the Alouettes have now secured a home playoff game<\/a>, whether it ends up being the East Semi-Final or, more likely, the East Final.<\/p>\nThe response<\/p>\n
Davis Alexander was not made available to the media after last week\u2019s loss in Winnipeg. He admitted he could have said things that would have gotten him into trouble and vowed to stay calmer when things did not go his way in the future.<\/p>\n
In this game, he showed better composure than he did a week ago, even after going cold for several drives in the middle of the contest. He finished 25-of-34 for 297 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the positives. Alexander looked sharp from the opening kickoff, leading scoring drives on his first two possessions. Both should have ended in touchdowns, but backup quarterback Terry Wilson was stopped on three separate quarterback sneak attempts (a topic we\u2019ll revisit later).<\/p>\n
The offence then ran into all sorts of trouble, producing four consecutive two-and-outs and losing a fumble by Cole Spieker. The issue was addressed firmly during the intermission.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody was happy going into halftime,\u201d Maas said post-game. \u201cOffensively, we said we needed to wake the hell up because we had two good drives, and after that, it wasn\u2019t up to our standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander echoed that sentiment while emphasizing the offence\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw open stuff, but we just needed to execute,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cWe felt like we were pressing a little bit. It seems like when we get a first down, not many teams can stop us. Our kryptonite the past couple of weeks has been the two-and-outs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The quarterback played his best football when the Alouettes needed it most. He orchestrated a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter, before using his legs to pick up a critical first down that helped seal the victory.<\/p>\n
Finding the right balance<\/p>\n
Alexander feeds off adrenaline and emotion to play at his best. It often involves getting tangled up with opposing defenders. Last week, it was mostly linebacker Tony Jones. This week, it was defensive end Mathieu Betts.<\/p>\n
There was plenty of talking and pushing between the two players, which, surprisingly, resulted in no penalties.<\/p>\n
That is where Alexander needs to be careful. As long as it does not hurt the team and helps fuel his performance, his teammates and coaches will accept it. However, he must be smart enough to avoid crossing the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got nothing. Sorry, I got nothing for you,\u201d Alexander said when asked about his battle with Betts.<\/p>\n
The two will meet again next week in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Quieting the critics<\/p>\n
The Alouettes\u2019 defence was under the spotlight after last week\u2019s ugly loss in Winnipeg, and for good reason. The unit allowed the Blue Bombers to score on eight of their first ten drives and never found an answer for Zach Collaros, who had struggled for much of the season.<\/p>\n
The first quarter looked like a continuation of that performance, as Nathan Rourke moved the ball with relative ease. This time, however, the defence bent without breaking and held the Lions to field goals.<\/p>\n
From there, the Alouettes\u2019 defence stood tall, aside from one blown coverage. Noel Thorpe\u2019s unit stopped the Lions twice on third down, while Tyrice Beverette\u2019s 57-yard pick-six gave Montreal a 27-19 lead.<\/p>\n
The biggest accomplishment was making Rourke uncomfortable. The Alouettes consistently pressured him, forcing him to look for short options and get rid of the ball quickly. He never looked comfortable in the pocket for most of the second half.<\/p>\n
Flipping the script (ft. a big-man catch)<\/p>\n
After allowing opening-drive touchdowns to Winnipeg and Ottawa in recent weeks, the Alouettes changed the script by choosing to start with the football.<\/p>\n
Following a strong return by DeVonte Dedmon, Alexander engineered an efficient five-play, 60-yard touchdown drive. Along the way, guard Donny Ventrelli chipped in with a memorable 22-yard reception. Before fans had settled into their seats, Montreal held a 7-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Other mistakes<\/p>\n
If the Alouettes want to return to the Grey Cup and win it this year, they must eliminate bad habits. When the same issue appears for more than three games, it is fair to call it a trend.<\/p>\n
Over the last few weeks, bad starts, special teams miscues, and too many penalties had become recurring issues. The good news is that none of those problems surfaced on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Instead, dropped passes, turnover-on-downs, and a costly fumble became the main concerns. To me, those are mental mistakes, and they need to be cleaned up moving forward.<\/p>\n
Short-yardage issues<\/p>\n
The Alouettes reached the Grey Cup in both 2023 and 2025 and, on both occasions, failed to convert a crucial short-yardage touchdown opportunity. Caleb Evans was stopped at the goal line in 2023, while Shea Patterson fumbled in a similar situation last year.<\/p>\n
After enjoying considerable success in short-yardage situations, Terry Wilson has been stopped more frequently over the last few games. On Friday night, he was stuffed three consecutive times, with the first sneak beginning from the two-yard line.<\/p>\n
With recently signed Caleb Evans available and well-known for his ability in these situations, one has to wonder whether the Alouettes will give him the ball the next time they are faced with a critical short-yardage play.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
The Montreal Alouettes will travel to Vancouver for a rematch against the B.C. Lions next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 10 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Montreal Alouettes hosted the B.C. Lions to kick off Labour Day weekend in the Canadian Football League.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[349,350,1192,1193,238,351,352,17170,29464,61674,354,5296,355,8488,554,50,35916,17175,35491],"class_list":["post-197045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-alouettes","tag-als","tag-bc","tag-canadian","tag-cfl","tag-davis-alexander","tag-devonte-dedmon","tag-donald-ventrelli","tag-football","tag-jason-maas","tag-league","tag-leos","tag-lions","tag-montreal","tag-noel-thorpe","tag-tyler-snead","tag-tyrice-beverette"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}