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Sometimes when you're a professional athlete, the best preparation involves a healthy dose of not really preparing at all.

Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo hasn't thrown a football in anger since Oct. 26 — a break that's allowed him to heal some lingering injuries suffered in a record-setting year and spend some time with his young family.

"I'm old enough, I'm going to take any day off that I get. … Physically, it does give my body a break, and now that I'm well-rested, I'm ready to get back on the football field," said the 36-year-old, who will start the CFL's Eastern final against the Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday after a recuperative 20-day layoff.

Though the Alouettes held two practices last Thursday and Friday, Calvillo has spent the time between games "basically just relaxing at home" and thinking only peripherally about football.

But the prospect of three weeks away from the gridiron seems a long time for a strong candidate for the CFL's most outstanding player, and he spent the weekend watching the conference semi-final between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton and scanning tapes to discern defensive frailties.

"Right away I started watching film," he said.

"I had film at home, preparing for either one, started to get going, talked to coaches on the phone and gave them some ideas."

"And they were calling me with some ideas."

After two losses to close out the season — the Alouettes clinched their division in early October — the team returned to work yesterday for a series of meetings to review new plays and prepare in earnest for traditional rival Edmonton.

"[The Eskimos] have become a complete team, and they're on the rise at the right time, so we'll have plenty on our hands," Alouettes coach Marc Trestman said.

And while some Edmonton players practised amateur psychology — suggesting all the pressure is on Montreal, which is playing at home with a chance to also play for the Grey Cup at home on Nov. 23 — the Alouettes were intent to go about their business.

"Our pressure is internal, nobody can put more pressure on us than we do on ourselves," said running back Avon Cobourne, an explosive runner who is slated to start after recovering from a spate of leg injuries that limited his effectiveness in the second half of the year.

"We've got some guys who needed heal up, and I think we've allowed them to do that, it's been a big break for us," said Trestman, who has some experience with long interludes between games, having coached in the Super Bowl.

But the fact remains: by the time Saturday's game rolls around, Calvillo, the Als' star among stars, will have had barely a week of practice — a prospect he admitted was a worry in a Globe and Mail interview earlier this fall.

Calvillo's view was that he should play "every down of every game" until the end of the season to maintain his timing. But that was then.

"I look at the preseason … I didn't play at all in the first preseason game and only a little bit in the second," he said. "I think in this type of offence I've got a great grasp of what it's all about."

Nor do Calvillo's teammates think the break will be detrimental.

"If his arm is fresh and his mind is clear, I'm happy," offensive lineman Scott Flory said. "He'll be ready."

When Trestman decided to sit Calvillo — and several other starters — for the season finale against the Eskimos two weeks ago, the 15-year veteran was within reach of the league records for completions and touchdowns.

But the records clearly matter less to both men than the Grey Cup.

"We did what was in the best interests of our football team," Trestman said.

The Alouettes will enter the weekend's action as the top seed in the East, and with the most high-powered offence in the CFL, which scored 30 or more points in 15 of 18 regular-season games.

Calvillo led the league in touchdown passes with 43 and was a close second to Edmonton's Ricky Ray in overall passing yardage (Ray edged him by 30 yards) and completion percentage (69.8 per cent to 69.2), despite being sidelined for the season's final game.

The East final, then, promises plenty of big-game intensity and matches two high-octane passing offences with equally fearsome defensive lines.

"We have to control the clock," Calvillo said. "… I think both teams realize it's going to be important for each offence to go out there and move the ball."