Mathieu Betts not ready to crown Davis Alexander CFL’s best trash-talker… yet

Montreal Alouettes

Mathieu Betts has exchanged pleasantries with plenty of quarterbacks during his CFL career, but he’s never met one quite like Davis Alexander.

The star pass rusher found himself in a war of words with the Alouettes’ franchise pivot during the B.C. Lions’ Week 14 loss in Montreal, some of which was captured on the TSN broadcast. While the interaction wasn’t unusual, according to Betts, the position played by the man wagging his tongue was.

“It happens on the field when players go at it with each other. I think it was put up more in the media because he’s a quarterback, so the camera’s on him more than other players,” Betts told 3DownNation this week.

“I did have a lot of people talking to me about it post-game. I had a bunch of friends that were there in Montreal, and they were all excited, saying I went viral on RDS and on the CFL social media. There’s a lot of people that’ve been talking to me about it, but it’s nothing good or bad. It’s just two boys going at it.”

It looks like there’s a little bit of trash talk between Davis Alexander and Mathieu Betts after the fumble 👀#CFL pic.twitter.com/UK5OvsHKe0

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 5, 2026

The clipped interaction between the two marketable stars has made them the headliners for Saturday’s rematch between Montreal and B.C., though both have attempted to downplay their battle. Alexander declined to comment on the interaction post-game, telling reporters that he had “nothing” for them. Betts claims he can’t recall exactly what was said in between the white lines, choosing to paint a cheery picture of their conversation.

“Probably just things like, ‘You have nice hair.’ ‘You have nicer hair,'” he joked dryly. “Just positive stuff between two guys competing and having fun on a little Friday Night Football action.”

“I think it’s more common than people realize, and there’s nothing bad about it or good. It’s never too excessive.”

Betts might be overselling how much praise his tidy buzz cut earned from the opponent. However, the content of the conversation could have strayed in any number of directions, given just how much Alexander likes to talk.

The 27-year-old has gained a reputation for brashness and bravado since ascending to the top job with the Alouettes, which includes a healthy amount of jawing with defences. His degree of trash talk is unique among quarterbacks, and Betts doesn’t believe he’s seen anything like it before at the position.

“In the CFL, I can’t recall, to be honest. That’s just his game,” he said. “I don’t know how he was before being in Montreal, in college, but I feel like athletes are different. There’s a lot of quarterbacks in the CFL, thinking about a guy like Trevor (Harris), who are more composed. That’s his game, that’s the way he acts, and if that’s the way he plays well, there’s no issue about it from my standpoint.”

With that said, Betts isn’t ready to crown Alexander as the fastest lip in the CFL quite yet. The two-time Most Outstanding Defensive Player has been on the receiving end of plenty of yapping during his seven-year career, and will need a few more exposures to place the presumptive M.O.P. frontrunner on the Mount Rushmore of on-field gab.

“I’ll definitely wait before giving him that title. I think it was the first time I’ve played against him in my whole CFL career, so I won’t give him that quite that fast. I’ll wait a little bit,” he grinned wryly.

Given the size of the chip on Alexander’s shoulder, that skepticism may only invite more flexing at opponents and shouting at the sidelines. His brand of performance art has sold particularly well in the City of a Hundred Steeples, and he has always been able to back up the smack talk with smackdowns on the scoreboards.

Love it or loathe it, the shtick seems to work. Imbued with their quarterback’s unshakeable confidence, the Alouettes have become a CFL powerhouse. Alexander’s energy sets the tone for his teammates every week and lights a fire in key moments, which is why the QB continues to puff out his chest when needed.

However, Betts says he has never been a big believer in the merits of trash talk, and believes the broader impact of Alexander’s competitive chit-chat might be exaggerated.

“I feel like if you’re playing football and you need that to get fired up, maybe that’s not where you want to be. I don’t think they need him to be doing that to get fired up,” he shrugged. “Maybe they do. I don’t know. That’s on them. Not really my place to comment.”

The B.C. Lions (6-6) will host the Montreal Alouettes (10-2) at BC Place Stadium on Saturday, September 12, with kickoff scheduled for 10:00 p.m. EDT. The two teams met at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium last week, where the Alouettes won 37-30.

The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune in on 730 CKNW (English) or Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 (Punjabi) in Vancouver, or TSN 690 (English) or 99.5 Montreal (French) in Montreal.