Davis Alexander, Alouettes look to extend East cushion vs. Tiger-Cats

With a healthy Davis Alexander at the controls, the Montreal Alouettes have a chance to run away with the East Division pretty quickly.

When Montreal hosts the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday night, it has a chance to take a three-game lead and earn the tiebreaker with a victory.

Most of that is because Alexander has - to this point - stayed off the injured list after playing just eight games last year due to a hamstring injury. Alexander has rolled up huge numbers for the Als (5-1), passing for 2,181 yards and 11 touchdowns while setting a new CFL record by throwing 336 straight passes without an interception.

Head coach Jason Maas said he and Alexander came to an understanding that he had to curb his scrambling style to be of maximum use to the club.

"He's very smart about how he plays and what he decides to do," Maas said. "There's a reason he has played (six) straight games. These things, after you've had one, they can reoccur and it takes a lot of time to get over them."

While Montreal is soaring with its quarterback at 100 percent, Hamilton (3-3) got back into the win column last week when its third starting quarterback in three weeks gave the offense a big lift in a 24-23 win over Toronto.

Tre Ford hit on 21 of 27 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 109 yards on 10 attempts. The Tiger-Cats struggled mightily on offense in back-to-back losses to Winnipeg and Saskatchewan, largely because star QB Bo Levi Mitchell broke his ankle in the third quarter against Winnipeg.

"Using my legs is going to be an asset for my team," said Ford, a former starter in Edmonton before being benched last year for Cody Fajardo. "Having legs definitely helps ... being able to extend plays, run around and get first downs."

It was really helpful last week when tackles Trevor Reid and Quinton Barrow left with injuries, forcing rookie tight end Max Mang into emergency duty as a guard.

--Field Level Media