MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes suffered defeat for the primary time in 300 days — and misplaced their star quarterback within the course of.
Cody Fajardo exited with an injury as the Toronto Argonauts snapped Montreal’s unbeaten run with a 37-18 victory Thursday.
Montreal (5-1) misplaced its first recreation since falling to Toronto on Sept. 15 final season, ending a club-record 13-game run, together with playoffs and the Grey Cup.
Fajardo left on the finish of the primary quarter after throwing an incomplete cross earlier than heading to the locker room at Molson Stadium holding his hamstring. The Grey Cup MVP was hurried 5 instances, hit twice and sacked twice previous to his early departure.
“He didn’t finish the game and that tells you something,” Als head coach Jason Maas stated of Fajardo’s standing. “We’ll get that imaged and looked at, and then we’ll have a time frame for his return. Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”
Caleb Evans took over for the final three quarters, going 12-of-22 for 127 passing yards, two TD passes and two interceptions.
Meanwhile, Toronto (3-2) broke a two-game skid that began with a 30-20 defeat to the Alouettes on June 28 and evened the season collection towards its East Division rival.
Cameron Dukes compiled 131 passing yards with one TD on 16-for-20 completions after throwing 4 picks in final week’s 30-23 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
But it was Janarion Grant who sparked the Argos with a 103-yard kickoff return for a landing within the dying moments of the primary half. It was the third-longest kick return within the franchise’s lengthy historical past.
In a recreation the place neither offence was clicking on all cylinders, Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie referred to as it “the impact play of the game.”
“Their quarterback’s not playing, our quarterback’s not playing that well,” he stated. “So the other units got to pick it up and we did.”
Late within the second quarter, the Alouettes introduced the rating inside two factors after working again Walter Fletcher sliced and diced by means of the Argos defence for a 50-yard rush that arrange Tyson Philpot for the Canadian wideout’s league-leading fifth TD reception.
But after the Alouettes missed the two-point conversion, Grant pulled off the kick-return TD to place Toronto up 24-15 at halftime and squash Montreal’s momentum.
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“I just saw space and opportunity,” Grant stated. “So I needed to run prefer it was a racetrack, you are feeling me?
“And get to it.”
With Fajardo out, the Alouettes barely stood an opportunity of mounting a comeback.
Montreal had just one first down, 13 offensive performs and 32 internet yards with Evans underneath centre within the second half. The house crew additionally possessed the ball for under eight minutes.
Maas stated regardless of the ugly numbers, he has confidence in his backup ought to Fajardo miss time.
“I trust our guys and I trust the guys we have behind them to go in there and do the job,” Maas stated. “We won games without (Fajardo) last year.”
The sluggish Alouettes had been coming off a five-day break after beating the Calgary Stampeders 30-26 on Saturday, however Maas wouldn’t use that as an excuse.
“Is football meant to be played on five days rest? I don’t believe (so). That’s my opinion, but we have to do it,” he stated. “Did that contribute to what we did tonight? I don’t want to look at it that way. I like to give the other teams credit. We didn’t do enough to win the night.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-0), who go to the B.C. Lions on Saturday, are the one remaining undefeated CFL crew this season.
Dinwiddie stated the Argos weren’t taking any pleasure in handing the defending champs their first lack of the season.
“Hell no, not at all,” he stated. “We simply wanted to get 1-0, after which get to 3-2 and get again in it.
“Yeah, they’re the best in the league right now, and we didn’t play our best football. They lost their quarterback, I get it. It’s not something to say, ‘Oh, yeah, we beat Cody.’”
Alouettes kicker Jose Maltos, changing injured starter David Cote, went 1-for-2 on discipline targets, together with a 50-yarder. He additionally scored a rouge on a missed try from 38 yards. Toronto’s Lirim Hajrullahu was 3-for-3.
The recreation began with a sloppy first quarter earlier than the motion picked up halfway by means of the second.
Argos linebacker Wynton McManis kicked it off, intercepting an Evans cross and working it 9 yards into the top zone to present Toronto a 10-2 lead at 7:55.
Evans responded with a 22-yard cross into the top zone for Charleston Rambo. The Argos made it 17-9 with 2:15 remaining when Dukes discovered Damonte Coxie for a 10-yard rating.
Philpot then obtained then Montreal inside two earlier than Grant ran the size of the sphere for a 24-15 lead on the half.
“It was a fast transition, especially where the clock was at that time, right?” Dinwiddie stated.
“Big, big play.”
UP NEXT
Alouettes: Host the Saskatchewan Roughriders on July 25 after a bye week.
Argos: Visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on July 20.
