Riders wake up late to narrowly beat resting Alouettes, clinch CFL playoff spot (& other thoughts)

Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders barely beat the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday, who were without Davis Alexander, Tyson Philpot and Tyler Snead, but it was enough for the Green and White to clinch a Canadian Football League playoff spot.

In the nick of time

Trevor Harris put together a last-chance touchdown drive that punched his team’s ticket to the postseason.

The 40-year-old converted a key third-and-10 pass to KeeSean Johnson, ran for 22 yards when Montreal dropped 10 defenders into coverage, and capped a critical seven-play, 74-yard march with a 17-yard strike to Johnson in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Harris placed the football perfectly as No. 3 was running a fade route down the right side, beating Don Callis and Nate Beauchemin for the decisive major.

Harris did just enough to record a win over Dustin Crum, Montreal’s backup quarterback. He started after Alouettes’ head coach Jason Maas decided to rest his Most Outstanding Player favourite, Alexander.

Up for grabs

Harris entered Week 20 leading the CFL with 34 turnover-worthy plays, as per Pro Football Focus. Chad Kelly ranked second with 33, Vernon Adams Jr. third with 31, and Jake Maier fourth with 25.

The 112th Grey Cup MVP added two more in the first half against Montreal, and also threw a ball behind Johnny Johnson III directly into Wesley Sutton’s hands for an interception.

Harris got away with one on second-and-eight in the second quarter when he threw into coverage. Kian Schaffer-Baker was running a deep in route across the middle from right to left with three defenders around him, two in front and one behind.

Later in the second, No. 7 stepped up in the pocket under pressure, turned his head backside to the left and quickly tried to force the football to Dhel Duncan-Busby, but Callis broke the pass up and it was nearly intercepted. Again, the veteran quarterback got away with one.

Harris, who is usually very accurate, was not his usual self. He bounced balls, missed targets and put the ball in harm’s way. The six-foot-three, 212-pound passer completed 27-of-39 passes (69.2 percent) for 253 yards with one touchdown and one pick. He needs to play better if the Riders are going to make any noise in the playoffs.

Three-headed monster

There was lots of hype in Rider Nation about all parts of the three-headed monster in their receiving corps being healthy together for the first time since July 23.

Johnson recorded seven receptions for 85 yards with one important touchdown, while Samuel Emilus produced six catches for 50 yards, and Schaffer-Baker hauled in four balls for 45 yards. Those three accounted for 180 of Saskatchewan’s 253 yards through the air.

Schaffer-Baker went over 1,000 receiving yards in a single season for the first time in his six-year CFL career. For his accomplishment, he earned a $2,000 bonus, per source.

The three-headed monster ranks second in the three-down league among the highest-paid receiving trios. The Lions paid Keon Hatcher, Justin McInnis, and Jevon Cottoy a combined $711,300 in hard money for the 2026 regular season. Emilus ($285,000), Johnson ($215,000), and Schaffer-Baker ($174,000) sit second in hard money compensation at $674,000.

It’s a major investment general manager Jeremy O’Day made in those talented weapons and the three-headed monster did enough to help pay dividends against Montreal. The Roughriders improved to 5-2 in 2026 when No. 19, No. 3 and No. 89 are in the starting lineup together.

Peeling paint

Head coach Corey Mace did not admit to peeling paint off the walls inside Mosaic Stadium during halftime, but he did tell TSN there was a “nice little conversation” in the locker room.

Mace wanted his players to play with more passion and energy in the second half. He felt his team was flat in the first half, especially considering the stakes in the game. Whatever the third-year bench boss said, it was enough for the Riders to pull out a win, despite a 2-6 record when trailing at the break.

Coverage concerns

For the majority of the 60 minutes played against the Crum-led Alouettes, Joshua Bell’s secondary played quality football. However, there was one glaring error.

In the first quarter, Crum connected with a wide open Alexander Hollins streaking down the middle running a post route to find pay dirt from 37 yards out. Canadian safety Nelson Lokombo appeared to be the closest defensive back to Hollins, who was the inside slot on the trips side to the left.

Saskatchewan’s cover men were able to put the mistake behind them and not let another big pass play happen for the rest of the game. With that said, Lokombo did bite on a flea flicker in the fourth quarter as Crum just missed Kaseem Ferdinand in the end zone for what could have been a back-breaking touchdown.

Ground game

Montreal was able to shorten the game and chew the clock with American running back Shomari Lawrence. He carried the football 16 times for 109 yards to become the third Alouette to rush for 100 yards in a game in 2026.

His longest run never should have happened and if it was stopped, might have stunted the rushing attack. Lawrence cut down the middle as defensive end James Vaughters and weak-side linebacker Aubrey Miller Jr. missed tackles, which allowed the slippery back to record his longest rush in the game, 23 yards.

Under pressure

Rider Nation fans called into the 620 CKRM post-game show after Davis Alexander threw for 403 yards with five touchdowns in the Alouettes Week 19 win in Montreal and wanted more pressure dialled up from defensive coordinator Joshua Bell. That was the case in the rematch less than one week later.

In the second quarter, Bell sent five as strong-side linebacker Jaxon Ford and middle linebacker Jameer Thurman blitzed from the field side along with three defensive linemen, while Vaughters dropped into coverage on the boundary side. Ford forced Crum to step up in the pocket and Thurman cleaned him up for a sack.

More heat came in the third quarter. The Riders sent six — Ford off the field side and Miller Jr. from the boundary side plus four defensive linemen — with Miller Jr. eventually taking Crum down for sack.

Then Bell sent maximum heat on a key snap in the fourth quarter.

With less than six minutes left, it was second-and-eight. There were eight men who went after Crum and Saskatchewan played cover zero man behind it. Miller Jr. hit Crum to affect the throw and force an incompletion on a ball intended for former Rider Jerreth Sterns.

Dinks and Dunks
– Samuel Emilus and Kian Schaffer-Baker dropped passes against Montreal. KeeSean Johnson stopped after running an outside release go route down the right sideline with less than two minutes and 30 seconds left in the second quarter. Yes, the big three have issues to clean up.
– Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund beat A.J. Ouellette with an inside swim move off the edge, a rare pass protection miss for the veteran running back.
– Marcus Sayles lit up Jerreth Sterns after he caught a flat route into the boundary in the third quarter.
– Charleston Rambo had a step on Tevaughn Campbell down the right sideline. Campbell may have grabbed him, but the incompletion ended 11 straight completions for Dustin Crum.
– Daniel Wise bowled over Jermarcus Hardrick and tripped up Tommy Stevens on third-and-one to force a turnover on downs with under three minutes left.