The Montreal Alouettes were hoping that quarterback Cody Fajardo would return from a hamstring injury for Thursday night’s game against the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders.

But not even a week of rest and a bye week was enough to get Fajardo up and running after he left a 37-18 loss to the Toronto Argonauts on July 11 in the first quarter. And on Wednesday, Montreal (5-1) placed Fajardo on the six-game injured list.

Now the Alouettes will plug in backup Caleb Evans under center and hope that he can run the offense without much of a drop-off.

“Evans did some good stuff (against Toronto) and some stuff you want him to learn from,” Montreal coach Jason Maas said. “Not getting any reps, having to go in there and play the majority of the game, my hat’s off to him. That’s not easy.”

There is reason to believe that Evans may be able to do the job with proper preparation time. Last year, with Fajardo out, Evans led the team to a 41-12 blowout of Saskatchewan and a 25-24 win against the Ottawa Redblacks, throwing for 333 yards in that game.

As for the Roughriders (5-1), they are also playing with a backup quarterback. Shea Patterson is 2-1 in place of Trevor Harris, most recently throwing for 261 yards and a touchdown on 17-of-25 passing last Friday night in 19-9 home win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

But the defense was the showstopper, holding Winnipeg to three field goals. Defense could be the difference in Thursday night’s game, too, as Montreal has allowed a league-low 136 points and Saskatchewan has surrendered 138.

“They’re very good up front, very good in the secondary and they’re well-coached,” Patterson said of the Alouettes. “That’s why we’re locking in on the details on a short week.”

This is the first of two meetings between the teams in four weeks. They’ll play again on Aug. 16 at Saskatchewan.

–Field Level Media