Riders can’t hold on in Montreal, fall 20-16 to the Als

It was a tale of two halves for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Montreal.

The Riders took a 16-3 lead into halftime against the Montreal Alouettes but some adjustments by the home team and a change at quarterback saw that evaporate quickly.

Montreal quarterback Davis Alexander came into the game to start the second half and led two touchdown drives followed by a drive that ended in a field goal to help propel the Als to a 20-16 win.

Alexander finished the game and completed 15 of 18 passes for 178 yards and two touchdown passes to Reggie White Jr.

“You just want to take each snap as a play. You don’t want to do too much,” Alexander told TSN’s Kenzie Lalonde following the game. “It’s my first real action. You just want to play smart and not do too much. We were down 13 points — two scores — so one play is not going to win it. I just tried to play within myself and we had guys making plays all over the place.

“I’m a little emotional about it. You work so hard for moments like this.”

Alexander’s last attempted pass in a regular-season CFL game came in Week 21 last year, when he completed five passes for 51 yards against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The last time the Riders beat the Alouettes in Montreal was a 19-14 win back on Oct. 30, 2021.

Shea Patterson started his fourth game for the injured Trevor Harris, falling to 2-2 in that stretch. He finished the game with 21 completions in 33 attempts for 222 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions.

The Riders’ defence played well in the first half, and was once again stout against the run. Montreal only had four rushing yards in the first half and finished the game with 33 in total.

Saskatchewan kept Montreal quarterback Caleb Evans under wraps throughout the first half as well, with the pivot finishing with just nine completions for 91 yards.

Saskatchewan had a short week heading into the road contest having just beaten the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19-9 last Friday.

Meanwhile, the Alouettes came into the game fresh after their bye week, last playing Toronto on July 11. Quarterback Cody Fajardo was injured in that game — a 37-18 loss for Montreal.

The Riders were dealing with some new injuries of their own heading into this game. Slotback Kian Schaffer-Baker (shoulder) was added to the six-game injured list while running back AJ Ouellette missed this game due to a hip injury.

Running back Frankie Hickson started his first game of the season and made the most of his opportunity. He finished the game with 117 yards and a touchdown on the ground, with more than 90 yards coming in the first half. He also added a catch for 16 yards.

One of the Riders’ miscues in the game came in the second quarter when returner Mario Alford fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Alouettes. The play was not reviewed by the CFL command centre despite replays showing Alford was close to being down.

But in the fourth quarter, the command centre elected to review a play that was ruled an incomplete pass by Alexander. The command centre ruled it was a fumble by Alexander forced by Riders’ defensive end Bryan Cox Jr., which was recovered by Montreal’s Cole Spieker a few yards down the field, setting up a third-and-one instead of Montreal having to make a choice to settle for a field goal or attempt a longer third-down play.

Miles Brown also forced a fumble in the game, adding to the Riders’ league-leading 21 turnovers forced by the defence.

Montreal kicker Jose Maltos was good on two of three field goal attempts, his lone miss coming when Riders’ defensive lineman Anthony Lanier II got a hand up and blocked the kick.

Saskatchewan’s Brett Lauther made three of his five attempts.

Montreal improved to 6-1 on the season and now sit alone at the top of the CFL standings.

Saskatchewan now drops to 5-2 and gets set to host the currently winless Edmonton Elks next week.