Davis Alexander returns, Chad Kelly remains out as Alouettes host Argos

Winnipeg Free Press

16-07-2025

MONTREAL – The Montreal Alouettes want to bring their two-game skid to a halt.
Welcoming back a quarterback who does nothing but win should only help.
Davis Alexander returns from a hamstring injury with a chance to improve his CFL record to 8-0 on Thursday against the Toronto Argonauts.
'He gives everybody juice,' head coach Jason Maas said Wednesday at Olympic Stadium. 'He's led our football team from the moment we assigned him as the starter.
'He's a tremendous leader, tremendous player. We're excited to have him back.'
Maas also emphasized he doesn't expect the 26-year-old to be a saviour.
'It's more than a one-man show,' he said. 'Davis is a piece of our football team, he's an important piece of the football team, but he's also a one piece, so everybody collectively around him needs to play well.'
The Alouettes (3-2) opened the season on a 3-0 run with Alexander behind centre, only to falter with back-to-back defeats against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and B.C. Lions with backup McLeod Bethel-Thompson leading the offence.
The Ticats ran over Montreal 35-17 in Hamilton before the Lions sunk the Alouettes with a last-second field goal to win 21-20 at Molson Stadium in Week 5.
Now the Alouettes — tied with Hamilton atop the East — will try to get back on track against a team they've already beaten handily this season.
Montreal defeated Toronto 28-10 to open the 2025 campaign. The Alouettes and Argos (1-4), both coming off bye weeks, play once more at BMO Field on Sept. 19, meaning Montreal would secure the season series with a win Thursday.
'We try and treat every game the same (but) I'd be lying if I said this one isn't a little different because it is Toronto. It's a divisional rival,' Alexander said. 'They don't like us. We don't like them.'
The five-foot-11, 210-pound Alexander surged from third-string QB to face of the franchise after leading Montreal to four wins as a starter — and another comeback off the bench — while '23 Grey Cup MVP Cody Fajardo missed time last season.
So far this year, Alexander has thrown for 803 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 75.6 per cent of his attempts. Alexander was 20-for-24 for 254 yards and three TDs in a stellar first half before exiting Week 3's win over Edmonton.
He'll try to match CFL great Danny McManus with a record eight straight victories to begin his Canadian career on Thursday.
'It's a very cool thing,' Alexander said. 'I would love to have the record, but to me, it is most important to get back on track, 1-0.'
As Alexander returns, the Argos will have to wait at least another week before their franchise quarterback makes his season debut.
Former CFL outstanding player Chad Kelly remains out after suffering a serious leg injury in last year's East Division final against Montreal.
Nick Arbuckle, last year's Grey Cup hero after Kelly went down, will start in his sixth straight outing as the Argos desperately seek a win.
The 31-year-old Arbuckle has thrown for seven touchdowns and 1,449 yards on 71.8 per cent passing, but has also been picked off seven times.
'Big game. They all are,' Argos head coach Ryan Dinwiddie told reporters in Toronto. 'But obviously 1-4, the games get bigger. Especially an Eastern team, right? Montreal's a few games up on us, so it's a big game.
'Our work ethic has been great, we just haven't been executing that well. Early in the season you have some growing pains, too many for us right now.'
Wide receiver Austin Mack (hamstring) and offensive lineman Nick Callender (foot) are also returning to the Alouettes lineup, while wideout Tyson Philpot was listed as a game-time decision after leaving practice early Tuesday.
Reigning top CFL lineman Ryan Hunter (shoulder), linebacker Jack Cassar (adductor) and running back Miyan Williams (head) are out for the Argos.
Toronto, however, will get a boost from the return of star linebacker Wynton McManis, who missed the past three games. Running back Deonta McMahon and defensive lineman Derek Parish, who both missed time with ankle injuries, are also available.
McManis, a two-time CFL all-star, believes the Argos' winning culture will help lift the defending champs out of their slump.
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'No one around here feels like a loser, no one around here has a loser mentality, none of us feel 1-4,' he said. 'We just know we have to have urgency.
'None of us feel like we're a bad team and things like that, just some things we gotta clean up and we understand that.'
The Alouettes, meanwhile, don't view the Argos as a 1-4 team either.
'They're a better team than what they showed on tape,' linebacker Darnell Sankey said. 'We're expecting them to come out here and give us everything they got.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2025.