 7.4 per game, so if he'd played those six extra games and kept up that pace, he would have 44 more tackles, putting him at 133 (much closer to Elimimian). The Als' defence also features another tremendous linebacker in Chip Cox, who tied a league record for fumble-return TDs this season. On the whole, this is a great unit; led by second-year coordinator Noel Thorpe (who's likely to get a head coaching job sometime soon), they were fourth in the league in yards allowed per game (324.1) and tied for fourth in points allowed (21.9), and that doesn't fully indicate how much they improved down the stretch, especially following Woods' return and the midseason growth of the offence (which meant they spent less time on the field). They do allow a lot of completed passes (64.4 per cent, worst in the league), but tackle very well and shine at the bend-but-don't break game. They'll be tough to beat.

Montreal special teams: Four trips to support the troops: Sean Whyte may have started his career as McCallum's understudy in B.C., but his trade to Montreal ahead of the 2011 season allowed him to emerge as a star in his own right. He's turned into a great kicker and punter, finishing this season with an average of 44.9 yards per punt (fourth-best in the league), 154 kicking points (fourth-best in the league) and a field goal success rate of 87.2 per cent (also fourth-best in the league). Montreal's cover teams are decent, so the question is the return game. Former Oregon State star James Rodgers has flashed moments of brilliance, but still needs to be more consistent.

Add them up: B.C. 12, Montreal 11.

X-factor: The crowd: According to Zurkowsky and Arash Madani, only 15,000 to 16,000 tickets have been sold for this one so far. That's despite a lot of promotion by the Alouettes. Maybe there will be a big walk-up crowd, but if not, Montreal's home-field advantage might be diminished.

Prediction: B.C. 21, Montreal 17. Glenn outplays Crompton by just enough, and the Lions take this one in a tight defensive battle.

See also our West semifinal Playoff Preview.

More CFL coverage on Yahoo Canada Sports: