CALGARY — Davis Alexander has a word for the defence waiting for him on Sunday.
An anaconda.
"Top to bottom, secondary, linebackers, defensive line, there's not a weakness on that defence," Alexander said at Wednesday's availability at McMahon Stadium. "It's kind of like an anaconda. You start to pressure down, pressure down, and end up breaking them."
Alexander named the pressure points himself — Malik Carney off the edge, Tyrell Ford in a secondary that took the ball away all season — and then went back to work. Because on the other side of the ball, Montreal's standard is the thing Edmonton spent the morning admiring.
At the head coaches' conference, Mark Kilam called what Montreal has built the thing everyone league-wide is "trying to aspire to." Alexander was asked about it hours later.
"That's a really nice thing for him to say," Alexander said. "We talk about standards all the time. We talk about the Als way standards, specifically. I imagine he's probably telling the honest truth out of his heart, and it means a lot. But it doesn't mean anything until Sunday."
The favourites' tag got the same treatment. Montreal has been favoured in every game this season but one, Alexander noted, and the oddsmakers "don't decide who wins the game. We do, come Sunday. It's 0-0 when the game starts on Sunday."
If Montreal's standard has a face this week, it might be the centre who was never supposed to hold the job. Justin Lawrence was hurt in the first quarter of the season opener in Hamilton, and Cyrille Hogan-Saindon stepped in.
"He didn't flinch," Alexander said. "He's led this team. I think he could easily have been up for lineman of the year for us. That's how much of an impact he's had. It was Jay-Law's spot, and Cyrille just filled in. I love the dude. What makes him special is he's a little bit nasty. He talks his game, he buries people, he doesn't care."
Alexander laughed when he was told in the same scrum that Hogan-Saindon went four years in college without dressing for a game before his career even started. He said he hadn't known.
His linemates knew the rest of the story. Left guard Pier-Olivier Lestage, speaking in French, said there was no drop-off when Hogan-Saindon took over — no difference between him and Lawrence — and that the quietest man on the line has simply had a great year.
Hogan-Saindon kept his own answer short: against this defence, Montreal's line has to be physical up front, the communication has to be right, and all five men have to be on the same page.
The line he anchors allowed a league-low 19 sacks this season. Lestage called that "a beautiful compliment" that means the group does things the right way — and then gave it the same expiry date Alexander gave the standard. A great season, he said, means nothing if they don't win on Sunday.
Lestage has a personal reason to want this one played, not just won. His name is on the Grey Cup from Montreal's 2023 title, but he was not dressed for that final. It feels like being a little less of a champion, he said, when you didn't play the game. Sunday, in Calgary, he gets to earn it on the field.
Jason Maas, who called Edmonton's defining trait "toughness — physical and mental toughness" at the morning conference, has been here before: a third Grey Cup in four years for his group. Alexander, making the first Grey Cup start of his career, described the room's temperature as something simpler than nerves.
"Comfortable," Alexander said. "We know the task at hand. We're here. We're ready for this opportunity. And we're ready to take advantage of it."
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