Stop pretending the Montreal Alouettes are just getting lucky. When Davis Alexander carves up a defense for 420 yards, it is pure execution.
Friday night at TD Place Stadium was a clinic. The Alouettes marched into Ottawa and dismantled the winless Redblacks 34-13. If you missed the game, the box score tells half the story. Montreal improved to 7-1, cementing their status as the class of the East Division. Ottawa dropped to a miserable 0-7, marking their worst start since returning to the CFL. If you found value in this article, you should read: this related article.
The writing was on the wall early. Alexander was nearly untouchable, completing 22 of 30 passes and tossing three touchdowns. He is playing with supreme confidence.
The Alexander and Receiver Connection
You cannot talk about Montreal's offense without looking at the absurd numbers their pass catchers put up. Tyler Snead and Tyson Philpot both smashed past the century mark. Snead posted a career-best 174 receiving yards. Philpot hauled in 184 yards, making him the first player to hit the 1,000-yard receiving mark this season. He is also the fastest Canadian in league history to reach that milestone. For another angle on this development, see the recent update from The Athletic.
Montreal's rhythm started on the very first possession. Clean protection gave Alexander all day to pick apart the secondary. He hit passes of 16, 20, and 36 yards before finding Cole Spieker for the opening score.
Spieker wasn't done either. He grabbed a second touchdown in the first half to restore a comfortable cushion.
Red Zone Woes Continue for Ottawa
Football games often come down to simple math inside the twenty. Montreal went 4-for-4 in the red zone. Ottawa went 1-for-5.
That efficiency gap is a massive chasm. Redblacks quarterback Jake Maier actually put up decent raw numbers, finishing 34-for-41 for 311 yards. But garbage-time stats do not win football games. When Ottawa needed a tough yard, they stalled out.
Daniel Adeboboye managed a one-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to cut Montreal's lead to 14-10, thanks in part to a roughing-the-passer penalty against Najee Murray. Aside from that brief flash, the Redblacks offense hit a brick wall every time they crossed the opponent's 20-yard line.
Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie faces an uphill battle. At 0-7, the locker room morale has to be hanging by a thread. Dinwiddie keeps preaching a single-game mindset, telling reporters the team just needs to focus on going 1-0 next week. That sounds nice in a press conference, but execution is broken.
Montreal Extends Their Dominance
This victory marks Montreal's thirteenth straight win over Ottawa, a head-to-head streak dating back to October 2022. That is pure psychological ownership.
The Alouettes do not beat themselves. Travis Theis added a rushing touchdown on the ground—his sixth straight game with a major—accounting for 62 yards on 10 carries. When a team can run the ball efficiently while their quarterback throws for over 400 yards, nobody in the East is stopping them.
Watch how Montreal handles success over the back half of the schedule. If Alexander stays healthy, pencil them right back in for a deep championship run.
