Backup quarterback Marcus Brady will start in place of Anthony Calvillo when the Montreal Alouettes play their final regular-season game Friday in Edmonton.
The game against the Eskimos has no meaning for Montreal, which has already clinched first place in the East and a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The Alouettes will host the division final on Nov. 15.
Edmonton is locked into fourth place in the West, but will cross over to play in the East semifinal on Nov. 8.
Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman said Wednesday he wants to give Brady some work and keep Calvillo ready for the playoffs.
"I think it's in the best interests of our team to have Marcus play this week and Anthony be our quarterback for two weeks in the playoffs," said Trestman. "He's won for this team. The team has a lot of faith in him.
"There are a lot of issues here that I prefer not to go into, but it was a staff decision, ultimately mine. I did speak to Anthony about this at length because there's a lot to it, for a lot of reasons."
If he doesn't play at all, Calvillo will fall short of setting both personal and league records.
The Als quarterback is seven completions short of Ricky Ray's record of 479 in one season (set in 2005) and is five touchdown passes short of Doug Flutie's 1994 mark of 48 in a CFL campaign.
He is also 367 yards shy of reaching 6,000 passing yards for the second time in his career.
Calvillo had hoped to play Friday, but understood Trestman's decision to start Brady.
"I told him I wanted to play, but I had no problem sitting down," said Calvillo. "When you look at the whole picture, the most important thing is to have Marcus get some reps.
"He hasn't had any all year and if anything happens to me in the playoffs, he will have some reps. Overall, this is going to help our team."
Calvillo has started all 17 games for Montreal this season and leads the league in passing with 472 completions for 5,633 yards. Brady has yet to throw a pass this year.
As for the Eskimos, coach Danny Maciocia has decided to start No. 1 quarterback Ricky Ray, even though the Edmonton pivot has had a rough time as of late.
Ray struggled in a 55-9 loss to Saskatchewan last week, completing just 10 of 18 passes for only 99 yards with two interceptions. He also took a big hit from Roughriders linebacker Maurice Lloyd early in the game.
"I got my bell rung pretty good. I didn't play well, no excuse for it. I just have to play better," said Ray. "My mind was fine, all my thoughts were there. No loss of memory, I wasn't mis-thinking anything. I just didn't play well."
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