{"id":826000,"date":"2026-07-25T22:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T22:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/826000\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T22:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T22:02:08","slug":"montreal-alouettes-5-1-week-8-preview-vs-hamilton-tiger-cats-3-3-prediction-depth-chart-injuries-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/826000\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Alouettes (5-1) Week 8 Preview vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-3): Prediction, Depth Chart, Injuries, Odds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Davis Alexander hasn’t thrown a pick all season, and a shorthanded Hamilton<\/a> secondary walks into Molson Stadium as a serious problem.<\/p>\n

Game Details<\/p>\n

Odds<\/p>\n

Spread: Montreal Alouettes -11
\nMoneyline: Montreal Alouettes -600, Hamilton Tiger-Cats +440
\nOver\/Under: 56<\/p>\n

Montreal has covered in four of six games this year and has gone over the total in all six \u2014 this offense simply doesn’t play low-scoring football. Hamilton sits at .500 against the spread (3-3) and is split evenly on totals at 3-3, a sign of just how up-and-down life has been since Bo Levi Mitchell went down.<\/p>\n

Overview<\/p>\n

The Alouettes<\/a> are rolling. At 5-1 they’re a half-game back of Edmonton<\/a> for top spot in the league and they’ve won three straight, including back-to-back shootouts with Calgary<\/a> that saw them score 37 and 38 points. Davis Alexander is playing as well as any quarterback in the CFL right now \u2014 154-of-216 for 2,181 yards, 11 touchdowns and, remarkably, zero interceptions through six games. That kind of ball security paired with this receiving corps is exactly why Montreal ranks No. 1 in net offense at 459 yards.<\/p>\n

The Tiger-Cats<\/a> have found a way to survive without their franchise quarterback. Since Mitchell’s ankle injury, Hamilton has leaned on Tre Ford’s legs and a defense that’s kept them in every game, and it paid off last week with a 24-23 escape act against Toronto. Ford ran for 109 yards in that win and gives Hamilton a dimension Montreal has to account for, but this is still a team ranked ninth in the league in points scored (24.8 per game) trying to slow down an Alouettes offense averaging 34.7. That math doesn’t favor the visitors.<\/p>\n

Montreal already beat Hamilton once this year, a 30-27 squeaker back in Week 1 in Hamilton before either team had really found its identity. Six months later, this looks like a different gap. The Als have scored at least 37 points in four of their last five games, and Hamilton’s defense \u2014 even with Stavros Katsantonis and Julian Howsare playing well individually \u2014 hasn’t faced anything like this pace. The edge here is Montreal, and it’s not particularly close.<\/p>\n

Key Players<\/p>\n

Davis Alexander (Montreal Alouettes, QB) \u2014 Zero interceptions on 216 attempts and 2,181 yards through the air, the most efficient quarterback in the league right now.
\nTyson Philpot (Montreal Alouettes, REC) \u2014 Leads the CFL with 50 catches for 807 yards and is Alexander’s clear go-to target.
\nTyler Snead (Montreal Alouettes, REC) \u2014 38 catches, 583 yards and four scores, giving Montreal a second true burner alongside Philpot.
\nTre Ford (Hamilton Tiger-Cats, QB) \u2014 Ran for 109 yards last week and is Hamilton’s engine on the ground while the passing game finds its footing.
\nJulian Howsare (Hamilton Tiger-Cats, DL) \u2014 Hamilton’s top pass rusher and the guy who has to disrupt Alexander’s rhythm for the Ticats to have a shot.<\/p>\n

Keys to the Game<\/p>\n

Montreal needs Alexander to keep protecting the football \u2014 the zero-interception streak is the backbone of this offense’s efficiency.
\nThe Alouettes defensive front, led by Mustafa Johnson, has to contain Tre Ford’s scrambles and force Hamilton into obvious passing downs.
\nPhilpot and Snead need to keep winning early against a Hamilton secondary that’s had to shuffle personnel with injuries up front.<\/p>\n

Injury Report<\/p>\n

PlayerTeamStatus<\/p>\n

DeVonte Dedmon (WR)Montreal AlouettesAvailable \u2014 Hamstring
\nDavid Dallaire (FB)Montreal AlouettesOut \u2014 Knee
\nGabriel Lessard (LB)Montreal AlouettesOut \u2014 Knee
\nJustin Lawrence (OL)Montreal AlouettesOut \u2014 Ankle
\nDes Holmes (OL)Montreal AlouettesOut \u2014 Back
\nJerreth Sterns (WR)Montreal AlouettesOut \u2014 Hand
\nAlexander Hollins (WR)Montreal AlouettesAvailable \u2014 Not Injury Related
\nKabion Ento (DB)Montreal AlouettesAvailable \u2014 Hamstring
\nTyrell Richards (LB)Montreal AlouettesAvailable \u2014 Neck
\nDonovan Manuel (LB)Montreal AlouettesAvailable \u2014 Hip
\nNajee Murray (DB)Montreal AlouettesAvailable \u2014 Hamstring
\nShomari Lawrence (RB)Montreal AlouettesOut \u2014 Hamstring<\/p>\n

Depth Chart<\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes<\/a> starters by position, built from the club’s official current-week depth chart. Note this is projected and may shift with late-week roster moves.<\/p>\n

PositionMontreal Alouettes<\/p>\n

QBDavis Alexander (Terry Wilson, Dustin Crum)
\nRBTravis Theis (Rushawn Baker)
\nFBJacob Mason (R\u00e9gis Cibasu)
\nREC\/WRTyson Philpot, Tyler Snead, Cole Spieker, Marco Dubois, Kaseem Ferdinand (DeVonte Dedmon, Alexander Hollins)
\nOLNick Callender (OT), Pier-Olivier Lestage (G), Cyrille Hogan-Saindon (C), Donny Ventrelli (G), Tiger Shanks (OT)
\nDLKylan Guidry, Lwal Uguak, Mustafa Johnson, Joshua Archibald (Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund)
\nLBAlexandre Gagn\u00e9, Geoffrey Cantin-Arku, Arthur Hamlin, Tyrell Richards (Najee Murray, Tyrice Beverette)
\nDBWesley Sutton, Gemon Green, Lorenzo Burns, Robert Kennedy III, Faion Hicks, Jonathan Sutherland (Nate Beauchemin)
\nKJose Maltos Diaz
\nPJoseph Zema
\nLSLouis-Philippe Bourassa
\nRETDeVonte Dedmon<\/p>\n

Score Prediction<\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes 34 – Hamilton Tiger-Cats 23. The Als have hit at least 37 points in four of their last five games and Hamilton’s offense, ranked ninth in scoring at under 25 points a night, isn’t built to keep pace. Tre Ford will make it competitive for stretches, but Alexander’s turnover-free streak and this receiving corps carry Montreal to a comfortable cover.<\/p>\n

CFL Standings<\/a> | Full Schedule<\/a> | League Leaders<\/a><\/p>\n

Who takes this one? Drop your prediction in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Davis Alexander hasn’t thrown a pick all season, and a shorthanded Hamilton secondary walks into Molson Stadium as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-826000","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\/826000","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=826000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}