The Alouettes lose in the Eastern final: it’s hard to blame Jason Maas, but…

In a team as close-knit as that of the Alouettes, where no one points fingers at each other, it is undoubtedly inappropriate to question certain decisions of head coach Jason Maas and his assistants to explain the 30-28 defeat suffered by the Alouettes on Saturday in the Eastern final. Obviously, the numerous turnovers initially sank the Montreal club against the Toronto Argonauts. However, against all expectations, the match could easily have reached overtime.

• Also read: No Gray Cup for the Alouettes!

• Also read: Pierre Karl Péladeau disappointed, but proud of his team

“Sometimes it is the psyche that dictates our decisions. But I think that will be the least of our concerns, said Maas, when asked about his choice to go for a two-point conversion after a successful touchdown by the Alouettes in the first minutes of the fourth quarter. Above all, we would have protected the ball better throughout the match, that’s what could have offered a different result and more in our favor.

Loose balls and a total of five turnovers against the Alouettes in this match, we must remember. Still. The situation deserves to be dissected, because everyone has the option of using a defeat to question themselves and, if necessary, learn lessons.

12 minutes, an eternity…

The Alouettes had therefore reduced the gap to a score of 27 to 22 with a little more than 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when the club had a choice to make: convert a point or attempt a two-point conversion .

In the press gallery at Percival-Molson stadium, I humbly asked my colleague Marc Calixte, former Canadian Football League player and columnist for Montreal Journal: “What would you do?”

“12 minutes is an eternity in Canadian football. I would take the point, because it’s a close match and you don’t know what can happen,” he replied.

Obviously, a successful conversion would have placed the Alouettes three points behind the opponent, or a field goal. Guided by my instinct, but above all by the knowledge and experience of my colleague, I therefore calculated that if the Alouettes opted for the transformation and Toronto were to follow with a field goal, Montreal would find itself at seven points, which represents a touchdown with transformation.

I agree: it’s always easier to say after the fact, but we saw it coming.

A lost bet

Maas instead opted for a conversion attempt after Mack’s touchdown. It was missed and the Alouettes continued to trail by five points. A 20-yard Argos field goal with four minutes remaining followed. The Alouettes now found themselves down to eight points, which forced the team to attempt another two-point conversion, in the event of a touchdown.

Guess what? This is exactly what happened. Walter Fletcher touchdown and another failed two-point conversion. Result: the Alouettes lost 30 to 28.

If we went for two conversions instead, the score would have been 30 all and who knows what overtime would have resulted in?

“To be honest, it’s not my decisions, I go with what the coaches want. Some statistics say to go for a two-point conversion early, because if you miss such a conversion, you can have the possibility of having a second one later, Fajardo commented on the choice made by the instructors after Mack’s touchdown. No matter how Maas felt, we know he is an aggressive coach, and we like that aspect of him, we liked his decision to go for two points… Unfortunately, the Argonauts did well defensively on the sequence. In the end, we can analyze everything, but there were many plays that changed the course of this match.”

If Fajardo had not fumbled the ball in the third quarter when the Alouettes were in position for a field goal, or if he had completed a pass on either of the two-point conversions, the result would have indeed could have been different. We must also give the benefit of the doubt to Maas: it was all the turnovers that caused the loss of the Alouettes. There is no debate on this.

In the notebook…

• In victory as in defeat, the head coach of the Alouettes, Jason Maashas an undeniable quality: he knows how to rally his troops. Thus, there was no question for him of separately evaluating the work of the attack, the defensive unit or the special teams, Saturday evening, after the defeat. “We win as a team and we lose as a team,” Maas said. I’m not in the mood to say that one of the three facets did better. As a team, we lost.”
• After all the turnovers the Alouettes suffered in this 30-28 defeat, the quarterback Cody Fajardo dropped a sentence loaded with meaning: “I feel like I’m in a nightmare.”
• The Toronto Argonauts will face the challenge of playing in the Gray Cup final without their number one quarterback Chad Kelly. The latter suffered a fractured tibia in the third quarter during the match against the Alouettes. Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie has already identified Nick Arbuckle as the starting quarterback for the final meeting against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

• Shame on some Alouettes fans who were cheering when Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly was injured.
• Several Québécois will be in uniform in Vancouver next Sunday for the Gray Cup final. For the Argos, recruits Kevin Mital and Anthony Vandal are part of the training, as are Kerfalla Exumé and Brian Harelimana. Regarding the Blue Bombers, they are banking on Kevens Clercius, Shayne Gauthier and Redha Kramdi, among others.
• The Gray Cup physically arrived in Vancouver on Sunday. The Canadian Football League and the Canadian Armed Forces were able to kick off the festivities.