Toronto Argonauts in no position to underestimate Montreal Alouettes

The Toronto Argonauts know that they’re in no position to take any team lightly as they look for another win on the road against the Montreal Alouettes.

It would be easy for a team to be confident going up against an opponent with a 1-8 record but the Toronto Argonauts refuse to adopt that mentality.

Going into Friday night’s game against the Montreal Alouettes, the Argos know that it won’t be easy to come away with a victory. With the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beating the Edmonton Eskimos, a win for the pressure is now on the Argos considering their next two games are against their QEW rivals.

They do have a lot of factors in their favour but some working against them as well. Montreal is 0-4 at home but Toronto is 0-3 on the road and the Argos are looking to win their third straight game after another comeback win over the B.C. Lions.

With McLeod Bethel-Thompson named the starter, the offence appears to be finding a rhythm but it’s still a work in progress. It all starts with getting off to a better start in the first half because, in the past two games, the Argos have found themselves in a deficit.

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No team wants to find themselves in a position where they need to string together a comeback even though those wins bring a lot of satisfaction.

The reason is that every team wants to find comfort in a win, getting a lead and showing that they can hold onto it.

It doesn’t mean that the Argos shouldn’t get to enjoy their 24-point comeback win over Ottawa because those types of wins show their ability to overcome adversity.

When the team was 1-5, there nobody started to panic but there was the sense among the players that they needed to get out of their own way and pull out of it.

The Argos know that the Als are a team with talented players who can’t take them for granted so Marc Trestman and the players want to focus more on themselves rather than their opponent.

They will get a big boost with Bear Woods playing in his first game of the season as he was recovering from a procedure in the offseason. He was supposed to return against the B.C. but he ended up breaking his hand and hurting his hip running back an interception in practice.

He will be ready to go against Montreal but has to wear a cast in order to protect the hand which has been an adjustment for him but he’s played with one before.

"“With a broken hand, it inhibits me in the weight room being able to grip things, but from a game standpoint, I had a teammate back in the day put a club on his hand and became a better tackler, ” Woods said about wearing the club. “You don’t rely on grabbing, you have to bring in your feet and hips and actually fundamentally tackle better so it should make me a better tackler in the game.”"

Woods admits that while he’s been in the locker room and on the sideline with his teammates nothing compares to getting back on the field and playing and tackling again.

Speaking with Anthony Coombs told me that the little details are what allow the offence to be successful and it might be dramatic to say that they’ve been shooting themselves in the foot. He also likes what he’s seen from Bethel-Thompson.

"“From a receiver standpoint, he throws a nice ball with a nice touch and spiral that’s easy to catch which as a receiver you can’t complain about that.” Coombs said."

It will be interesting to see how the team approaches the game right out of the gate and whether they can get something going in the first half will be something to watch for.

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What are your thoughts on the Argos game against Montreal? Will it be a trap game or will their momentum from the past two games give them the edge? Let us know in the comments below.

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