OTTAWA — The Montreal Alouettes keep rolling in Week 2 as they pick up a 39-18 win over the Ottawa REDBLACKS at TD Place on Friday night.
The road win marks Montreal’s 11th straight on Ottawa’s turf, and the sixth straight win for quarterback Davis Alexander to start his career.
Alexander’s stat-sheet-stuffing performance, the defence’s overwhelming pressure on all three levels, and help from special teamers pushed the Alouettes to a straightforward win as they led Ottawa wire-to-wire.
Here are CFL.ca’s three key stats from the Als’ win over the REDBLACKS.
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3 – MONTREAL INTERCEPTIONS
The Alouettes showed in Week 1 how dangerous their defence could be against the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts, and they followed it up in Week 2 without skipping a beat. They equalled their three takeaways from Week 1, now with six in two games. It was a collective effort for 2024’s no. 1 ranked defence, a defensive lineman (Lwal Uguak), a linebacker (Geoffrey Cantin-Arku), and a defensive back (Wesley Sutton) all managed to pick off Ottawa starter Matt Shiltz. Sutton ran his back for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game out of hand — Montreal’s second defensive score in two weeks.
It was not an easy environment for Shiltz, who was announced as the starter earlier in the week with Dru Brown out with a hip injury. The 32-year-old was surrounded by white jerseys all night as Montreal continues to show its imposing defence hasn’t lost a step since last season.
344 – DAVIS ALEXANDER PASSING YARDS
The Alexander era in Montreal could not have started any better, as the 26-year-old remains undefeated in his young CFL career and has looked the part. Alexander’s 344 air yards are the second most by any pivot in a game this season (Brown’s 413-yard outing in Week 1 stands as no. 1). He spread the love around, finding seven different receivers, including Tyler Snead and Austin Mack, who both eclipsed 100 receiving yards.
Matched against the REDBLACKS’ strong front, Alexander was forced to make decisions quickly. He was only sacked once and his one interception bounced right out of the hands of Tyson Philpot.
6 – JOSÉ MALTOS FIELD GOALS
The Montreal kicker was fired up, flexing and pointing to the stands after his late 19-yard chip-in to ice the game, and for good reason. José Maltos’ six makes is a career-high, and his 50-yarder in the fourth quarter is his longest since Week 15 of last season. After a Week 1 outing where he missed a 38-yard kick and an extra point, Maltos followed up with one of the most active and effective games of his career, nailing nine kicks in the Als’ victory.
Maltos led a special teams unit that stayed clean save for James Letcher Jr.‘s early punt-return fumble, which Montreal’s defence ensured would not lead to points with a massive first-quarter goal-line stand.
