Mike Reilly threw touchdown passes to Brandon Zylstra and Chris Getzlaf and ran one in himself as the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Montreal Alouettes 40-20 for their third straight victory before 20,512 at Percival Molson Stadium on Monday afternoon.
John White ran in a pair of TDs for the Eskimos (8-7), while Reilly easily got the 292 yards he needed to become the first Edmonton quarterback since Ricky Ray in 2008 to reach 5,000 passing yards in a season. Sean Whyte added two field goals.
Brandon Rutley and Samuel Giguere had TDs for Montreal (4-10), now 1-1 since Jacques Chapdelaine replaced general manager Jim Popp as head coach two weeks ago. The Alouettes have not won back-to-back games this season, while 40 points is the most they’ve conceded.
The Eskimos led 16-11 at the half despite surrendering a pair of fumbles and an interception.
A Whyte field goal and an Anthony Fera missed boot gave Edmonton a 3-1 first quarter lead. Fera was injured on his attempt and briefly left punting duties to receiver Kyle Graves.
Montreal could not take advantage of an Adarius Bowman fumble that was recovered by Bear Woods at the Alouettes 44, but Troy Stoudemire dropped the ensuing punt and Daryl Townsend recovered at the Edmonton nine. Two plays later, Rutley ran in from the one only 46 seconds into the second quarter for a short-lived 8-3 Montreal lead.
Reilly then engineered two scoring drives, the first capped by a 29-yard TD pass to the rookie Zylstra at 3:19.
The second was an eight-play, 63 yard push in which a 16-yard Zylstra catch and run put the ball on the one. White ran it in at 11:23.
Montreal answered with a 38-yard Fera boot after Duron Carter’s 36-yard catch. Kick holder Martin Bedard was inured on the play.
Rakeem Cato was picked off by Cord Parks at the Montreal 43 on the first play from scrimmage of the second half. Four plays later, Reilly hit Getzlaf with an eight-yard TD strike.
On Edmonton’s next possession, White ran the ball five times for 37 yards during a 10-play drive that saw Reilly take it into the end zone himself from the three at 9:26.
The Eskimos picked up their third TD of the third quarter when White ran in from the eight after a 59-yard catch by Bowman.
Montreal answered with Cato’s 26-yard TD pass to Giguere 2:27 into the fourth quarter.
Edmonton conceded a safety in the game’s dying seconds.
Edmonton fullback Mike Miller suffered a neck injury in the first quarter and did not return.
Defensive end DeQuin Evans made his debut for Montreal, replacing injured Aaron Lavarias.
The Eskimos scratched Shakir Bell and went with White at running back. Stoudemire replaced Kenzel Doe at kick returner.
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