Alouettes, Redblacks eager to shrug off frustrating losses

Davis Alexander looks to bounce back from his first loss as a CFL starter when the Montreal Alouettes host the Ottawa Redblacks on Sunday.

Alexander won his first 13 CFL starts before the Alouettes (2-1) lost 32-29 in overtime on June 20 to the host Edmonton Elks.

The setback left Alexander one win shy of matching the league record of most consecutive regular season wins by any starting quarterback (14), held by Calgary's Bo Levi Mitchell (2016).

Alexander led the CFL with 1,133 passing yards entering Week 4. He has five touchdown passes and no interceptions in 124 attempts.

Still, Alexander is more concerned with getting his squad to bounce back from a devastating setback.

Montreal led 13-0 before the Elks scored 23 in a row. The Alouettes later forced overtime as time expired and moved ahead on another field goal before Edmonton scored the winning touchdown.

"That ability to get back in the game is part of who we are," Alexander told reporters. "But as I've said over the last couple of weeks, we need to avoid that kind of situation, because you can't always rely on the right circumstances."

Standout receiver Ryan Philpot leads the CFL in receptions (24) and receiving yardage (389) and boasts a team-high three touchdown catches.

Ottawa (0-2) would like to receive some Alexander-like quarterback play as new coach Ryan Dinwiddie is already turning over the signal-caller room.

The Redblacks traded former starter Dru Brown to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this week and signed 37-year-old CFL veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson to perhaps eventually replace Jake Maier, whose 484 passing yards is the least among league qualifiers.

Brown had been disgruntled since losing the starting gig to Maier.

"When I made the decision to go with Jake, I explained that to Dru," Dinwiddie said. "Later on that day, he wanted to talk. We had a chat and he asked for his release. Obviously, we're not going to do that -- we were investing money into him.

"We'd been looking at different avenues to how we were going to handle that solution. Winnipeg came up with an offer that we really liked, and I really liked to get McLeod in here, so we made that decision."

Bethel-Thompson is a two-time Grey Cup champion from his time with the Toronto Argonauts. His second title in 2022 came with Dinwiddie as head coach.

Ottawa's offense badly needs a lift. The Redblacks rank last in scoring (22.5 points per game), total offense (303.0 yards per game) and first downs (36 total).

Maier was 25-of-40 passing for 281 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown in last week's 44-24 home loss to Toronto.

--Field Level Media