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If they say offence wins games and defence wins championships, the Alouettes may be alright come November. But its July and the season has gotten off on the wrong foot for Montreals offence. On the other side of the ball, despite a 1-2 record, the defence can say they are doing their job. The last two weeks Noel Thorpes crew has given up only three touchdowns -- two goal-line QB sneaks against Winnipeg and a tipped ball that landed in the hands of Nik Lewis versus Calgary. "I love my defense; we knew going into camp we were going to be a scrappy physical bunch," defensive lineman John Bowman said. The unit is led by Thorpe, the Alouettes defensive coordinator. Hired prior to Marc Trestman leaving to become head coach of the Chicago Bears, Thorpes previous positions included stops at the Université de Montreal where he was the defensive coordinator and in Edmonton as the special teams coordinator for the Eskimos. Early on he has earned instant respect from his players including defensive back Byron Parker. "Our front seven is playing amazing football right now," Parker said. "Hats off to the front line, coach Thorpe is calling a great game." In three games Montreal has four interceptions, seven fumble recoveries and 14 sacks. The high-level play of the defence has only increased the pressure on the underperforming offence. However, Parker dismissed any concern the team had for its offensive leader, Anthony Calvillo. "Im not worried about AC, hes a living legend," Parker said. Fellow defensive back Geoff Tisdale echoed Parkers sentiments about the rest of the offence. "Were a team, were a family, we got to stick together," Tisdale said. "We are built to get the ball back for our offence, thats what we are going to do every game." The Alouettes are refusing to hit the panic button, realizing there were similar concerns last season about the early struggles of the defence and they were able to turn things around. "We are going to get it together, its an 18-game season, we have seven more home games and we are going to take it one game at a time," Parker said. Although the Als defence looks like it is championship caliber, the offence needs to step up in a rematch with the Stampeders this Saturday in Calgary and prove it can win a game. Notes: Last week vs. the Stamps, Montreal had six penalties of at least 15 yards…Nik Lewis had as many second down conversions as the Alouettes had as a team…The Als Defense limited the Stampeders to three field goals and one touchdown in four trips to the redzone… Montreal only had one trip to the redzone and it came on their opening drive. Authentic Jerseys Cheap .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. Cheap Jerseys From China . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. http://www.cheapwholesalejerseyschina.com/ . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. NFL Jerseys Discount . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Authentic . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. LANDOVER, Md. -- Maybe this time, the Dallas Cowboys really are ready to win without Tony Romo. Certainly a turnover-free Dak Prescott helps in that regard.From the last game of the 2013 season through the end of last season, Dallas went 1-13 when Romo was unavailable. With fourth-round draft pick Prescott suddenly elevated to the starting QB spot when Romo hurt his back late in the preseason, the Cowboys will take a 1-1 record into next weeks game against the Chicago Bears.Prescott was 22 for 30 for 292 yards plus a 6-yard scamper for a touchdown in a 27-23 victory at the Washington Redskins on Sunday. That followed a one-point loss to the New York Giants in Week One.You see him do the right thing -- and good things -- when hes under pressure, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. Hes like a sponge. ... He has an overachiever attitude about soaking it up.The best sign for the future, according to teammates, was the way Prescott was calm during the 10-play, 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter that led to the go-ahead points on former Redskins running back Alfred Morris 4-yard TD run.He treated it like it was the first play of the game, receiver Dez Bryant said. It says a lot about him as a person. He was ready for this game. He is built for this kind of stuff.What else we learned from Cowboys-Redskins:FIXES NEEDED: Washingtons game at the New York Giants next Sunday becomes quite significant. Coach Jay Grudens Redskins are 0-2 ; the Giants are 2-0. We can hang our heads and cry all we want to, Gruden said, but the fact of the matter is, we got a game at 1 oclock next Sunday. Asked in what ways his team regressed after winning the NFC East last season, Gruden replied: I cant put my finger on them right now. I think its a combination of a lot of things. Weve got to fix them, quick. Among the problems: QB Kirk Cousins now has three interceptions and one TD this season.RECEIVING LINE: Not only is Bryant going to become more and more involved in Dallas offense -- after one catch for 8 yards in Week One, he had seven for 102 yards against Washington -- but it looks as if Cole Beasley could be Prescotts No. 2 target going forward , rather than Terrance Williams.dddddddddddd Through two games, Beasley has 13 receptions for 140 yards; Williams has three catches for 34 yards, with zero targets Sunday.NO ADJUSTMENTS: Redskins DL Ricky Jean Francois wants to see his defensive coaches make more adjustments to counter what opposing offenses do. He sees a trend going back to last season. Every team that adjusts to us, we dont adjust to them, Jean Francois said. Every team we play against, it just feels like they see something and they pounce on it and they keep doing it -- and it feels like were just not responding. Dallas ran for 102 yards on 30 carries, and Jean Francois said it looked to him as if the Redskins were stuffing inside runs, so the Cowboys started taking rushing plays outside -- and Washington never accounted for that.ZEKES BALL SECURITY: Seems a safe bet that Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott, the No. 4 overall draft pick, is going to put in extra time working on protecting the football: He fumbled twice against Washington. Morris said he told Elliott: You have to have short-term memory. At the same time, youve got to be able to take care of the ball. If you dont take care of the ball, then you cant be on the field. Thats just the way it goes.DURANT STEPS UP: For a Dallas defense missing DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory and Rolando McClain because of suspensions, a familiar face could wind up with a bigger role than expected. LB Justin Durant played last season with Atlanta, but hes back with the Cowboys, and the nine-year pro broke up a fourth-and-1 pass with just under two minutes to play Sunday. He cut in front of a ball intended for Pierre Garcon, knocked it down. No other way that I can get that feeling -- especially being in somebody elses place and feeling the air come out of the building, Durant said.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '