{"id":273205,"date":"2025-11-10T01:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T01:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273205\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T01:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T01:22:11","slug":"landrys-5-takeaways-from-the-division-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273205\/","title":{"rendered":"Landry\u2019s 5 takeaways from the Division Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello, Davis Alexander<\/a>\u2019s hamstring.<\/p>\n

A body part probably hasn\u2019t been the focus of this much attention since Matt Dunigan\u2019s shoulder at the \u201991 Grey Cup.<\/p>\n

Enjoy your time in the spotlight, hamstring.<\/p>\n

Here are the Eastern and Western Final takeaways.<\/p>\n

\"112th112th GREY CUP
\u00bb\u00a0Walk-off field goal sends Montreal to 112th Grey Cup<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a03 stats that defined Montreal\u2019s Eastern Final win over Hamilton<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Riders beat Lions to earn first Grey Cup appearance since 2013<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a03 stats that defined Saskatchewan\u2019s Western Final win over BC<\/a><\/p>\n

MORE THAN ONE WAY TO COOK A POT ROAST<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was an interesting decision that Saskatchewan head coach Corey Mace made with just under three minutes left to go in the Western Final.<\/p>\n

Gotta say, I didn\u2019t think it was the right call to kick a field goal on third-and-goal from the five and his team down by a touchdown.<\/p>\n

But Mace trusted in his defence to get the ball back, and he trusted it again a minute later when the Riders faced a third-and-10 from their own 36, and just 1:48 on the clock.<\/p>\n

When coach chose to punt, the booing at Mosaic Stadium was, erm, noticeable.<\/p>\n

In the end, it\u2019s all good for Mace and his team, showing once again that good strategy is the one that works, and bad is the one that doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

No matter how you cook that pot roast, it just needs to come out tasting great.<\/p>\n

MORE THAN ONE WAY TO COOK A POT ROAST PART II<\/p>\n

The Alouettes had NO problem celebrating with the Eastern Final trophy! #GreyCup<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ZWsMubcCPI<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CFL (@CFL) November 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

The Montreal Alouettes lifted the Eastern Championship trophy, and they hooted and hollered.<\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan Roughriders ignored the Western Championship trophy, with quarterback Trevor Harris<\/a> even going so far as to run his hands over the space around it, without touching it.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the superstitious type, you go the Saskatchewan route, preferring not to \u201ctempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing\u201d (thank you, Aaron Sorkin) by touching the trophy.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re extra-superstitious (super-duperstitious?), you might wonder if Harris tempted the wrath of the whatever by comically snubbing the trophy.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not the superstitious type, the Alouettes are in the clear. And so are Harris and the Roughriders.<\/p>\n

I happen to think big games are decided by one team scoring more points than the other on that particular day, and not by what they did or didn\u2019t touch a week before.<\/p>\n

BONUS TAKEAWAY: The Montreal Alouettes DID NOT touch the Eastern Championship trophy in 2023. One of their players can actually be heard yelling, \u201cDon\u2019t touch it.\u201d So, yeah.<\/p>\n

THAT\u2019S KIND OF APPROPRIATE WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Tommy Nield made that stellar grab for the winning touchdown in the Western Final, an overview of the entire season of Roughrider football came into sharp focus.<\/p>\n

The Riders ploughed to the top of the CFL\u2019s overall standings during a season in which they just kept suffering injuries in their receiving corps, with back-ups stepping in and stepping up all year long.<\/p>\n

27-year-old Nield was one of them. Signed as a free agent last off-season, he didn\u2019t even suit up for the Roughriders until the middle of July and didn\u2019t catch his first pass until Week 9, in August.<\/p>\n

He ended the season with 42 receptions for 535 yards and five touchdowns, earning a roster spot for the Western Final.<\/p>\n

And then indelibly stamped that game with one that goes out to all the understudies.<\/p>\n

THOUGH HE BE BUT LITTLE HE IS FIERCE<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t coach tough \ud83d\ude24<\/p>\n

\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f: Eastern Final LIVE NOW
\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6: TSN, CTV, TSN2, RDS
\ud83c\udf0e: CFL+#GCPlayoffs<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/sCTWffZGCf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CFL (@CFL) November 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Tyler Snead<\/a>, the All-CFL, 1,000-yard regular season pass-catcher for the Montreal Alouettes, found the end zone in the Eastern Final, but that touchdown reception wasn\u2019t the most impressive thing he pulled off in the Eastern Final.<\/p>\n

It was on another catch that the five-foot-eight, 170-pounder lifted me outta my chair.<\/p>\n

Late in the second quarter, Snead caught a long ball over the middle, at the Hamilton 40-yard line and was immediately belted by a top-speed Stavros Katsantonis<\/a>, one of the heaviest hitters in the entire league.<\/p>\n

I mean, he was BELTED.<\/p>\n

Not only did Snead somehow hang on to the ball, he jumped up almost immediately (can\u2019t blame a guy for taking a second to do a self-check after a calamity like that) and took a few thundering tromps ahead in celebration, hollering as he went.<\/p>\n

Making it all the more remarkable is that Snead didn\u2019t think a hit was coming on the play, telling Joey Alfieri on the Alouettes post-game show that, \u201cI actually had no idea. I thought I was gonna catch it, and I thought I had a lane to score.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMakes you feel a lot better when you hang onto it.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNSTOPPABLE? NOT ENTIRELY<\/p>\n

If I had told you prior to the Finals that neither Montreal\u2019s Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund<\/a> nor BC\u2019s Mathieu Betts<\/a> would register a defensive stat in their respective games, what would you have said to me?<\/p>\n

That is, however, precisely what happened. In the CFL\u2019s \u2018gamebook\u2019 of stats sent out after each game, you will not see the names of either of two of the league\u2019s most dominant defensive ends.<\/p>\n

Shut out on the stats page, it\u2019s not to say that either of them was at all ineffective in any way.<\/p>\n

But it does show that both Saskatchewan and Hamilton did rock-solid jobs in neutralising those terrorising threats.<\/p>\n

Can the Roughriders do it again on Grey Cup Sunday? Or will Adeyemi-Berglund get to blowing up Saskatchewan\u2019s best-laid offensive plans?<\/p>\n

AND FINALLY: Let\u2019s all agree that we\u2019ll talk about Destin Talbert<\/a> more next season.<\/p>\n