MONTREAL — The Montreal Alouettes suffered defeat for the first time in 300 days — and lost their star quarterback in the process.
Cody Fajardo exited with an injury as the Toronto Argonauts snapped Montreal’s unbeaten run with a 37-18 victory Thursday.
Montreal (5-1) lost its first game since falling to Toronto on Sept. 15 last season, ending a club-record 13-game run, including playoffs and the Grey Cup.
Fajardo left at the end of the first quarter after throwing an incomplete pass before heading to the locker room at Molson Stadium holding his hamstring. The Grey Cup MVP was hurried five times, hit twice and sacked twice prior to his early departure.
“He didn’t finish the game and that tells you something,” Als head coach Jason Maas said of Fajardo’s status. “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 last 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 started with a 30-20 defeat to the Alouettes on June 28 and evened the season series against its East Division rival.
Cameron Dukes compiled 131 passing yards with one TD on 16-for-20 completions after throwing four picks in last 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 touchdown in the dying moments of the first half. It was the third-longest kick return in the franchise’s long history.
In a game where neither offence was clicking on all cylinders, Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie called it “the impact play of the game.”
“Their quarterback’s not playing, our quarterback’s not playing that well,” he said. “So the other units got to pick it up and we did.”
Late in the second quarter, the Alouettes brought the score within two points after running back Walter Fletcher sliced and diced through the Argos defence for a 50-yard rush that set up 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 put Toronto up 24-15 at halftime and squash Montreal’s momentum.
“I just saw space and opportunity,” Grant said. “So I had to run like it was a racetrack, you feel me?
“And get to it.”
With Fajardo out, the Alouettes barely stood a chance of mounting a comeback.
Montreal had only one first down, 13 offensive plays and 32 net yards with Evans under centre in the second half. The home team also possessed the ball for only eight minutes.
Maas said despite the ugly numbers, he has confidence in his backup should 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 said. “We won games without (Fajardo) last year.”
The sluggish Alouettes were coming off a five-day break after beating the Calgary Stampeders 30-26 on Saturday, but 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 said. “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 visit the B.C. Lions on Saturday, are the only remaining undefeated CFL team this season.
Dinwiddie said the Argos weren’t taking any pride in handing the defending champs their first loss of the season.
“Hell no, not at all,” he said. “We just needed to get 1-0, and then get to 3-2 and get back 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, replacing injured starter David Cote, went 1-for-2 on field goals, including a 50-yarder. He also scored a rouge on a missed attempt from 38 yards. Toronto’s Lirim Hajrullahu was 3-for-3.
The game started with a sloppy first quarter before the action picked up midway through the second.
Argos linebacker Wynton McManis kicked it off, intercepting an Evans pass and running it nine yards into the end zone to give Toronto a 10-2 lead at 7:55.
Evans responded with a 22-yard pass into the end zone for Charleston Rambo. The Argos made it 17-9 with 2:15 remaining when Dukes found Damonte Coxie for a 10-yard score.
Philpot then got then Montreal within two before Grant ran the length of the field for a 24-15 lead at the half.
“It was a fast transition, especially where the clock was at that time, right?” Dinwiddie said.
“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.