Montreal Defense Presents 'Challenges' to QB Zach Collaros, Winnipeg Offense in Grey Cup
The Montreal Alouettes had the second-best scoring defense in the CFL during the regular season. They held their two playoff opponents to 29 total points.
Suffice to say, moving the ball and getting in the end zone will be a challenge for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers going into the Grey Cup on Sunday. Even more so than their previous two Grey Cup opponents.
“Montreal presents a lot of challenges with different fronts, the way that they mix up the back end,” Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros said. “But nothing like we saw last year, Toronto, nothing like Hamilton [in 2021 and 2019].
“Every team presents different challenges and we approach the games in different ways. We need to attack more on the ground or are we thinking more of an aerial attack? What’s the weather gonna be like? There are different things that play a factor in it.”
Winnipeg lost the Grey Cup to the Argonauts last season, and beat the Tiger-Cats in the previous two title games. (The 2020 season was canceled due to COVID.)
Reaching the four straight Grey Cups is a feat that hasn’t been done in more than 40 years. Winnipeg could become just the seventh team to win three championships in four seasons in Grey Cup history, and just the second to do it since 1962.
But the Bombers will have to get through the Alouettes first. Montreal, which allowed 21.8 points per game during the regular season, reached the Grey Cup by holding Chad Kelly and the high-powered Toronto Argonauts offense in check during a 38-17 upset. The Alouettes picked off the George Reed Most Outstanding Player award winner four times in the Eastern Final.
Shawn Lemon led Montreal with nine sacks during the regular season, while Tyrice Beverette and Mustafa Johnson each had seven. Marc-Antoine Dequoy had a team-high five interceptions during the season, and added two more in the East final.
Winnipeg might also be without its top receiver, as Dalton Schoen was listed as doubtful on the final Grey Cup injury report and hasn’t practiced all well due to an ankle injury. If Schoen can’t go, Kenny Lawler (50 catches for 904 yards and six touchdowns) will be asked to step into the lead role he once had with the Bombers.
Lawler led the league in receiving with the Bombers in 2021 before a one-year detour with the Edmonton Elks. Lawler returned to Winnipeg this season in free agency, with the chance to reunite with Collaros being one of the main reasons.
“It’s the easiest thing. He just tells me what he wants and I go out there and give it to him,” receiver Kenny Lawler said. “We’re on the same page day in and day out. He’s a great teammate, unbelievable man. He cares. I love him as a brother”
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Art Garcia is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of InsideTheRangers.com and CFL on FanNation. Award-winning stops at various media outlets dot his career.