The Ottawa Redblacks will be without quarterback Dru Brown when they host the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night.
Brown injured his hip during the fourth quarter of the season-opening 31-26 loss to the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders and was ruled out Wednesday.
It’s a big blow for Ottawa (0-1) after Brown passed for 413 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1.
Matt Shiltz, who has a 6-7 career record as a starter, will take over.
“Matt will start and we’ll move forward in that direction,” Redblacks coach Bob Dyce told reporters. “If I were to hazard a guess, I would think (Brown) could be ready for Week 3.”
Shiltz played in his first CFL game in 2017 with Montreal, and Ottawa is his fourth team. He is in his initial campaign with the Redblacks.
In 89 career games, Shiltz has thrown for 4,795 yards, 21 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.
Ottawa also received bad news on the defensive side of the ball. Safety Alonzo Addae is done for the season due to an elbow injury.
“I feel awful for him,” Dyce said of Addae. “I know he’ll come back strong. He’s very strong mentally and he’ll battle through it.”
Redblacks receiver Eugene Lewis caught a touchdown pass in the opener and has at least one scoring reception in nine straight games, one off the all-time CFL mark held by Terry Evanshen (1967-68) of the Calgary Stampeders.
Montreal (1-0) will rely on Davis Alexander, who is the first quarterback in franchise history to win his first five starts. Alexander guided the Alouettes to a 28-10 home victory over the Toronto Argonauts in Week 1.
Alexander passed for 205 yards, one touchdown and one interception against Toronto. His touchdown pass went to Tyson Philpot, who was playing for the first time since injuring a foot last August.
“It’s the fruit of the work I did during the offseason,” said Philpott, who had four catches for 48 yards. “Without being dramatic, it’s been 300 days, 42 weeks, and nine months since I last played. I had missed this atmosphere.”
Montreal defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund returned a fumble 18 yards for a touchdown to help lead a unit that allowed the fewest points in Week 1 and the second-fewest yards (276).
The Alouettes also seek to continue their dominance of the Redblacks. They have won the past eight overall meetings and the past 10 at Ottawa.
–Field Level Media
