{"id":744010,"date":"2026-06-18T02:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744010\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T02:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:18:09","slug":"cfl-week-3-picks-alexander-chases-14th-straight-regular-season-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744010\/","title":{"rendered":"CFL Week 3 picks: Alexander chases 14th straight regular-season win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander (10) runs with the ball during his team’s game against the Toronto Argonauts last week in Montreal.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Edmonton Elks\u2019 turn to try and do something no other CFL team has yet: Hand Montreal Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander his first regular-season loss.<\/p>\n

Montreal (2-0) visits Edmonton (1-0) on Saturday afternoon. Alexander has led the Alouettes to comeback wins in each of their first two contests to boost his regular-season record to start a CFL career to 13-0.<\/p>\n

With a win, Alexander would tie the CFL mark for most consecutive starts with a victory set in 2016 by Bo Levi Mitchell, then of the Calgary Stampeders. However, Alexander and the Alouettes did taste defeat in last year\u2019s Grey Cup game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the only loss of Alexander\u2019s tenure in Canada.<\/p>\n

Alexander, 27, has been impressive to start the \u201926 season. The 6-foot, 210-pound American has thrown for 777 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions while completing 56-of-80 passes (70 per cent).<\/p>\n

A hamstring ailment limited Alexander to just seven regular-season starts in 2025. But thus far, he has been sacked just twice and has only two carries.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s an early concern with Montreal, it\u2019s the ground game. The Alouettes are last overall in rushing (65.5 yards per game), which puts much of the onus offensively on Alexander\u2019s strong right arm.<\/p>\n

Canadian Tyson Philpot (16 catches, 269 yards, three TDs) and American Tyler Snead (14 receptions, 225 yards, touchdown) have taken turns leading Montreal\u2019s receiving corps.<\/p>\n

Edmonton hasn\u2019t started 2-0 since 2019, which is also the last time it was in the playoffs. Montreal is looking to go 3-0 for a third straight year.<\/p>\n

Running back Justin Rankin is a big part of what Edmonton does offensively. He had 196 yards from scrimmage (102 yards rushing, 94 yards receiving) in the Elks\u2019 29-21 season-opening road win in Ottawa on June 6.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks’ quarterback Cody Fajardo (7) tries to evade a tackle by Ottawa Redblacks’ defensive lineman Habakkuk Baldonado (95) during their game in Ottawa last week.Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Montreal\u2019s defence is allowing a CFL-low 3.9 yards per rushing attempt.<\/p>\n

This marks the first-ever meeting between Alexander and Edmonton starter Cody Fajardo. Alexander is just 1-0 against Edmonton while Fajardo \u2013 the \u201923 Grey Cup MVP with Montreal \u2013 is 5-1 all-time against the Alouettes.<\/p>\n

Fajardo completed 23-of-34 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown in last week\u2019s win over Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Pick: Edmonton<\/p>\n

B.C. Lions vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Friday night)<\/p>\n

At Hamilton, the Ticats (1-1) come off last week\u2019s 37-27 victory in Winnipeg. All-star cornerback Jamal Peters (head) is questionable but veteran linebacker Wynton McManis (knee) remains out. Mitchell threw for 287 yards and three TDs while Larry Roundtree ran for 124 yards versus the Bombers. <\/p>\n

B.C. (0-1) fell 31-27 to Saskatchewan last week. Nathan Rourke had 330 yards passing and ran for a TD, James Butler had two rushing scores and Justin McInnis recorded eight catches for 129 yards. But the Riders had 489 net offensive yards, including 417 yards and three TDs passing. B.C. has won its previous three games at Hamilton Stadium.<\/p>\n

Pick: Hamilton<\/p>\n

Toronto Argonauts vs. Ottawa Redblacks (Saturday afternoon)<\/p>\n

At Ottawa, Ryan Dinwiddie faces his former team for the first time. Dinwiddie led Toronto to two Grey Cups over five seasons before becoming head coach\/GM with the Redblacks (0-1), who come off a bye after dropping their season opener to Edmonton. <\/p>\n

Chad Kelly had 445 yards passing and three TDs for Toronto (0-1) in last week\u2019s 37-30 road loss to Montreal. It was his first action since suffering a leg injury in the \u201924 East Division final against the Alouettes that forced him to miss all of last year. Toronto has won four of its last five games at TD Place.<\/p>\n

Pick: Ottawa<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Calgary Stampeders (Saturday night)<\/p>\n

At Calgary, the Stampeders (0-1) were 2-0 last season against Saskatchewan (1-0) and have won five-of-six meetings between the two. They also haven\u2019t started 0-2 since 2021 and come off a bye following a 30-28 season-opening loss to Winnipeg on Sergio Castillo\u2019s game-ending 38-year field goal. It came after quarterback Vernon Adams scored on a three-yard play to put the Stamps ahead with 1:04 to play. <\/p>\n

The Riders began their Grey Cup title defence last week with a 31-27 home win over B.C. Trevor Harris threw for 417 yards and three TDs, all to Samuel Emilus. Saskatchewan has started 2-0 the last two seasons under head coach Corey Mace.<\/p>\n

Pick: Saskatchewan<\/p>\n

Last week: 1-2<\/p>\n

Overall: 1-5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Montreal Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander (10) runs with the ball during his team’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-744010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744010","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=744010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}