Saskatchewan ‘fell apart’ in second half versus Alouettes as Davis Alexander cooked Riders

Photo courtesy: Minas Panagiotakis/CFL.

Montreal Alouettes’ quarterback Davis Alexander cooked the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Thanksgiving Monday in Montreal.

Following a 51-yard field goal by Brett Lauther to make the score 17-16 for the home side, Alexander threw touchdowns on three straight drives to carve out a 44-24 win. He connected with Tyson Philpot for a spectacular 46-yard score, ripped a 51-yard pass to Charleston Rambo while on the run, and gunned one to Tyler Snead off play-action for a five-yard major.

“Sh-t, not what we wanted to execute. A close game for us at half — definitely a winnable game going into halftime. Then second half kind of fell apart. We couldn’t convert as much as we’d like in the second half offensively,” head coach Corey Mace told 620 CKRM, the Rider Broadcast Network postgame show. 

“Defensively, too many explosive plays — versus a team who we know does that. We didn’t have an answer, so we got to go back to the drawing board, work our a– off, and try to figure out this ending of the season. We’re talking about an offence that’s going crazy this year. They’re making plays, but we got to find ways to be in position and finish for ourselves.”

Alexander completed 26-of-33 passes (78.7 percent) for 403 yards with five touchdowns and one interception. It was his fifth 400-yard passing performance in 2026 and second straight in decisive victories over Winnipeg and Saskatchewan. The six-foot, 210-pound QB leads the Canadian Football League with 5,257 passing yards and 35 passing touchdowns.

“Defensively, we didn’t play good enough,” defensive back Marcus Sayles said postgame. “We talk about not giving up explosion plays, we talk about rallying to the ball. Granted, when you got a quarterback like Davis Alexander and they got receivers and weapons, we got to be on our Ps and Qs, and we weren’t on it.”

The Riders, who have given up the third-fewest completions travelling 30-plus yards in the CFL (23), need to cover better in the secondary if the team hopes to make the postseason.

Saskatchewan still controls its own destiny. If the Green and White win against Montreal and Edmonton at home to finish the regular-season, the Roughriders would earn a playoff spot.

Mace stated that focus and details will be critical for his team to win the two games that are left — and both will be played at Mosaic Stadium.

“That’s it. I never have left the game thinking that our guys don’t play hard, I think they play hard,” he said. “We need focus on the details.”

The Roughriders host the Alouettes on Saturday, October 17 at 3 p.m. ET, and the Elks come to Regina in Week 21 on Saturday, October 24 at 3 p.m. ET. If Saskatchewan snaps a four-game losing streak and wins two in a row, the Riders will make the postseason.