The Montreal Alouettes finished with the top record in the Canadian Football League this season and two of their players are taking home some major hardware ahead of this weekend’s Eastern Final.
Quarterback Davis Alexander has won the George Reed Most Outstanding Player award while his top target, wide receiver Tyson Philpot, was named Most Outstanding Canadian on Thursday.
The Als were a CFL-best 14-4 and will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saturday with a spot in the 113th Grey Cup on the line.
Alexander threw for 5,257 yards and 35 touchdowns compared to four interceptions in just his second year as Montreal’s starting pivot. He is the second Alouette ever to pass for at least 5,000 yards in a season, joining the legendary Anthony Calvillo. He also completed 72.1 per cent of his pass attempts this season.
He is the seventh Als player to capture the league’s highest single-season individual honour and is the team’s first MOP winner since Calvillo in 2009.
Philpot finished second to Alexander in MOP voting and was the runaway winner for the league’s top Canadian, beating out other finalists Nathan Rourke of the BC Lions and Brady Oliveira of the Blue Bombers. A native of Delta, B.C., Philpot set new Canadian single-season marks in receiving yards (1,809) and receptions (124). He also had 13 touchdowns and recorded seven games with 100 or more receiving yards. He is Montreal’s sixth MOC winner and first since Henoc Muamba in 2019.
Voting for the award was conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada.
Alexander and Philpot led an Alouettes offence this season that finished a close second with 624 total points – eight shy of the league-leading Calgary Stampeders – and also averaged nearly 35 points per game.
They have been off since the final week of the season, playing their last game on Oct. 23. Winnipeg heads into the Eastern Final as the crossover team after a thrilling last-minute comeback victory over the Toronto Argonauts Saturday at BMO Field.