Edmonton 16 – Montreal 50
Actually, it could have been worse.
That’s the only silver lining the Edmonton Eskimos can take after a 50-16 butt-kicking from the Montreal Alouettes at Percival Molson Stadium in Montreal on Thursday night that dropped them to 1-1 on the season.
On a night Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo strafed the Eskimos defence for 343 yards and two touchdowns on 24 completions and rolled up 446 yards of total offence, it was closer on the scoreboard than it was on the field as the Als improved their record to 2-0.
While Calvillo threw a 28-yard TD pass to Kerry Watkins on his first drive to make it 7-0, hit S.J. Green for another in the fourth quarter to make it 26-9 and scored on a four-yard run in the second quarter to make it 19-6, the Als let a handful of other scoring chances slip through their grasps.
Calvillo, who beat up on the Esks 40-4 when they came calling Sept. 21 last season, and his offence stalled on three other possessions in the first half alone, with two resulting in singles on missed field goal attempts by Damon Duval.
The Esks had their chances as well, but a pair of dropped balls in the end zone by rookie running back Arkee Whitlock on passes from Ricky Ray snuffed a pair of drives.
“The bottom line is we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot,” coach Richie Hall said of Whitlock’s case of the dropsies and five turnovers.
One and done?
Whitlock, in the line-up for injured Jesse Lumsden, played his first game for the Esks. It might be his last.
Whitlock looked like a bundle of nerves in the first half as he dropped the passes from Ray and fumbled once. To rub it in, Whitlock deflected a Jason Maas pass into the hands of Cory Huclack in the fourth quarter and he returned it for a TD.
