For there to be a quarterback controversy in professional football, two players who occupy the same position must be equal in talent.
While it would be easy to throw Caleb Evans under the bus, the dramatic change that occurred within the Alouettes’ offence once Davis Alexander entered the game against Saskatchewan Thursday night can’t be diminished. And that’s likely why Alexander will start for Montreal next Friday, at Hamilton.
Jason Maas said he would rely on a gut feeling before switching quarterbacks, and with seconds remaining in the first half, the Alouettes’ head coach must have felt some rumbling his his stomach. Maas played quarterback in the CFL, making him more qualified than most to know when the time has come to pull the switch.
Trailing the Roughriders 16-3 at halftime, Maas decided to replace Evans with Alexander. And just like that, a star was born.
Alexander, in his third season with Montreal, completed his first 12 passes for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both to Reggie White Jr., in the Als’ incredible 20-16 comeback victory before 19,653 Molson Stadium spectators. The Als, coming off a bye week in the schedule, improved to 6-1, while the Riders are now 5-2. Montreal’s the first CFL team to reach six wins.
“This is incredible and I’m super happy,” Alexander said. “We came out with the win and that’s all that matters. I’m super thankful. This is my third year and I’ve put in a lot of work. Everybody stepped up. Obviously it wasn’t just me. I’ll definitely remember this one for a while.”
While football is the ultimate team game, Alexander provided the Als, who appeared moribund following 30 minutes, with the required antidote.
Montreal took the second-half kickoff, assisted by a 39-yard return from James Letcher Jr., and immediately scored. Alexander passed 30 yards to Tyson Philpot to get the Als into scoring position. Four plays later, Alexander rolled to his left and found White for a five-yard touchdown.
On the Als’ next possession, Alexander directed an eight-play, 96-yard drive, including passes of 24 and 12 yards to Philpot. Alexander’s 12th consecutive completion was a 31-yard scoring strike to White, open on the right side of the field, giving Montreal a 17-16 lead.
Alexander completed 15 of 18 passes for 178 yards, while Philpot caught seven passes for 88 yards. The entire pace and momentum of the game changed once Alexander entered, the Als offence completely fooling their flat-footed opponents, who had no answers and always seemed a step behind. It’s as though Montreal could do no wrong.
“He’s a gunslinger and we know that,” Philpot said of Alexander. “His confidence on the field, we rallied behind that. That’s Davis’s confidence. He never wavers. He treats every practice like it’s his job to win. I think you’re going to see a lot of him. I’m so proud of that guy.”
Evans, who replaced injured starter Cody Fajardo (hamstring) at the start of the second quarter, July 11 against Toronto, struggled against the Argonauts. And with two weeks to prepare for Saskatchewan, he displayed little improvement.
While his receivers were guilty of dropped passes, it appeared as though Evans didn’t see the field well, held onto the ball too long and was indecisive. Of course, the Riders also took Evans’s first read away and continually put pressure on him. Evans completed only three of eight passes against the blitz. He was hurried five times, hit on four more occasions and sacked twice.
Evans completed nine of 17 passes overall for 91 yards and fumbled once. The Als were held to five first downs in the opening half, 74 yards’ net offence, ran 23 plays and had the ball for only 12:11. In a nutshell, they were dreadful.
“I didn’t think anything of the switch,” Evans said. “Coach said something about needing a spark. He did what he did and he did a great job. …
“It just wasn’t clicking,” he added of his performance. “You always want to be out there and play. That would be the goal but, at the same time, I’m here for the team. However the coach needs me.”
Maas did his best to defend Evans while failing to commit to next week’s starter until watching the film, although he sounded as though he’s leaning toward Alexander.
“It’s not always on the quarterback but sometimes you do need a spark,” Maas said. “We clearly needed it and it was provided. Davis made some plays and everybody stepped their game up. When a quarterback gets pulled … everybody else’s game gets heightened up. It’s like we’re blaming one guy instead of all of us need to play better. It’s not one guy down, it’s 45 guys down. Our whole team needed to step up and they all did.
“Davis did his part and did his job. We knew he could, he just never did it in a moment like this. This was his first taste of what it’s like to be a quarterback in this league — and I think he passed with flying colours.”
While the Als defensively still have issues stopping the run, nearly had several punts blocked and had a 48-yard field goal attempt blocked, they shut the Riders out over the second half — an impressive feat in the CFL. The visitor’s only touchdown came on a 20-yard run by Frankie Hickson at the end of the first quarter, following the Evans turnover.