REDBLACKS head to Percival Molson stadium for Sunday night meeting with Alouettes

The Ottawa REDBLACKS head to Montreal’s Percival Molson Stadium for their first road game of the 2026 season.

Ottawa is currently sitting at 0-2 but looking to get in the win column in this weekend’s rivalry clash. The REDBLACKS dropped a pair of contests to open the season, including a 29-21 loss on a rainy Saturday night against the Elks and a 44-24 loss to the Argos last weekend, which was closer than the scoreline would let on.

The REDBLACKS turned the page on the Dru Brown era this week, trading the quarterback back to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in exchange for a pair of draft picks. Brown had reportedly been unsettled since Coach Dinwiddie had named Jake Maier as his starting quarterback earlier in training camp. To fill out the quarterback room, the club signed veteran pivot McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who has plenty of familiarity with Dinwiddie’s system. The 37-year-old won’t be on the roster this week but is expected to join the club next week, leading into the fourth game of the season.

There are nine roster changes for the REDBLACKS heading into this game, and among them is the return of veteran defensive back Amari Henderson, who will make his season debut at the field halfback position.  Star receiver Geno Lewis will miss the game with a shoulder injury he suffered during last week’s contest. Ohio State product Binjimen Victor will take his starting spot at receiver.

Canadian offensive lineman Zach Pelehos will get the start at right tackle after seeing some time at the position during last week’s game. The club released incumbent Martez Ivey earlier this week, with Dinwiddie citing the club’s belief in Pelehos and both rookie American tackles Zach Barlev and Julian Pearl, who currently factor in as depth on the practice roster.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION

The Alouettes currently sit at 2-1 and are coming off a 32-29 overtime loss at the hands of the Edmonton Elks after a walk-off touchdown run from Cody Fajardo.

Canadian Tyson Philpot posted eight receptions for 120 yards, while running back Travis Theis provided a ground threat, tallying 19 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown. Defensive back Wesley Sutton got on the board with a sack and free safety Nate Beauchemin added the first interception of his career.

Philpot leads the way on the season for all receivers, totalling 389 yards, while his teammate Tyler Snead is right behind him with 305 yards. Davis Alexander is one of two starting quarterbacks who have yet to throw an interception on the season and ranks third in the league with 1,133 passing yards. That’ll make for an interesting matchup with a REDBLACKS defence that forced four interceptions in last week’s contest.

The Alouettes are getting a couple of big names back into the lineup ahead of tonight’s contest, including 2024 Most Outstanding Defensive Player finalist Tyrice Beverette and starting running back Stevie Scott III. The Al’s will be without lockdown corner Kabion Ento who misses the contest with a hamstring injury.

IN THEIR WORDS

“We’ve got to play better football. Offensively, we’re looking at shrinking (the playbook) and getting that identity. I talked to Will (Fields) and we’re going to shrink that a bit too. We’ve got to make sure we play fast, play the techniques we need, so you know we’re looking at doing some different things on offence and defence but obviously we need to go out and play better football.” Head Coach and General Manager Ryan Dinwiddie on the 0-2 start and what the club needs to do to get in the win column.

“Zach went in there last week, and I thought he played very well. We also like our youth on the practice roster right now, we feel like we have two good American tackles (Julian Pearl and Zach Barlev) on the practice roster. But Zach (Pelehos) never changed his approach when Ivey was playing. He came to work every day and handled things the right way and we’re going to give him a chance. The biggest thing with him is we need to make sure he stays healthy.” Head Coach and General Manager Ryan Dinwiddie on the moves at right tackle.

“Being better on first down and not being in so many second and longs is at the forefront for sure. There are a couple of bang-bang plays from last week that we’d like to have back but that’s every football game. We also need to be better situationally, third down, third and short, got-to-have-it situations. Those are kind of the things that stand out the most.” Quarterback Jake Maier on what the team needs to do better to get a win in Montreal.