Manziel throws two TD passes but Als come up short

MONTREAL — Johnny Manziel finally got his first CFL touchdown, but the quarterback wants to start winning football games.

Manziel threw two touchdowns in a losing effort as the surging Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the Montreal Alouettes 3429 on Sunday afternoon.

“If we would have come out here and gotten a win, and there were zero touchdown passes on the board, I would be sitting here happier than I am right now,” said Manziel, who’s still looking for his first victory of the season. “But I got the monkey off my back.”

Manziel completed 9 of 16 passes for 138 yards. The former Heisman Trophy winner added 45 yards on the ground. He was sacked five times.

The Alouettes starting quarterback found the end zone for the first time this season on one of Montreal’s nicest plays of the year.

On a carefully executed trick play early in the second quarter, Manziel handed the ball off to running back William Stanback, who reversed it to receiver B.J. Cunningham with another handoff. Cunningham flicked the ball back to Manziel, who went deep for the 47-yard score to a wide-open Adarius Bowman. “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have 100 per cent faith in it because it didn’t really work in practice,” said Bowman. “But coach said it would and he said it was up this week. It was nice for the team to execute it and get it done.”

The touchdown put the Alouettes ahead 1413 in Manziel’s fourth CFL start.