‘It’d be a huge statement win’

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers need to find their A-game to have a fighting chance on Friday night.

The Blue and Gold (5-5) are in for their stiffest test yet this season when they host the mighty Montreal Alouettes (9-1).

The Bombers, who are 2-4 at Princess Auto Stadium and coming off a disappointing showing in Edmonton, haven’t looked like a team that can hang with Montreal. But if the home side can somehow, someway slay the beast out of the East Division, it could change their entire season.

And maybe they have a better chance than most people think. They have won 12 out of their last 16 regular-season meetings with the Als.

“It’d be a huge statement win,” said Bombers defensive tackle Cam Lawson after Thursday’s walk-through.

“It would be big for the confidence of the team knowing what we can do. And we have the people and the players in place to win this game, for sure.

“We know it, we just have to execute.”

To get you ready for kickoff (7:30 p.m.), here’s the latest edition of 5 Storylines.

Alexander is amazing

Montreal quarterback Davis Alexander is on his way to becoming the face of the CFL.

The fifth-year pro is an astonishing 20-1 as a starter in the regular season and has the Als on a seven-game winning streak.

He’s putting up some ridiculous numbers in 2026 with 3,400 passing yards (most in the league) and a 20-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

And there’s nothing conservative about how he’s doing it — Alexander loves to air it out and he’s damn good at it. He’s completed a league-leading 32 of 67 attempts on throws that travel at least 20 yards downfield.

As great as he’s been, Alexander will have something to prove this week considering he’s making his first career start in Winnipeg.

His lone start against the Bombers was in last year’s East Division semifinal in Montreal when the Als pulled out a thrilling 42-33 win.

 

No shortage of weapons

You’ve likely heard by now that Tyson Philpot is chasing history.

Alexander’s go-to target leads the CFL with 1,229 receiving yards and is on pace to break Allen Pitts’ all-time single-season record of 2,036 that was set in 1994.

The 26-year-old out of the University of Calgary has hurt the Bombers before. He caught the game-winning touchdown in the 2023 Grey Cup from former Als pivot Cody Fajardo with 13 seconds remaining.

“You’ve got to be locked in at all times,” said Bombers corner Jonathan Moxey. “Whenever you’re on him, you’ve got to be ready.”

But Philpot isn’t the only player that needs to be slowed down — Montreal’s No. 2 receiver Tyler Snead (982) is second in the league in receiving yards. There’s also running back Travis Theis, who has a league-leading 6.6 yards per carry average and the third most ground yards with 788.

Theis has found the end zone in seven of his last eight games and is averaging 103.8 yards and 7.2 yards per carry in the last six.

Montreal is averaging 8.13 yards per play, which is the best mark in CFL history.

 

Finding an identity

The Bombers are going to need a whole lot more than 19 yards of net offence in the second half this week.

They’ll likely need more than their weekly average of 25.6 points, too.

The Als are averaging 36.7 points per game, while the Bombers haven’t scored 36 or more points after regulation this season.

“We’ve got to put the pressure on ourselves to do better because it’s no secret that we haven’t been playing to our standard,” said receiver Nic Demski.

It starts with quarterback Zach Collaros, who hasn’t passed for 300-plus yards in four of the five games he has started and finished.

Despite being held out of practice with an ankle injury, running back Brady Oliveira continues to deliver on game day and tops the CFL in rushing yards (850) and attempts (139).

But there’s been too many instances this season where the Bombers have gotten away from the run late in the game or haven’t been on the field enough to give their best player the ball when it matters most.

Oliveira questioned the offence’s identity in Week 8 and that remains a valid concern over a month later.

Finding it against Montreal will be a tall task. The Als are holding opponents to 26.3 points per game, which is second to only Edmonton (25.4).

 

Where’s Wilson?

Unlike Montreal, the Bombers are lacking a true No. 1 receiver.

You could argue Ontaria Wilson is the closest they have to that, but he hasn’t played like it recently.

He had zero catches in Week 11 against Ottawa — and most notably dropped what should’ve been one of the easiest touchdowns of his career in that game. And then last week in Edmonton, he had just four grabs for 35 yards — although those numbers would be better if Collaros didn’t lead him out of bounds on a deep shot down the sideline.

The Bombers have completed five of 23 pass attempts of 20-plus yards to Wilson this season.

Wilson hasn’t had 100 or more yards receiving in a game since Week 6, and if there was ever a time to get him going, it’s now.

 

Nichols? Vaval? Texada?

Deatrick Nichols says he’s playing — even though everything else suggests he won’t be.

The veteran halfback suffered an ankle injury last week in Edmonton and did not participate in any of the team’s open practices this week. He was listed as a limited participant for Wednesday’s closed session.

Nichols is listed as a game-time decision but was in street clothes on Thursday. Rookie corner Major Williams moved over to halfback, Trey Vaval slid in at corner and rookie Ridge Texada was wearing a jersey, which points to him potentially dressing for his first game as a backup.

But if all that means nothing and Nichols does play, he needs to be better. According to Pro Football Focus, the sixth-year Bomber has surrendered a league-high six passing touchdowns.

Nichols was a stud last season and led the CFL with 16 forced incompletions. The Bombers need that version of him back.

Outside of a possible Nichols move, the Bombers aren’t making any other roster changes this week.

 

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