It was another terrible year for the Montreal Alouettes, who went 5-13 in 2018. And the turmoil has carried over to the start of this season as the team, in mind-boggling fashion decided to fire coach Mike Sherman just a week prior to the regular season.
This team may struggle out of the gate, with offensive coordinator Khari Jones unexpectedly and suddenly thrust into the top job on the fly entering the season opener against the Eskimos on Friday night in Edmonton. Antonio Pipkin has been named the starting QB, and it’s the right call as he has the most upside of any of the Montreal QBs. Jones plans to attack vertically and push the football down the field in an attempt to make this a more explosive, big-play passing offense. Unfortunately, the offensive line was offensive in the bad sense of the word last season. It was young and not very talented, as the Alouettes surrendered the most sacks in the CFL — and that unit is still a major work in progress.
The Eskimos were the only team from the West Division last year to miss the playoffs. They made plenty of moves to ensure they avoid a repeat performance in 2019 and it started with the signing of former Ottawa Redblacks QB Trevor Harris after Mike Reilly left for the BC Lions. Harris is a good addition.
It may take time for the Eskimos’ offense to jell, and 10 points is a lot to lay in Week 1, but I will still lay it here. Edmonton has won its last 10 versus Montreal (8-2 ATS), with eight of those wins coming by double digits.
The play: Eskimos, -10.