A tale of two quarterbacks

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers don’t talk much about stats.

“You know me, I don’t look at stats,” said head coach Mike O’Shea earlier in the week.

There is, however, one heading into Saturday’s East semifinal that not even the Bombers can ignore: Montreal Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander is a perfect 11-0 as a starter in his career.

Seven of those wins came this season. If a recurring hamstring injury hadn’t keep him out for 10 weeks, who knows how many more victories he’d have piled up.

“He’s an all-around good quarterback. I could talk about him for five minutes,” said dime back Redha Kramdi after Wednesday’s closed practice. “We know he’s 11-0 because that’s big. Congratulations to him, but we stick to our script and our game plan and try to attack the week the right way.”

His QB-efficiency rating (110.7) trails only B.C. Lions pivot Nathan Rourke (112.2), and in his seven appearances, the Als are averaging a whopping 34 points per game.

B.C. owns the highest season average at 31.1 points per contest.

“He makes plays. Whether it’s with his feet or with his throwing, man, he’s very versatile,” said linebacker Kyrie Wilson. “Even when you think you got him, he can make a play to get the offence out of whatever situation they’re in. He’s a good quarterback and I like the way he plays.”

The 27-year-old passer’s resume does have one obvious omission, though: he hasn’t started a playoff game since he was in high school.

“But you can flip it around. He’s on top of the mountain, he’s 11-0. You can make a case that he’s the guy to beat,” said Kramdi. “But we don’t really care about all that, to be honest. We’ve never mentioned that he’s never been in the playoffs.”

You can question several things about the 2025 edition of the Bombers, but experience isn’t one of them. No club has played more do-or-die games since 2019 than the Blue and Gold.

“I feel like it’s important. We got a lot of veteran guys in here that have been in plenty of different playoff scenarios,” said defensive end Willie Jefferson.

“Especially that 2019 team, there are still a lot of guys here from that team and remember the run that we had to go on and the amount of discipline that we had to have, the amount of camarederie, chemistry that we built over the season just to go on the road two times just to get back to the Grey Cup. It’s the same thing right now.

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“We’re not worrying about next week or anything like that: we’re worried about this game, going to Montreal and giving Davis his first L in his first playoff game.”

The sports books aren’t confident that’s going to happen. The Bombers are currently listed as six-point underdogs.

“You gotta love being the underdog. Especially when you know the abilities that your team has,” said Jefferson. “We’re on the road, back up against on the wall, win or go home, and we’re going over there to handle business.”

Never mind Alexander the Great, the Bombers know history isn’t on their side. There hasn’t been a single crossover team in CFL history dating back to 1997 that has made it to championship Sunday.

Twelve have tried and zero succeeded.

This Bombers team believes they can be the exception to the rule, and if you ask Kramdi, it’s because of a different quarterback that’s playing this weekend.

“Because of Zach Collaros. That’s an honest answer,” said Kramdi.

“He puts in so much work, and he’s someone I like to follow. He’s a great leader. This team is built for this type of game and I’m just happy to play.”

Four Bombers named division all-stars

The CFL unveiled it divisional all-star teams Wednesday and four Bombers — receiver Nic Demski, linebacker Tony Jones, defensive back Evan Holm, and returner Trey Vaval — made the cut.

It’s the fifth consecutive season Demski has been recognized. He led the Bombers with 67 receptions for 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns despite missing the final two games of the regular season with a hamstring injury.

This is the first all-star nod for Jones who has somehow found a way to fill the void left by Adam Bighill. Jones led the team with 102 tackles and had three quarterback sacks, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

Holm, now a two-time all-star, finished with 55 tackles, four interceptions, six pass knockdowns and two forced fumbles.

Vaval led the CFL in punt return yards, missed field goal return yards and return touchdowns in his sensational rookie campaign.

Last year the Bombers boasted seven West Division all-stars.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.