Watch the Argos play the Alouettes LIVE Friday at 7 p.m. ET \/ 4 p.m. PT on TSN1\/4, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.<\/a><\/p>\nThe six-foot 220-pound McManis, Toronto\u2019s starting middle linebacker, knows what makes Bethel-Thompson tick. The two were teammates in 2022 before Bethel-Thompson signed with the USFL\u2019s New Orleans Breakers in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it makes it any easier,\u201d McManis said. \u201cWe know Mac (but) he doesn\u2019t do a lot of the same things because he\u2019s in a different system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of know his strengths and weaknesses so we can gameplan around that \u2026 but I know he remembers a lot of the things we do well. I think this is going to be a fun one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bethel-Thompson returned from the injured list last week to help Montreal end a five-game losing streak. The 37-year-old quarterback completed 20 of 26 passes for 379 yards and three TDs in a 48-31 road win over the CFL-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders (10-3).<\/p>\n
Montreal is two points ahead of third-place Toronto in the East. The Argos earned a 31-30 home win – their third straight victory – last week over the Edmonton Elks on Lirim Hajrullahu\u2019s 48-yard field goal on the game\u2019s final play.<\/p>\n
But even with a win Friday, Toronto would need help to finish second in the division. Montreal has already clinched the season series after winning the two previous meetings (28-10 on June 6, 26-25 on July 17).<\/p>\n
Incumbent Davis Alexander started both games for Montreal. He\u2019s currently on the six-game injured list with a hamstring ailment.<\/p>\n
Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie expects Montreal to play somewhat differently this time around with Bethel-Thompson – who was Dinwiddie\u2019s starter in 2022 – at quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to do the job on first down and keep him in second-and-long,\u201d Dinwiddie said. \u201cI think they\u2019ll change their stripes a little bit and not be as RPO (run-pass option) as they were when they had Davis against us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019ll let him throw the ball down the field, he\u2019s got a big arm. So we\u2019ve got to be ready for downfield shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
And to understand how important a win is to Toronto\u2019s post-season hopes but not be overwhelmed by it, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve told the guys to not let the magnitude of it get in the way,\u201d Dinwiddie said. \u201cIt\u2019s another football game but at the same time we understand how important it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bethel-Thompson had plenty of help last week in Regina. Canadian receiver Tyson Philpot caught all nine balls thrown his way for 238 yards and two touchdowns while running back Stevie Scott III ran for 125 yards on 19 carries.<\/p>\n
Philpot\u2019s output was the seventh-most by a Canadian receiver in league history while Scott III was the first Alouette to rush for over 100 yards in a game since 2023.<\/p>\n
For the first time this season, Toronto will have a different starter under centre. Jarret Doege – pronounced DAY\u2019-gee – will lead the offence after coming off the bench last week to rally the Argos past the Elks.<\/p>\n
With incumbent Nick Arbuckle (calf) on the sidelines, Doege marched Toronto 40 yards in eight plays to set up Hajrullahu\u2019s winning boot. The first-year Argo, who joined the team late in training camp, completed three of six passes for 35 yards in his first regular-season action with the CFL club.<\/p>\n
Arbuckle had made 13 straight starts for Toronto but is now expected to miss two to three weeks. Arbuckle currently leads the CFL in pass attempts (465), completions (337) and yards (4,089) and is second in TDs (25) despite being sacked a league-high 34 times.<\/p>\n
The six-foot-one 210-pound Doege will make just his second CFL start. He began his career in Canada with Edmonton (2023-24), appearing in 20 games (one start), completing 43 of 68 passes for 593 yards with four TDs and four interceptions.<\/p>\n
Doege\u2019s first start came as a rookie with Edmonton on June 30, 2023. The 27-year-old Texan completed 19 of 33 passes for 223 yards with a TD and three interceptions in a 26-7 road loss to the Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n
He signed with Toronto on May 27 and had one practice before helping the Argos earn a 30-23 exhibition win over Hamilton three days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he played well in the pre-season game and showed the potential that he has,\u201d Dinwiddie said. \u201cWe\u2019re comfortable with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously he\u2019s got to go out and play a good game (but) we\u2019ve got to call a good game for him as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 A familiar face stands in the way of Wynton McManis and the Toronto Argonauts moving into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-153580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}