MONTREAL - Montreal Alouettes head coach Jason Maas had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Monday.
鈥淚t was three-phase football and that鈥檚 what I love to see,鈥 said Maas following Montreal鈥檚 30-10 win over the lowly Ottawa Redblacks in front of a sold-out Thanksgiving Day crowd of 23,035 at Percival Molson Stadium.
Maas readily admitted, however, there鈥檚 still work to be done.
鈥淭here鈥檚 room for improvement, yes,鈥 he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like our discipline to be better. We had probably the most penalties we鈥檝e taken all year for the most yardage. I鈥檓 not really happy about that, but I love the way our guys responded.鈥
Montreal quarterback Davis Alexander ran his career record to a perfect 10-0. The 26-year-old American finished the afternoon 23-of-30 passing with 240 yards and a touchdown. Alexander also surpassed 3,000 passing yards for his career in the winning effort.
Nevertheless, Alexander was not at all satisfied with his individual performance.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 play very well today,鈥 Alexander said bluntly. 鈥淚t was probably the worst game of my career, I would say. It is what it is. I don鈥檛 have to be Superman all the time and I鈥檓 thankful we have the best defence and best special teams in the league.鈥
鈥淭here鈥檚 plenty of things out there that I thought he could have done a bit better,鈥 added Maas. 鈥淚 still just love his fight. I love his leadership. I love the fact that he wants to be perfect on every single play. He was far from that in this game, but he still led us.鈥
Alexander was also frustrated post-game after he was pulled from the game late in the second quarter following a headshot he received courtesy of Redblacks defensive back Deandre Lamont.
鈥淚 was pissed that they took me off the field,鈥 said Alexander. 鈥淭he spotter pulled me off the field and you can鈥檛 pull me off the field after I just threw three plays. That didn鈥檛 make any sense.鈥
Alexander passed concussion protocol before the first half ended. He also suffered a bloody nose that required stitches.
Austin Mack scored his first touchdown of the season for the Alouettes (9-7), who ran their winning streak to a season-high four games.
鈥淚鈥檓 super happy for him,鈥 said Alexander. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a guy that鈥檚 stuck to the grind. His role has changed a little bit in our offence, just because of all the other weapons we have, but he鈥檚 as consistent as it comes.鈥
Fellow wide receiver Tyler Snead, meanwhile, broke the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career.
Montreal safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy also scored a touchdown off a blocked kick and collected one sack. Dequoy also broke up a pivotal third-down pass in the end zone, with the Redblacks driving at Montreal鈥檚 five-yard line in the first quarter.
鈥淚 thought he was tremendous,鈥 said Maas. 鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome to see. Our defence was stellar today. They gave up some yards, but at the end of the day, they made some big plays and had some big stops. Obviously that punt block set the tone for the whole entire day, in my opinion.鈥
Kicker Jose Maltos Diaz was a perfect 5 for 5 in field goal attempts. Maltos Diaz鈥檚 five field goals also helped him exceed 50 for the season.
Redblacks quarterback Dustin Crum completed 19 of his 29 passing attempts for 162 yards. Crum started in place of injured starter Dru Brown, who has been shut down for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.
Running back William Stanback scored Ottawa鈥檚 lone touchdown of the game. The former Alouette also led his team with 114 total yards on the day.
The Redblacks (4-12) dropped their fourth straight game. Ottawa is already assured of missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
鈥淚 thought we weren鈥檛 as disciplined as we needed to be,鈥 said Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce. 鈥淚 thought we didn鈥檛 finish as well as we possibly could have. I thought the defence played a good game, except for a couple missed assignments and alignments. Special teams have to be better.鈥
Down 11-0, the Redblacks finally got on the board at the start of the second quarter, thanks to a 15-yard touchdown run by Stanback. Crum鈥檚 ensuing two-point conversion attempt, though, proved unsuccessful, forcing the Redblacks to settle for just six points.
After both teams exchanged field goals, Alexander connected with wide receivers Tyson Philpot and Charleston Rambo for 15- and eight-yard receptions, respectively. That set up a 47-yard touchdown pass to Mack, giving the Alouettes a 21-9 lead.聽
It marked Mack鈥檚 first touchdown since September 2023, a span of 19 games.
The win keeps open the possibility of Montreal finishing atop the East Division standings. The Alouettes need to win their two remaining regular-season games and have the Hamilton Tiger-Cats drop their regular-season finale to the Redblacks to secure top spot and a bye straight into the Eastern final on Nov. 8.
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The Alouettes and Redblacks will meet again on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa.
This report by 好色tvwas first published Oct. 13, 2025.
