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For the third year in a row, the Toronto Argonauts and the Montreal Alouettes will meet in the Eastern Final.
This year’s meeting is the most compelling one yet, given how last year unfolded. The Argos were heavy favourites to move on to the 110th Grey Cup game, thanks to their 16-2 record. The Als stunned the Argos on game day, starting with Marc-Antoine Dequoy‘s pick six, which fuelled a 38-17 win. A year later the Argos head to Montreal, where the Als have compiled the league’s best record, for a shot at revenge and making their return to the championship game for the second time in three years.
The Argos took the season series 2-1, dropping their Week 4 meeting with the Als 30-20, before coming back to take a Week 6 encounter in Montreal, 37-18, then defending their home turf in Week 17 with a 37-31 win.
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Cody Fajardo (33-41 passing, 284 yards, one touchdown and one interception) and Cole Spieker (eight catches, 113 yards, one touchdown) led the charge for the Als in that Week 4 win, getting the best of Cameron Dukes and the Argos. In Week 6, the Argos went into Molson Stadium and got some revenge with their win. Fajardo went down with a hamstring injury and backup Caleb Evans went into the game and quickly threw a pick six to Wynton McManis, which turned changed the trajectory of the game. Ka’Deem Carey had 94 yards on the ground for the Argos in that game, while adding 17 receiving yards in the win.
The two teams met for the third time in Week 17 at BMO Field, which marked the first time that Kelly suited up against the Als this year. It also marked the first time he’d seen his rivals on the field since the 2023 Eastern Final. Kelly ensured that the Argos got a different outcome this time around, steering them to the win while making 19-30 passes for 287 yards with zero TDs and an interception.
As they get set to meet for one final time in on high stakes game, here are three storylines to follow for Saturday’s Eastern Final.
THE HOT TEAM VS. THE LUKEWARM TEAM
As Michael Scott, the exalted regional manager of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton PA once said, how the turn tables.
Last year at this time, it was the Argos who were sitting pretty with a 16-2 record, waiting for the underdog Alouettes to make their way to town. This year, the Als have been at the front of the pack in the CFL, building up a 12-5-1 record, shifting as defending Grey Cup champions from hunters into the hunted.
The Argos, meanwhile, were without Kelly for the first nine games of the season as he served a suspension. In his absence, the team was 5-4 and struggling with consistency. It took Kelly some time to get back in sync with his offensive teammates, but that has come over the final third of the season. The team has now won five of its last seven games, including last week’s Eastern Semi-Final win over the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
The Als began their week of practice on Tuesday, as they get set to welcome the Argos to their house for a shot at a trip to the Grey Cup. The team went 2-4-1 in its final seven contests, after it had locked up the East Division. The offence hasn’t looked the same in that stretch, with Fajardo’s most productive game coming with a 240-yard, one-TD, one-interception showing in the Als’ Week 14 loss to BC Lions. To be fair, Fajardo split time in the team’s Week 21 regular season finale, which didn’t have any playoff value for the team. He made 16-20 passes in that game against Winnipeg, for 171 yards and a touchdown.
While they’re still favoured to win, the pressure is on the Als to stifle a hot Argos team that had contributions from all three phases in its playoff win last week.
LIKE TWO SPIDER-MANS POINTING AT EACH OTHER
Their styles differ somewhat, but Ka’Deem Carey and Walter Fletcher could play big roles in Saturday’s game for their respective teams.
Carey had nine carries for 43 yards in the Argos’ playoff win, while Kelly was bottled up for much of the first half, before he started looking deep to his receivers for touchdowns. He was much more a part of the game plan for the Argos in their three meetings with the Als this season. Carey had 87 combined yards in their Week 4 loss to the Als. He came back in their two wins with 111 combined yards in Week 6 and put together 139 combined yards and a touchdown in Week 17.
As our Marshall Ferguson pointed out earlier this week, Walter Fletcher is a lethal dual threat. As good as Carey is in the passing game, Fletcher has averaged 9.6 yards per catch this year, putting him ahead of full-time receivers like Kenny Lawler, Jalen Philpot and Argos’ star pass catcher, DaVaris Daniels. Considering that the REDBLACKS generated a record-setting offensive day against the Argos in a loss using receiver Bralon Addison as their starting running back, the Als could be in position to let their running back eat on Saturday.
TWO DEFENSIVELY-MINDED SPIDER-MANS POINTING AT EACH OTHER
As with Carey and Fletcher, Wynton McManis and Tyrice Beverette aren’t the exact same player, but the two linebackers impact games in a similar way. We most recently saw what McManis is capable of in the Argos’ win over the REDBLACKS. His interception of Dru Brown came at a crucial moment and his lateral to Tarvarus McFadden was a gutsy move that paid off, with McFadden taking off to the end zone for a game-sealing score.
Beverette is capable of similar things. He led the league in defensive plays, with 137 and finished fourth in the league in tackles, with 102. He had a pair of interceptions this year and added five sacks and four forced fumbles, showing that he’s a disruptive force anywhere he goes on the field. Beverette can pick off a quarterback or deliver the kind of hit that makes a player uneasy the rest of the game, always wondering where that six-foot, 203-pound missile is and where he might strike next.
There will be many factors at play on Saturday at Molson Stadium, but the team that wins will very likely see a big, tide-shifting play made by one of these two.