WINNIPEG \u2014 Tyler Snead smiles when asked if the Montreal Alouettes\u2019 receiving corps has a nickname.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fab Five,\u201d he said of the crew, which also includes Austin Mack, Tyson Philpot, Charleston Rambo and Cole Spieker.<\/p>\n
It was starting quarterback Davis Alexander who came up with the nickname when he created a group chat with the five starters earlier this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re incredible,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThe best part about them is they care about each other\u2019s success more than they care about their own. You don\u2019t get that a lot. A lot of receivers, a lot of receiver rooms, it\u2019s prima donna-led.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the man who\u2019ll be tossing the ball in Sunday\u2019s Grey Cup game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders elaborated with a grin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe receiver is a prima-donna position,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cNo matter what they say, they know it. It\u2019s a prima-donna position, but we don\u2019t do that here in Montreal, and we won\u2019t put up with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019ve got to find a way to fit in. You\u2019ve got to be able to block on the perimeter. You\u2019ve got to care more about that guy\u2019s yards than your own yards. So they\u2019re special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snead led the injury-bitten group in receiving yards this season with 84 receptions for 1,129 yards in 17 games (fifth in the CFL). It earned him a spot on the all-CFL team in his third year.<\/p>\n
The native of Raleigh, N.C., said it\u2019s a collective effort with all the team\u2019s receivers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single one of us, we think we\u2019ve got the best receiving group in the league. We really believe it,\u201d Snead said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, we kind of had a roller-coaster of a season, up and down with injuries, but a lot of guys stepped up in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philpot was second in team receiving with a career-high 804 yards off 61 catches, plus five TDs. He only played in 12 games because of hamstring and knee injuries.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the way the Delta, B.C., product wanted to return after his 2024 season was cut short by an injury and he underwent foot and ankle surgeries.<\/p>\n
While he was aiming to play 18 games this season, he\u2019s likened this year to 2023 where he missed five games with injuries, then got on a roll that finished with a bang.<\/p>\n
Philpot grabbed the Grey Cup-winning touchdown pass from Cody Fajardo in the end zone with 11 seconds remaining, giving Montreal a 28-24 upset victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
He sees film of the catch whenever it\u2019s posted on social media, but doesn\u2019t seek it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve kind of put it in the past now,\u201d Philpot said. \u201cI use it as experience, something I can lean on when something\u2019s not going right in the game. When I need to dig deep and make a play for my team, I can look within that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The son of former CFL running back Cory Philpot hopes there\u2019s another big moment around the corner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that play, but I don\u2019t want that to be the Tyson Philpot play,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want that to be the last thing I\u2019m remembered for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to go out there and make a new play every time I step on that field, so I\u2019m just excited to make another memory this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snead was on the field running a route and didn\u2019t see Philpot\u2019s Grey Cup catch, but he wouldn\u2019t mind duplicating it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it comes down to that this year and a last-second play, then that\u2019s the moment you dream of, that\u2019s the moment you want,\u201d Snead said. \u201cYou want to go out there and be the guy that wins it and does it for your team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mack was third among Montreal\u2019s receivers with 48 catches for 674 yards in 12 games because of a leg injury.<\/p>\n
He injured his hamstring late in last weekend\u2019s East Division final 19-16 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and is practising on a limited basis this week.<\/p>\n
Spieker finished with 54 catches for 609 yards and four TDs in 16 games, while Rambo rounded out the Fab Five\u2019s output with his own 54 receptions in 17 games for 585 yards and three TDs. <\/p>\n
ON TRACK<\/p>\n
The Alouettes held a closed practice Thursday.<\/p>\n
Alexander, who\u2019s getting treatment for a season-long hamstring injury he tweaked in the East final win, said it \u201cfeels great.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 Tyler Snead smiles when asked if the Montreal Alouettes\u2019 receiving corps has a nickname. \u201cThe Fab…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-281590","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\/281590","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=281590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}