League-leading Alouettes host Lions as Rourke begins to find his groove

MONTREAL — B.C. Lions head coach Rick Campbell believes Nathan Rourke is just getting rolling since returning from the NFL last month.

Rourke will make his fourth consecutive start when the Lions (6-6) visit the league-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-1) at Molson Stadium on Friday night.

After a couple rough outings, the Canadian quarterback bounced back last week by going 21-for-30 for 325 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception in a 38-12 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in his hometown of Victoria.

"He’s going to continue to get better and better as he gets into a groove and gets more comfortable,” Campbell said. “He came out of a situation where he had just been through two NFL playbooks and two NFL training camps, and then kind of got thrown into the fire here.

“It's good for him to now have a few weeks of being in the same spot.”

QB Vernon Adams, who was having a stellar season before sustaining a knee injury, will suit up for the first time since Aug. 1 as Rourke’s backup.

Campbell said he wouldn’t rule out using both pivots in a game down the line. But as Adams eases back into form, Rourke is the guy.

Rourke also rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown as B.C. snapped a five-game skid against Ottawa.

"They have a little momentum,” Montreal linebacker Darnell Sankey said. “First couple games I don't think Rourke really performed at his best, but he had a good last game and kind of showed the league what he's about."

Alouettes head coach Jason Maas said Rourke is a “proven commodity” in the CFL after he took the league by storm in a record-breaking 2022 season.

“We all know what he can do and what he's capable of,” Maas said. “We got to play great team defence, tackle well, control the line of scrimmage and hit him and hit the ball carriers and take it away.”

Rourke will match up against the CFL’s top defence with the Alouettes conceding a league-low 18.7 offensive points per game.

Montreal also boasts the league’s second-best offence this season, and has already clinched a spot in the playoffs that won’t begin until November.

Next up, they’re hoping to secure their position atop the East Division.

“We want to clinch that first-round bye. Win one game and you’re in the Grey Cup,” QB Cody Fajardo said. “Clinching is great because we know our ticket is punched, but the job’s not finished, we gotta find a way to get a home game in front of our crowd after a bye week.”

The Alouettes are returning from a bye week, while the Lions are facing a short turnaround after playing Ottawa on the other side of the country Saturday.

Montreal will have to keep stacking wins without wide receiver Austin Mack for now. The Alouettes added Mack to the six-game injured list Friday after he injured his ankle at practice Wednesday.

Mack returned from a stint with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in Week 12 and signed a four-year extension with the Alouettes last week. He joins a long list of injured receivers, including Tyson Philpot, Kaion Julien-Grant and Tyler Snead.

Campbell still expects the Lions to have their work cut out for them.

"They're a good team on offence, defence, special teams. They're good at everything," Campbell said. “They compete and play hard the way you're supposed to play, and they have a knack for winning close games.”

The Lions are tied atop a tight West Division. Besides Rourke, they’ve added Canadian defensive lineman Mathieu Betts after he spent training camp with the NFL’s Detroit Lions. Betts will play his second game this season Friday.

Meanwhile, former Alouettes running back William Stanback is in fine form.

Stanback returns to face his former team after five seasons in Montreal, which released the tailback last off-season. Stanback ranks second in the league in rushing yards (810) and had 92 rushing yards and 78 receiving yards in the win against Ottawa, leading B.C. in both categories.

"He's gonna come out and try to do his thing. Obviously, he used to play here, I'm sure he thinks about that,” Sankey said. “Yeah, he's a good running back, nothing we ain't faced before. At the end of the day, it's just a number.”

The Alouettes had already sold 22,000 tickets as of Wednesday evening and expected a sellout crowd come kickoff Friday. The ticket sales continue a streak of solid attendance for Montreal this season after the team’s Grey Cup championship.

Campbell expects the Lions to have a difficult time play-calling at Molson Stadium.

"While it'll be hard on our offence at times, I'm glad for the Alouettes and the CFL that it's going well,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2024.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press