3 strengths for each team in the 112th Grey Cup
With apologies to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who had an excellent 2025 season, I think we can agree that the 112th Grey Cup will host the two best teams in the CFL.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders finished with the league’s best record at 12-6, while the Montreal Alouettes went undefeated when Davis Alexander was behind centre.
Though both organizations can beat you in a variety of different ways, the winner of this game will most likely be the team that can tap into their biggest strengths to exploit and overwhelm.
Here are the three biggest advantages for each team that got them to the final Sunday of the season and will be pivotal to the result.
112th GREY CUP
» KPMG Playoff Probability: Who will win the 112th Grey Cup?
» Who has the edge in the 112th Grey Cup?
» 3 Reasons why Trevor Harris, Davis Alexander will lead team to victory
MONTREAL ALOUETTES
1. WIDE RECEIVER DIVERSITY
Don’t let the final regular season numbers fool you, the Alouettes have a dangerous passing attack due in large part to the variety of weapons. They come in all shapes and sizes: from Austin Mack at six-foot-one, 208 pounds, to Tyler Snead, who stands at five-foot-seven and 172 pounds.
What makes this group formidable is that you never know who the hero is going to be. In their Eastern Semi-Final win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, it was Tyson Philpot and Mack leading the way with 13 combined receptions for 233 yards and one touchdown.
Against Hamilton in the Eastern Final, it was Snead picking up the slack on a critical 28-yard touchdown on the Alouettes’ opening drive in the third quarter.
Then there is Charleston Rambo, who had a season-high in yardage against the Bombers, and a week later had the key reception setting up the game-winning field goal.
Over the course of the year, Snead led the team in receiving yards, Philpot led in touchdowns and exploded for the highest single-game total in terms of yardage among all CFL receivers, while Mack led the team in yards per reception. One final note, Philpot’s career day of 238 yards and two scores came against the Saskatchewan defence.
2. MONTREAL LINEBACKERS MANNING THE MIDDLE
In Darnell Sankey and Tyrice Beverette, Noel Thorpe trusts. In two playoff games, Sankey has 11 total tackles and a walk-off interception against Zach Collaros. Beverette is not far behind the pace with 10 tackles and one sack.
Sankey finished the year third in tackles with 103, and no active player has more than his four post-season interceptions. Beverette put together one of the most complete overall seasons among all CFL defenders, ranking third in interceptions, sixth in sacks and eighth in tackles. These two All-CFLers were crucial to a Montreal defence that held Hamilton to just 16 points, 11 fewer than their regular season average.
3. DAVIS ALEXANDER’S UNWAVERING CONFIDENCE
If you are a Hamilton fan, you naturally would use different adjectives than “confidence” to describe Alexander’s on-field demeanour. I totally get it.
I’m not sure you will find another player on the field at Princess Auto Stadium who will be riding as high as Montreal’s starting quarterback. Put aside his stellar record as a starter for a moment; he is coming off back-to-back playoff wins where he went up against future Hall of Famers in Collaros and Bo Levi Mitchell.
The big story this week will, of course, revolve around his lingering hamstring injury, but he still managed to force three missed tackles (hat tip to PFF) running the ball as he led all Alouettes with 64 yards on the ground. In the biggest moment of the Eastern Final, with several Tiger-Cats defensive linemen bearing down, Alexander had the confidence to deliver that second-and-10 pass over the middle to Rambo on the team’s game-winning drive.
SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS
1. A CALMING DEFENCE
There are so many numbers you can use to illustrate how elite the Roughriders’ defence is. Rather than point out the statistical folly of trying to run on this group, I’ll highlight two striking examples of how the 12 men on that side of the field allowed others to do their job.
It’s easy to forget what the Roughriders did offensively early on in the Western Final, as our last memory is that of a heroic touchdown drive and a Tommy Nield game-winning touchdown with seconds left. The start of this game was the exact opposite, as Trevor Harris and the Riders were forced to punt on their first six possessions. Saskatchewan was lucky to be trailing by just three at the break as their offence did no favours for the team’s other half. The work done by Jameer Thurman, Rolan Milligan Jr., and so many other defenders allowed Harris and company to find their rhythm in the second half.
The national conversation about Corey Mace’s decision to kick a short field goal with his team down 21-14 with three minutes left would be far different this week if not for the work of his defence that forced two punts and held Nathan Rourke, the game’s best rushing quarterback, short on second down.
2. THE WALL OF SASKATCHEWAN
The Roughriders sent three offensive linemen to the 2025 All-CFL team. Logan Ferland, Jacob Brammer, and, of course, Jermarcus Hardrick form the game’s best safety blanket. Who better to help deliver body blow after body blow with AJ Ouellette than the Roughriders’ offensive line?
The BC Lions led the league with 45 sacks in the regular season. The fact that Harris, not exactly a flash of lightning running with the ball, was not sacked once on his 38 drop backs last Saturday is even more impressive when you remember that the same Lions’ pass rush took down Vernon Adams Jr. four times one week earlier.
3. TREVOR HARRIS, THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF THE CFL
Saskatchewan’s quarterback has a reputation for playing it safe, electing for the shorter stuff. His league-leading 73.6 completion percentage would lead you down the path that Harris is more comfortable in the land of quick outs and screen passes. But that could not be farther from the truth.
No, he is not the mad bomber that Rourke is, but his 9.6 average yards per pass does rank third overall. Reviewing my year-long quarterback ratings notes, Harris was consistently attacking defences deep. Stealing from Marshall Ferguson, Harris also had the best completion percentage of passes that travelled 20 yards or more downfield. On the flip side, the Roughriders’ leader did not turn the ball over once against the Lions, nor did he force any passes into dangerous places.
In short, Harris is the best quarterback at balancing that fine line between challenging defences and knowing when to make the safe throw. All of those attributes were on full display on the team’s Western Final-winning touchdown drive.
