The high flying Alouettes have had great start to games this season, but they’re having trouble landing. They falter near the end of their games, and the team has yet to finish a game on a strong note. This was most visible on Saturday when, after coming out of the gate with a 17-0 lead after the first quarter in Calgary and a field goal in the second, the team only managed an intentional late-game safety by the Stampeders and ended up losing 25-22. The Larks, coming off a bye week, should have easily won this game after beating Calgary at home, and after the great start, all fingers were pointing to a Montreal victory.
The first quarter was a struggle for the Alouettes in five games this season, as they only managed to score 17 points through the first four games. But they put up 17 more in the first 15 minutes in Calgary. Nevertheless, the first half has been the Alouettes’ strong suit, scoring 66 total points, averaging 13.2 points in the first half each game.
That statistic sounds fantastic on its own, but only if it’s not compared to second half points in 2015. Montreal has put only 41 second-half points onto the scoreboard so far, a mean of 8.2 points for each of the latter thirty minutes. That is nearly a 40% production drop from the first half of games to the second half.
In the CFL, where most games are decided late and there are comebacks aplenty, the Alouettes find themselves in an awkward situation. What can they do to fix this drop in offence? Who’s to blame?
Faltering Offence
Rakeem Cato is a young quarterback, and judging by the way he plays in second halves, the player’s ego is way above his talent. He comes out strong in games, making short, fast, and accurate passes. But in the second half, he often finds himself throwing interceptions, flying out of the pocket, and forcing passes.
However, Cato is surrounded by veterans on his offensive line and in the receiving corps, all of whom know what it takes to win in the CFL. Cato has up to 11 Grey Cup rings surrounding him when he is on the field with players like S.J. Green, Nik Lewis, Josh Bourke, and Jeff Perrett – all multiple Grey Cup winners. If Cato is playing with too much confidence, any of the six Grey Cup winners will settle him down on the sideline.
Considering that he has participated in just four games in the league, it’s safe to say not many teams know the former Marshall star in Cato and the rebuilt Alouettes offence. It takes the opponent time to adjust to his quick-pass offence and only after at do they determine the adjustments that to be made in order to stop his attack.
Holding Opponents
On the defensive side of the ball, 51 points in the first half have been scored and 43 in the second, meaning that the defence is making up for the lack of offence. Surprisingly, the Alouettes have only been outscored twice in the second half, but most of Montreal’s games featured low-scoring second halves.
Although they tend to put up more points in the final thirty, the Alouettes are still a weak team when it comes to finishing football games. In the games they have lost, they’ve played catch up and failed to succeed. In their first lost against the Redblacks, Ottawa scored fifteen points in the second half while Montreal only scored three. Their second defeat in Winnipeg saw Montreal bounce back after a weak start but fall two points short. And this past week in Calgary, they couldn’t materialize a single offensive point, even with the wind on their backs in the fourth quarter.
Need for a Turnaround
The season is still young and Montreal has a lot of time to improve their offence. But in the Canadian Football League, where the final three minutes can feature 50% of the game’s scoring, the high flying Alouettes that first started the game will have trouble landing in Victorytown if they continue playing like this.
