Als clinch playoff spot as Argos self-destruct
Chip Cox puts game away with long fumble return
Last Updated: Saturday, October 3, 2009 | 6:37 PM ET
CBC Sports
Montreal's De'Audra Dix, left, breaks up a pass to Toronto's Jason Carter in the first half of Saturday's win by the Alouettes. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press) One goal down, three to go.
The Montreal Alouettes became the first team in the Canadian Football League to clinch a playoff spot on Saturday, beating the game but overmatched Toronto Argonauts 27-8 at the Rogers Centre.
With the win, Montreal moves to 11-2 and can clinch the Eastern Conference title with a loss by Hamilton on Saturday night in Calgary.
"I'm just proud of our team," said coach Marc Trestman. "We played through adversity and injuries and found a way to win."
"It was a very difficult game in terms of the defence we were playing against … and it puts you in a game of chess. I don't know how to play chess, which is probably why we didn't do so well offensively in the first half."
That means the Als are close to hosting the Eastern final on Nov. 22 and will be favoured to head to the Grey Cup game a week later in Calgary. Montreal has been to six cup finals in the last 10 years and won just once.
Led by a strong defence missing both starting corners, Toronto (3-10) was in this one until halfway through the fourth quarter, trailing 17-8, when yet another page in the season-long nightmare story was turned by Chip Cox.
As quarterback Kerry Joseph, playing in relief of the awful Cody Pickett, tried to find a receiver downfield, he was stripped of the ball by the Montreal linebacker.
He ran it back 57 yards for a touchdown, his second such score of the season, putting the game away.
"Our offence is explosive and we're trying to be just as explosive," said Cox. "We [the defence] are hard on ourselves and we expect to make plays.
"You want to be accountable to your teammates."
Argos get close
Joseph's second possession of the second half produced the Argos' opening touchdown, thanks in large part to the smarts of kicker Justin Medlock, who took off on a fake punt for a first down.
That set up an eight-play, 70-yard drive that included four carries by Jamal Robertson ending in a seven-yard scamper that made it 11-8 with the convert.
Damon Duval replied with a career-best 53-yard field goal late in the third quarter to send the clubs into the final 15 minutes with Montreal up 14-8.
He would add a fourth-quarter kick to run the score to 17-8.
Dreary first half
Montreal's offence spent most of the first half on the field but came out with only an 11-1 lead.
The Argos' defence stood up to the league's best attack, sacking Anthony Calvillo four times in the opening 30 minutes and leaving the Montreal pivot glaring at his offensive line.
Calvillo came up with the key play on the Als' only major score, hustling his aging body 30 yards down field on a scramble, setting up a toss to Jamel Richardson in the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
A Duval field goal and single provided the rest of the Montreal scoring.
"They threw the whole playbook at us up front," said Calvillo. "Once we made our adjustments we were OK but we knew it would be tough to score on them because it always is.
"You're always going to be excited about a win. What I was most disappointed about was we got stopped too many times in the middle of the field."
Argos quarterback Pickett was ineffective in the first half, completing seven of 17 passes for just 64 yards as part of a 77-total-yard offensive output by the Toronto attack.
That moved coach Bart Andrus to bring Joseph in to start the second half for the second consecutive week.
"We have a long way to go offensively," said Andrus, who is also the club's offensive co-ordinator. "Right now on offence we're not stepping up and making plays."
Star Alouettes running back Avon Cobourne left the game in the first half and did not return. The club said he had a groin injury but did not disclose how serious.
With files from The Canadian Press
