Alouettes not short on reasons why they want to beat Bombers

MONTREAL — Clinching top spot in the East isn’t the only reason why Tyson Philpot is itching to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“Obviously, my brother (Jalen) plays for the (Calgary) Stampeders, so I’d love to help push the Stampeders above them and help him get in the playoffs,” said the star receiver for the Montreal Alouettes after Friday’s walkthrough.

While the Als are sitting comfortably at 11-3, the Bombers (7-7) are trying to fend off Calgary (7-8) while also keeping pace with B.C. and Saskatchewan, who both entered the week at 8-6.

But there’s another reason that applies to everyone on the Als: they want revenge for the embarrassing 44-28 loss they suffered in Winnipeg in Week 13.

Montreal will get that chance today at 6 p.m. CT with the Bombers in town.

“We kind of got our ass kicked,” said Als quarterback Davis Alexander, who declined to speak to reporters after that game.

“Honestly, I think I probably would’ve gotten fined. I would have said something — nothing about Winnipeg or their players or anything like that, literally, nothing about them — but I think I would have gotten fined if I would’ve spoken to the media. I was hot,” said Alexander.

“There was some stuff on the sideline that went on, but, yeah, just a lot of frustration with stuff on the field.”

The Bombers weren’t given much of a chance to win. They were average at best in their first 10 games, while the Als looked unbeatable and had clearly established themselves as the team to beat in the CFL.

“I don’t think we took Winnipeg lightly at all,” said Alexander, who threw four touchdowns in a losing effort.

“But sometimes it’s nice to get your teeth kicked in and you know, reset. It’s like ‘Hey, you’re not untouchable, this is a friendly reminder, get back to work.’”

The Bombers have had their arm raised on their last four regular-season trips to Montreal and have won seven out of the previous eight head-to-head meetings.

They would trade all seven of those wins in a heartbeat for the two post-season showdowns that didn’t go their way against the Als in recent years — the 2023 Grey Cup and the 2025 East Division semifinal.

“Obviously, they’ve been the cream of the crop of the CFL for quite a long time now. (Mike) O’Shea has done a tremendous job there,” said Als head coach Jason Maas.

“You can’t beat yourself against them. You got to hold on to the ball, you’ve got to try to take it away, win the turnover margin. Penalties, they’ve led the league the last eight years with the least amount of penalties, so they’re a very disciplined football team.”

Maas added: “But I know this: when we’ve played the two biggest games we’ve played against them in the last three or four years, we’ve come out on top of those. So our guys are not afraid to play them. We’re ready to play them and excited to play them.”

Even though these teams don’t meet that often, there’s a bit of a rivalry brewing.

“It stems from the Grey Cup in ’23. They were the dynasty, they were the standard of the CFL,” said Philpot. “Obviously, they still are, but we’ve been able to sneak our way into a couple Grey Cups and we’re trying to emulate the greatness that they had.”

WILSON ON WINNIPEG DEPARTURE

Quarterback Terry Wilson was listed as third on the depth chart for Winnipeg’s pre-season opener behind Zach Collaros and rookie Taylor Elgersma – and he wasn’t happy about it.

Wilson was the No. 3 pivot in 2024 and 2025 behind Collaros and Chris Streveler. He paid his dues and felt like he was due for a promotion.

“I saw myself being number two,” Wilson told the Free Press on Friday. “I have no issue with competing, but I just saw myself at a different point coming into this third year and that wasn’t the case.”

Before the team took off for the game, which was in Saskatoon against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Wilson sat down with O’Shea and informed him that he wanted to explore other opportunities. The Bombers placed him on the suspended list before releasing him a few days later.

“I told Osh how I was feeling and what was on my mind,” said Wilson. “He sat there, and he listened. They asked me if there was anything they could have done, or if there was anything that could possibly change my thinking.”

Wilson went on to sign with Montreal in July. He’s appeared in seven games and has five touchdowns as a short-yardage specialist.

He is currently on the practice roster. Now that Wilson has had some time to reflect, he isn’t so sure that he would handle things the same way.

“Emotionally, and I say as a football player that’s competitive, I was upset with it. I probably pulled the trigger too fast,” he admitted.

“But hindsight is 20/20. I can look back at it and know for the future that you control what you control, take it a day at a time, and keep stacking days.”

winnipegfreepress.com/taylorallen