Zulkowski: QB Harris played role but Als defense flattened

tomtidgewellNovember 14, 2022

“It hurts to be short like this,” says Harris.

Quarterback Trevor Harris, 7, will leave the field for the Montreal Alouettes after losing to the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL East Finals in Toronto on Sunday, November 13, 2022. Photo by Mark Brinch /canadian press

TORONTO — 36-year-old Trevor Harris’ chances of winning a Gray Cup as a starting quarterback are starting to dwindle. Considering Father Time remains undefeated.

Harris, arguably the best Alouette quarterback since Anthony Calvillo retired nearly a decade ago, did his best to single-handedly bring Montreal back to the CFL’s championship game on Sunday afternoon. produced a near-perfect performance.

He completed 25 of 30 passes for 362 yards and 1 touchdown. End He fielded too many goals when he needed a move to the zone. Other than setting up goals (4 goals), Harris’ performance was irreproachable, rallying the team from a 21-3 deficit. I tried

Unfortunately, Harris doesn’t even field for Montreal.

For the 11th straight season, it was the longest drought of any CFL team, but remember there are only nine. Montreal’s defense was virtually non-existent at BMO Field on Sunday afternoon. In the East Division finals, Toronto he overwhelmed the Argonauts with his 34-27 victory.

Last week, Argos’ defense was exposed in obvious fashion by the Argos when he allowed just one touchdown to Hamilton while sacking the Tiger-Cats quarterback six times in the division semifinals.

Montreal allowed four touchdowns, failed to generate sacks, forgot how to cover receivers, failed to stop runs, and had no answer to Toronto’s screenplay. The secondary was very weak, and the loss of middle linebacker Maika Oh to a shoulder injury was palpable. Argos he punted only twice.

Still, the score was reduced to a one-possession game with just over four minutes left in regulation time, and the defense failed to stop, denying the Montreal offense a last chance to tie the game. Incredibly, Argos got 48 yards on his 12th consecutive play along the ground.

“We didn’t play like we could[defensively],” admitted general manager and interim head coach Danny Maciocia. “Absolutely. They just performed.

“When we needed a stop, we didn’t get it. Give them credit, they could answer. I was able to play something.”

Every time Alz attempted a comeback, Toronto seemed to have answered with a score. At halftime he trailed 24-13 William his standback ran 52 yards on his off tackle for a touchdown with 66 seconds into the third quarter. A two-point conversion made the score 24-21, but the Argos rebounded with a field goal. Then trailing 27–24, Toronto marched for 70 yards in his eight plays and scored a touchdown on the final play of the quarter.

But perhaps the biggest misstep happened in the second quarter. On the second-and-one play, backup his quarterback Chad Kelly avoided a sneak for a touchdown and he passed Davaris 46 yards to Daniels for a 21–3 lead. There was no Montreal defender in the same area code as Daniels. The Als failed to make up for an injury to Wesley Sutton at defensive back four plays ago.

“We got caught up in the manpower group…we weren’t covering up their wideouts,” Maciosia explained. “They saw it, picked it up and threw it at him.”

I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Harris, who deserved a better fate, and I was lucky to get away with just three sacks against him. were sacked for the second time in a row, and Montreal settled for a field goal.

“It’s hard to reflect now,” said an emotional Harris. Thank you very much.

“It’s frustrating. There was never a time when I didn’t think we could win, to be honest I don’t know how many answers they had for us. I felt like I was going to.”

The Als had 439 yards of net offense but only two touchdowns. Stanback threw him 84 yards on 12 carries, but Walter Fletcher on his 3 carries he stayed 8 yards and did not catch a pass.

Rookie receiver Tyson Philpott caught eight passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. Eugene Lewis added his five receptions to give him 83 yards and a call. gained yards.

However, 24 km/h winds blew up in the first quarter and Montreal lost 14-3. Wind picked up again in the third period and the Als were unable to capitalize again, leaving him just 11-10 ahead of Toronto.

“This hurts,” said Lewis, who in February was nominated in the division as the best player and potential free agent. I hate it. This is going to stab me a little. We had a great team and I feel like I had a chance to win it all. I still do.”

hzurkowsky@postmedia.com

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