{"id":164556,"date":"2025-09-23T19:59:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T19:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/164556\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T19:59:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T19:59:22","slug":"it-might-be-the-canadian-in-him-davis-alexander-doesnt-share-nathan-rourkes-anger-with-new-cfl-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/164556\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It might be the Canadian in him’: Davis Alexander doesn’t share Nathan Rourke’s anger with new CFL rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Pascal Ratthe\/Montreal Alouettes<\/p>\n

CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston announced incoming new rules for the league on Monday and the reaction has been mixed<\/a>. The strongest dissenter is B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, who said the changes were \u201cgarbage\u201d<\/a> and made the league sound like it wants to be the NFL.<\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes franchise quarterback Davis Alexander has a totally different perspective on the new rules. He heard what Rourke said but doesn\u2019t share his vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be the Canadian in him,\u201d Alexander told 3DownNation about Rourke\u2019s reaction. \u201cI know they were very traditional Canadian rules, but as an offensive guy, I think about player safety first and having that goal post in the middle, it\u2019s kind of weird. For me I like these rules, it will speed up the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the passer likes all the new rules<\/a>, which include a tweak to the rouge, moving the uprights, and the shortening of the field and end zones, his favourite is the 35-second clock that will speed up the game in a big way.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favourite one is the 35-second clock,\u201d said the 26-year-old. \u201cIt will speed up the game, making plays happen sooner and keeping fans more engaged. It will keep the game electric. That\u2019s my summary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury, was in the hospital undergoing tests when he heard about the changes. He didn\u2019t know about the upcoming tweaks and though Rourke\u2019s main complaint was a lack of consultation with players and coaches, the Alouettes quarterback wasn\u2019t bothered by how the league went about the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really bother me,\u201d he said. \u201cMy job is to play quarterback, worry about Xs and Os, and our locker room. I haven\u2019t been around in this game long enough for me to tell you what\u2019s right and wrong about this league. It doesn\u2019t bother me, and I think the people who are making these decisions are well-informed and they\u2019re doing it for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander has seen numerous reactions and rumours on social media since yesterday. He was scared the league was going to switch to four downs \u2014 something he said he would have hated. He was relieved and excited when he learned about the changes, which he doesn\u2019t consider an effort to Americanize the CFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the main things that make this game Canadian? The three downs, the waggle, 12 men on the field, the width of the field, and all that stuff,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cShortening the field by 10 yards? I don\u2019t even think people will notice too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The native of Gig Harbor, Wash. is excited to see these new rules come into effect and to see how the league handles the resumption of play after field goals and the last three minutes of each half.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you kick a field goal, does the other team get the ball back at the 40-yard line? Because that\u2019s a short field, only 60 yards. It will be interesting to see if teams will get an extra time-out during the last three minutes because of the 35-second game clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Alexander is focused on the 2025 season, though he hasn\u2019t played since mid-July. He hopes to play sooner rather than later to lead his team into the postseason. So far this year, Alexander has completed 88-of-121 pass attempts for six touchdowns and three interceptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Pascal Ratthe\/Montreal Alouettes CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston announced incoming new rules for the league on Monday and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-164556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164556","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=164556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}