1996 Montreal Alouettes season

1996 Montreal Alouettes season
Head coach	Bob Price
Home field	Olympic Stadium
Results
Record	12–6
Division place	2nd, East
Playoff finish	Lost East Final
Uniform

The 1996 Montreal Alouettes finished in second place in the East Division with a 12–6 record in the franchise's first full season in the Canadian Football League since 1986. Unlike the lean years from 1981–86, the revived Alouettes were going to be competitive, especially since most of them had won the Grey Cup in the previous season as the Baltimore Stallions. They had some nice talented offensive players from that team, such as Tracy Ham, Mike Pringle, kick returner Chris Wright, slotback Chris Armstrong, and two great defensive players in Irvin Smith, and Elfrid Payton. After a slow start they rebounded to finish strong and after defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, they traveled to Toronto, where they were defeated in the East Final by the eventual Grey Cup champions, the Toronto Argonauts.

Offseason

Start of a new franchise

Starting in the 1993 CFL season, the league began expanding into the United States with hopes of boosting revenues and saw five US-based teams in 1995, including the dominant Baltimore Stallions. Prior to the 1996 NFL season, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell, announced his intentions to move the Browns to Baltimore (to be reborn as the Ravens, meaning there would be two professional football teams in the city. Stallions owner Jim Speros realized that the Stallions could not realistically compete with an NFL team and decided to move the team elsewhere. He looked into moving the team to Houston, Texas (which would lose their NFL team, the Oilers by the end of that same year), but after a deal could not be resolved, he decided to move the team to Montreal as the third (and current) incarnation of the Alouettes.

Stallions General Manager Jim Popp came with Speros to Montreal, but he had to build the team from scratch since the CFL did not allow the team to retain its Baltimore legacy. It was, however, allowed to reclaim the history and records of the old 1946-86 Alouettes (and the Concordes from 1982-85). According to official CFL records, Speros is reckoned as having canceled the Stallions' franchise and reactivated the dormant Alouettes franchise. The Alouettes are now reckoned as having suspended operations from 1987 to 1995.

While all Baltimore players were released from their contracts, Popp was able to resign future Canadian Football Hall of Fame quarterback Tracy Ham and future Hall of Fame running back Mike Pringle, who would go on to become the CFL's all-time leading rusher. Both Ham and Pringle, along with other former Baltimore players re-signed by Popp, would play large roles in the success of the reborn team. The new Alouettes played their first regular season game on June 27, 1996; almost ten years since their last game in the city of Montreal.

CFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	9	Denis Montana	WR	Concordia University
2	18	Bryan Chiu	DT	Washington State
3	27	Adam Cassidy	OL	Alberta
4	36	Tom Hipsz	DE	Toronto
6	53	Adrian Rainbow	QB	British Columbia
7	62	Marc Charles	DT	Morgan State

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Venue	Score	Result	Attendance	Record
A	June 13	Ottawa Rough Riders	Olympic Stadium	38–7	Win	11,215	1–0
B	June 20	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	Ivor Wynne Stadium	43–39	Win	16,346	2–0

Regular season

Season Standings

East Division

Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Toronto Argonauts	18	15	3	0	556	359	30
Montreal Alouettes	18	12	6	0	536	467	24
Hamilton Tiger-Cats	18	8	10	0	426	576	16
Ottawa Rough Riders	18	3	15	0	352	524	6

Season Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Venue	Score	Result	Attendance	Record
1	June 27	Toronto Argonauts	Olympic Stadium	27–24	Loss	24,653	0–1
2	July 5	Edmonton Eskimos	Commonwealth Stadium	16–13	Loss	26,211	0–2
3	July 10	Calgary Stampeders	Olympic Stadium	62–22	Loss	19,362	0–3
4	July 19	BC Lions	BC Place Stadium	44–24	Win	21,855	1–3
5	July 24	Winnipeg Blue Bombers	Olympic Stadium	36–10	Win	20,302	2–3
6	Aug 1	Toronto Argonauts	SkyDome	40–31	Loss	20,302	2–4
7	Aug 7	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	Olympic Stadium	29–22	Win	25,210	3–4
7	Aug 11	Saskatchewan Roughriders	Taylor Field	32–20	Win	21,997	4–4
8	Bye
9	Aug 23	Saskatchewan Roughriders	Olympic Stadium	23–16	Win	26,511	5–4
10	Aug 30	Ottawa Rough Riders	Frank Clair Stadium	17–6	Loss	28,451	5–5
11	Sept 7	BC Lions	Olympic Stadium	28–27	Win	15,161	6–5
12	Sept 13	Calgary Stampeders	McMahon Stadium	25–23	Win	19,196	7–5
13	Bye
14	Sept 29	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	Ivor Wynne Stadium	39–38	Loss	17,740	7–6
15	Oct 4	Edmonton Eskimos	Olympic Stadium	32–18	Win	17,886	8–6
16	Oct 14	Ottawa Rough Riders	Frank Clair Stadium	25–18	Win	14,080	9–6
17	Oct 19	Ottawa Rough Riders	Olympic Stadium	28–21	Win	18,671	10–6
18	Oct 25	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	Olympic Stadium	45–41	Win	20,231	11–6
19	Nov 1	Winnipeg Blue Bombers	Winnipeg Stadium	42–24	Win	25,968	12–6

Roster

Montreal Alouettes roster
Quarterbacks Running Backs Receivers		Offensive Linemen Defensive Linemen Defensive Backs Special Teams Practice Roster

Playoffs

East Semi-Final

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Hamilton Tiger-Cats	?	?	?	?	11
Montreal Alouettes	?	?	?	?	22

East Final

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Montreal Alouettes	?	?	?	?	7
Toronto Argonauts	?	?	?	?	43

Awards

1996 CFL All-Star Selections

• Grant Carter – Defensive End
• Charles Gordon – Defensive Back
• Tracy Gravely – Linebacker

1996 CFL East All-Star Selections

• Terry Baker – Placekicker
• Bruce Beaton – Offensive Guard
• Grant Carter – Defensive End
• Jock Climie – Slotback
• Neal Fort – Offensive Tackle
• Charles Gordon – Defensive Back
• Tracy Gravely – Linebacker
• Spencer McLennan – Defensive Safety
• Mike Pringle – Running Back
• Paul Randolph – Linebacker
• Irvin Smith – Cornerback