The Montreal Alouettes will seek to continue their sizzling start when they visit the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night.
The Alouettes (3-0) have put last season’s bitter finish in the rearview mirror, outscoring their first three opponents by a combined 49 points.
Montreal leads the CFL in scoring (35.0 points per game) and total offense (406.3 yards per game). Defensively, the Alouettes are allowing the fewest yards (307.7) and second-fewest points (18.7) and already have six interceptions.
First-year starting quarterback Davis Alexander has completed 75.6 percent of his passes for 803 yards, five TDs and two interceptions. Tyson Philpot leads Montreal with 17 grabs for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund anchors the stingy defense with three sacks.
Alexander injured a hamstring in the second half of last week’s 38-28 victory at Edmonton and was replaced by 36-year-old veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who is expected to get the start on Friday.
“This long into my career, I’m still improving,” Bethel-Thompson told the Montreal Gazette on Wednesday. “Once I stop improving, maybe that’s when it’s time to stop doing it. Until then, I’m going to keep rolling.”
The Alouettes are the only team in the East with a winning record in the early going. Last season, Montreal won the division despite dropping three of its last four regular-season games and then falling to Toronto in the East final.
The well-rested Tiger-Cats (0-2), who lost both meetings against Montreal last season, have been idle since a 28-23 loss to Saskatchewan in their home opener on June 14.
“It’s never fun to go into a bye week on a loss,” Hamilton coach Scott Milanovich said. “There’s certainly going to be a lot of soul-searching and seeing what we can do better as coaches and seeing what we can do better as players.
“Hopefully, it’s just tweaking. I don’t think you’re going to see some mass changes in scheme or personnel or things like that. But we have to make sure we’ve got the right players on the field, and we’re giving them the best chance to be successful out there.”
Two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player Bo Levi Mitchell has thrown for 640 yards, two touchdowns and one pick, with top target Kenny Lawler catching 14 passes for 249 yards and one score. Mario Kendricks has two sacks and Jonathan Moxey has two interceptions through two games for the Ti-cats.
Mitchell entered the season with 99 career wins and is still trying to become the 10th player to reach the 100-win plateau.
The teams will meet again in Montreal on Sept. 6.
–Field Level Media
