Montreal Alouettes QB Davis Alexander focused on winning, not statistics

Montreal Alouettes

Davis Alexander is on pace for one of the best seasons in CFL history but he insists he’s focused on winning football games, not breaking records.

“Win, just win. That’s it, that’s all I got — just win,” Alexander said with a smile on Monday. “Honestly, sure, maybe in the very, very, very back of my mind, whatever — however you can break history, I think that’s the coolest thing in the world to break history — but it’s wins for me. That’s the only number that matters to me.”

The 27-year-old is on pace for 6,280 passing yards this year, which would be the second-best single-season total in league history. The all-time record belongs to Doug Flutie, who threw for 6,619 yards with the B.C. Lions in 1991.

That year, Flutie threw for 38 touchdowns and 24 interceptions to lead the Lions to an 11-7 record. Alexander has done a far better job of protecting the football in 2026, as he’s on pace for 36 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

The native of Gig Harbor, Wash. also has Montreal off to an 8-1 start, putting them in position to clinch first place in the East Division as early as Week 14.

Alexander isn’t the only member of the Alouettes projected to make history, as Tyson Philpot is on pace for 2,308 receiving yards. This would shatter the single-season record of 2,036 yards set by Allen Pitts in 1994, whose quarterback at the time was Flutie.

Tyler Snead, now in his fourth season with the Alouettes, is the league’s second-leading receiver. He’s on pace for 1,880 receiving yards, which would be the second-best single-season total in team history behind Hal Patterson, who had 1,914 yards in 1956.

As per CFL statistician Steve Daniel, only three times in CFL history has the same team had the league’s leading passer and two top receivers.

Michael Reilly, Adarius Bowman, and Derel Walker were the most recent trio to do so with Edmonton in 2016. The same feat was accomplished by Don Jonas, Jim Thorpe, and Bob Larose in Winnipeg in 1971, and Sam Etcheverry, Red O’Quinn, and Patterson in Montreal in 1957.

Though he appreciates how well his team has been playing as of late, head coach Jason Maas doesn’t want any legends of the past to be overlooked.

“(Anthony Calvillo) had some pretty good receivers here, and he was a damn good quarterback,” said Maas.

“It would start with, I would say, Ben Cahoon is one of them that was always here for him. You got S.J. Green, you got Jamel Richardson, you got Kerry Watkins. You got a bunch of receivers that have done it here at a high level with (Calvillo) pulling the trigger.

“When I thought about Montreal, that’s what I thought about. I thought a lot about them winning games, being perennial contenders every single year, and that’s something we’re building towards and wanting to do.”

For all the unit’s dominance, Alexander believes Montreal’s offence can be even better coming off a bye week.

Specifically, he wants to limit two-and-outs. For context, the Alouettes have gone two-and-out on only 21 percent of their possessions this season. No other team is below 29 percent.

“I just feel like sometimes there’s been some crucial two-and-outs when we can help at least chew a lot of the clock away, or just keep our defence off the field,” said Alexander.

“That’s pretty picky, but it does feel like there’s one two-and-out a game where we’re coming off the field like, ‘We had a chance to put this thing away and we’re not doing it.'”

The Alouettes are scheduled to face the winless Ottawa Redblacks for the third and final time this week.

Montreal won a 34-13 blowout over the team late last month, though the two clubs played a relatively tight 37-35 contest back in June.

Ottawa has lost a modern CFL record 15 straight games, and recently became the tenth team in league history to go 0-9. The team appears destined for a complete off-field overhaul as president Adrian Sciarra stepped down on Monday.

Despite their opponent’s struggles, the Alouettes aren’t taking them lightly heading into Thursday night.

“We talk about faceless opponents. We don’t care about our opponents, we never talk about them,” said Maas. “We’re aware of them, we don’t care about them, and all the focus has always been on us, and so it bodes very well on a week like this and we’re just looking forward to competing again.”

The Montreal Alouettes (8-1) will host the Ottawa Redblacks (0-9) at Percival Molson Stadium on Thursday, August 20 with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT. Last week, the Redblacks extended their modern CFL record losing streak to 15 games, while the Alouettes were on bye.

The weather forecast in Montreal calls for 23 degrees and a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on TSN 1200 in Ottawa or TSN 690 (English) or 99.5 Montreal (French) in Montreal.

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