![\"2023](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Playoff-Logo-Final-800x600.png\"){kind=logo}
2025 GREY CUP PLAYOFFS\u00bb\u00a0Alouettes defeat Bombers, punch ticket to Eastern Final<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Collaros, Bombers \u2018feel terrible\u2019 after Eastern Semi-Final loss<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Lions beat Stamps to earn another Western Final trip<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Dickenson wishes \u2018better fate\u2019 for Stampeders in loss to Lions<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n
ONCE IN AWHILE, THEY EARN THE RIGHT TO BE CALLED \u2019EXTRA-SPECIAL\u2019 TEAMS<\/p>\n
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Fresh off his team\u2019s 33-30 Western Semi-Final win over the Calgary Stampeders, BC quarterback Nathan Rourke<\/a> pointed towards the Lions\u2019 special teams as the backbone of the victory.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this was our special teams\u2019 best game all year and they stepped up in a huge way,\u201d said Rourke.<\/a><\/p>\n In mind, particularly, he had Robert Carter Jr.\u2019s 95-yard kick return touchdown as well as a late fourth quarter fumble recovery by Kieran Poissant<\/a>, forced by Adam Auclair.<\/p>\n Acknowledging that the Lions\u2019 offence didn\u2019t enjoy it\u2019s usual high performance levels \u2014 \u201cthis was an ugly game, offensively, for us,\u201d he said \u2014 Rourke nonetheless was happy to both be moving on and having the team make a discovery about themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re more well-rounded than even we thought,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n LOOKS LIKE HE CAN HANDLE IT<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There was just a little bit of \u201cyeah, but\u201d energy flying around last week in the lead up to the Eastern Semi-Final.<\/p>\n It centred around Montreal\u2019s young quarterback, Davis Alexander<\/a>, who\u2019d impressed with his play over the last two regular seasons, but who had yet to face the high-octane pressures of playoff football in the CFL.<\/p>\n Davis played a whale of a football game in the Eastern Semi, passing for 384 yards and a touchdown, rushing for 32 more yards and another major.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a belief in him,\u201d said beaming Montreal head coach Jason Maas after his team\u2019s 42-33 win over Winnipeg<\/a>. \u201cA competitiveness in him that\u2019s unnatural, in my opinion. He believes he can make something happen. And he does.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of what impressed about Alexander was his resilience, rallying the troops after the Blue Bombers had stunned the Als with three quick touchdowns \u2014 one of them coming after an Alexander interception \u2014 to turn a 25-6 deficit into a 27-25 lead, in the third quarter.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the most humble way possible, I feel like I\u2019m built for this,\u201d said Alexander in his post-game media conference.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m built for this league.\u201d<\/p>\n SOMETIMES THIS GAME CAN MAKE YOU FEEL JUST LIKE CHER<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If he could turn back time\u2026 Vernon Adams Jr. would probably love to do it over again.<\/p>\n In extending his last chance to score a major before halftime, the Calgary quarterback pushed the play too long. With his team very comfortably in field goal range, Adams spent all the remaining seconds on the clock with a scramble, a roll, and a pass.<\/p>\n In a 33-30 loss, it\u2019s not hard to see how those points could have figured in.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s on me,\u201d said Adams after the game.<\/a> \u201cThat\u2019s bad management on me.\u201d<\/p>\n His coach, Dave Dickenson, agreed, but didn\u2019t want his critique of the decision to overshadow all his thoughts on how his pivot played.<\/p>\n \u201cMy thought is you always go to your \u2018one\u2019 guy,\u201d Dickenson told reporters<\/a>. \u201cIf it ain\u2019t there, it\u2019s (a quick pass) in the ground or out of bounds. Vernon had a hell of a game so I certainly don\u2019t wanna be a guy that piles on any one decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, on a weekend where many of us turned back the clocks, Vernon Adams Jr. would have liked to have had the same option at that moment.<\/p>\n STEVIE SCOTT III IS NOW OFFICIALLY A THING<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In my takeaways from Week 20, I wrote \u201cStevie Scott III is becoming a thing.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n We shall now remove the word \u201cbecoming.\u201d<\/p>\n Following a week of lighter than usual practice, dealing with a tender knee, the Alouettes\u2019 first-year running back looked the part of a locomotive, rushing 18 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns, and four big runs of ten-plus yards.<\/p>\n Scott added three catches for 29 yards, 24 of those yards coming after the catch.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s turned into a monster,\u201d said Montreal quarterback<\/a> Davis Alexander<\/a>. \u201cAnd his confidence is only growing and growing and growing.\u201d<\/p>\n NEVER STOP NOT STOPPING<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Still with Stevie Scott III, his fourth quarter touchdown \u201crun\u201d of seven yards was perhaps the most memorable short distance major of the year.<\/p>\n Driven back by Winnipeg defensive lineman James Vaughters<\/a> when he hit the three-yard line, Scott soon lost all contact with the outside world when Montreal offensive linemen Justin Lawrence<\/a> and Donald Ventrelli arrived to push forward, with another Alouette offensive lineman, Nick Callender, pulling Scott in the direction of the goal line.<\/p>\n Like a dying star out in the cosmos, the pile collapsed in on itself in the end zone.<\/p>\n That musta felt like some kind of weird sensory-deprivation tank that the 25-year-old running back was in for a few seconds there.<\/p>\n Occasionally, it takes a village to score a touchdown.<\/p>\n