Top 25 Montreal Sports Moments Of 2014: 15-11
By Jared Book
Montreal Alouettes / Rogerio Barbosa
14. Montreal Alouettes Turn Their Season Around
It was always assumed that this year would be a rebuilding year for the Montreal Alouettes. But even then, when they started 1-6, the natives were getting restless. People wanted Tom Higgins fired, one year after Dan Hawkins was fired after a 2-3 start.
Troy Smith, who started the season as a saviour for the Alouettes was not given any leeway replacing Anthony Calvillo. Alex Brink was the next guy they tried and by the end of the game the Alouettes went to their third quarterback – who wasn’t even on their roster at the start of the season – Jonathan Crompton.
Just before switching quarterbacks, the Alouettes also added two coaches: Jeff Garcia, Turk Schonert and added Don Matthews as a consultant.
Between the four of them, the Alouettes got rolling. Their defence started dominating, and their offence went from awful to good enough to actually quite good. In the end, the Alouettes had a chance to win the East Division, but still made the playoffs and were a game away from the Grey Cup and if they had some special teams coverage, who knows what could have happened.
Now, the Alouettes are looking for a new offensive coordinator, but they aren’t looking for a quarterback. A major reason for that is Crompton being a true leader for this team. He is not the best quarterback in the league, but he’s the right quarterback for the Alouettes.
Near the end of the season, the Alouettes had a buzz about them that hasn’t been there for a couple of years. The city has become accustomed to winning which makes the losing hard to get used to, but when the team wins, there’s no better place to be than Molson Stadium.
-Jared Book
Next: No. 13: The End For The Impact's First MLS Star