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<\/p>\n\u201cThey\u2019re well-coached, obviously,\u201d countered Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. \u201cThey try to take away things that teams are really good at. They\u2019re fast as ever, they\u2019re relentless to the football. <\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do a good job causing turnovers and causing confusion. They\u2019ve got enough guys in the back end that can cover a lot of ground as well. They do a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both teams come in on two-game winning streaks. Montreal pulled off comeback wins over Toronto and Calgary, despite holding the lead for just 6:38 across both games combined.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan, meanwhile, bounced back from its only loss of the season \u2014 a 33-31 setback against Calgary on July 12 \u2014 with narrow wins over B.C. and Edmonton. Five of the Riders\u2019 six victories have come by seven points or fewer.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan will be without standout receiver Samuel Emilus on Saturday. The Montreal native was placed on the six-game injured list after suffering a knee injury late in last week\u2019s win over the Elks.<\/p>\n
He will be replaced by 26-year-old Canadian slotback Tommy Nield, who is making his first start of the season after missing the first six games with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n
Montreal will once again turn to veteran quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson on Saturday in the absence of starting pivot Davis Alexander. The 37-year-old picked up his first win in three starts with Montreal last week, completing 30 of 40 passes for 280 yards and a touchdown in his team\u2019s 23-21 win over the Stampeders. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy confidence gets better with each rep,\u201d said Bethel-Thompson. \u201cIt\u2019s just about doing the little things right. With each rep, I feel more comfortable, and hopefully that shows Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Alouettes\u2019 defence, which has surrendered the fewest yards per game (321.4) and second-fewest points (158) across the league this season, will welcome back a familiar face in defensive end Shawn Lemon on Saturday. <\/p>\n
Lemon played parts of the last two seasons with Montreal, helping the team to a Grey Cup championship in 2023. <\/p>\n
The 36-year-old was suspended indefinitely in April 2024 for gambling on league games while with Calgary in 2021, including one game in which he played. Lemon also served a two-game suspension after testing positive for the banned stimulant phentermine, an appetite suppressant. <\/p>\n
After being reinstated last month, the veteran signed a contract with the Alouettes through the remainder of the 2025 season. <\/p>\n
Maas praised Lemon\u2019s fitness level, vowing to use him in \u201chis fair share of plays\u201d throughout Saturday\u2019s contest. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to have him back,\u201d added Alouettes defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund, who played with Lemon in both Calgary and Montreal. \u201cIt\u2019s always next man up here, so just to get another veteran presence is awesome. You know what he can do on the field, and it\u2019s just going to help us tenfold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montreal will be without wide receivers Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot, who are out with ankle and knee injuries, respectively. <\/p>\n
The Alouettes have won their last three games against Saskatchewan and four straight at home against the Roughriders dating back to 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I knew,\u201d Mace said when asked about the challenge of playing in Montreal. \u201cThey\u2019ve got a really good atmosphere. Their fanbase comes out. They\u2019re a good team no matter where you play \u2014 but there, it\u2019s always a tough battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025. <\/p>\n
Jordan Stoopler, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019re well-coached, obviously,\u201d countered Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. \u201cThey try to take away things that teams are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-41789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41789","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=41789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}