HAMILTON — Montreal Alouettes quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. will make his first start of the season against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Friday night at Tim Hortons Field.
The Ticats are coming off a 64-14 beatdown of the Toronto Argonauts, where they piled up more than 600 yards of total offence. Meanwhile, the Alouettes just had their first bye week and haven’t played since June 14 when they lost to Edmonton 32-25 and allowed over 600 yards of total offence themselves.
Adams Jr. first came on in relief of Antonio Pipkin who was injured in the season opener. Pipkin is now out for up to six weeks with a leg injury. A silver lining for the Pasadena, Calif. native: the best game of his Canadian Football League career came against Hamilton, when he threw three touchdowns for 257 yards during a Week 20 game in November 2016.
First-year head coach Khari Jones just wants his signal caller to be at ease under the Friday night lights.
“I want Vernon to be himself. I don’t want to take away his best assets,” Jones said.
» Depth Charts: MTL | HAM
The Tiger-Cats will counter with Jeremiah Masoli. Through two games, Masoli is third in the league in passing yards with 507 and has four touchdown passes with one lone interception. Against Toronto, Masoli threw for three touchdowns and 338 yards, averaging 10.9 yards a completion. He added a fourth touchdown on the ground.
But it was running back Sean Thomas-Erlington who earned Shaw Top Performer honours for Week 2 after his game against the Argonauts. The 26-year old Montreal native ran for 109 yards on 12 carries in the victory. Instead of basking in the glory by himself, he made sure to give praise to his team after receiving the honour.
“For this win, it was just a great team effort,” Thomas-Erlington said. “I was just a big, or small, part of it.
As for the Tiger-Cats, they’re happy to be 2-0 with the victories they’ve got under their belt.
“Two wins is two wins. It’s four points,” Head Coach Orlondo Steinauer said. “It’s not making light of it, we enjoyed it. Proud of the coaches, the players and their execution. Now we’ll see. We’ve got to go play this game and see how we respond after a big win like that.”
The Alouettes will also look to clean up on defence, despite missing linebacker Bo Lokombo and safety Taylor Loffler, after allowing 32 points in their season opening loss. Linebacker Glenn Love will take Lokombo’s place, while Ty Cranston will start in Loffler’s spot. The Alouettes will also have Greg Reid in the secondary in place of Marcus Cromartie, who’s now on the one-game injured list.
First year Alouettes defensive coordinator Bob Slowik admitted to the media this week that he was still adjusting to the Canadian game.
“The biggest adjustment for me as a coach is how quickly you go from one series to another,” Slowik said. “You have to make your changes rapidly. That’s something that I will grow into.”
The Tiger-Cats will still have Simoni Lawrence on the field, despite being suspended by the league for two games after a dangerous hit on Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Zach Collaros in the 2019 season opener. Since Lawrence is appealing the suspension, and won’t have a hearing until July 9, he is eligible to play.
Hamilton, however, will be without receiver Luke Tasker Friday night as he’s still recovering from a shoulder injury sustained in his team’s first game of the season. He missed the Week 2 contest against Toronto, opening the door for rookie receiver Jaelon Acklin. The import receiver says he’s been fitting in with his fellow receivers.
“It feels good,” Acklin said. “It’s a little easier when I get to play with guys like Brandon Banks, Luke Tasker, Mike Jones, Bralon (Addison), all those guys. They took me under their wing and taught me what it takes to be a pro.”
Marcus Tucker will also get the start while rookie Josh Crockett has been moved to the injured list.
Canadian receiver and running back Anthony Coombs has been activated from the practice roster and is expected to make his Ticats debut.
BY THE NUMBERS
5 — The number of touchdowns Vernon Adams Jr. has thrown in his four-year CFL career. Three of them came against the Tiger-Cats in that November 2016 game.
2 — Friday night’s game will see Tiger-Cats wide receiver Jaelon Acklin make his second career start. The Western Illinois native made five catches for 59 yards in his pro debut against the Argonauts.
6 — The number of 10-plus yard gains by Sean Thomas-Erlington this year. Only one running back, former Ticat CJ Gable, has more (10).
96 — Alouettes receiver B.J. Cunningham had 96 yards receiving off seven catches in the 32-25 loss to the Esks in his team’s season opener two weeks ago.
Friday night’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on TSN, RDS and ESPN2, and can also be followed live via CFL.ca Game Tracker.
With files from Ticats.ca and MontrealAlouettes.com.
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