Tyrell Sutton had it down to the day.

“This has been a somber locker room for 323 days,” he said, while the Montreal Alouettes celebrated the end of their 13-game losing streak all around him.

On Saturday night in Regina, Day 324 was anything but somber. With players cheering, phones throughout the room serving as boomboxes and impromptu group photos breaking out, the Alouettes looked like they’d just won the Grey Cup.

The fireworks going off around you on Sunday night should serve as an adequate reminder that we’ve just concluded Week 3 of the season.

Sutton and his teammates know that, but they needed to cut loose. They tried to tune out the criticism that had mounted over them over the last 13 games, but they’re human. Dark glasses, soundproof headphones and scaled back social media habits can only drown out so much.

“That’s the nature of the beast when you play pro football,” said Als receiver Chris Williams.

“There’s always going to be doubters that say good or bad things about you. You have to be able to take it with a grain of salt and continue to do your job.”

No doubt about it, Williams did his job. His 130-yard, one touchdown performance was his best since Oct. 10, 2016. Much of his productivity came at the expense of Riders cornerback/receiver Duron Carter, which had Riders fans begging coach Chris Jones to put his star player back on offence.

“On the touchdown I think he got caught peeking inside a bit,” Williams said. “Once you lose a step versus me, it’s tough.”

The Als’ 23-17 win was tough from a lot of aspects. Drew Willy (8-15 passing, 157 yards) left the game in the third quarter with a neck/shoulder issue. Jeff Mathews (8-12, 98 yards) came in in relief and wasn’t able to take what was already on the canvas and turn it into a masterpiece. The Riders’ quarterbacks didn’t offer much more. Brandon Bridge struggled in his first start replacing a six-gamed Zach Collaros and threw two interceptions in the first half. He was benched for the second half, but backup David Watford wasn’t able to do much more, throwing a pair of interceptions and sending what looked like a surefire touchdown off of the upright before Caleb Holley could pull it in.

“This was an ugly game,” Sutton said. “Penalties across the board from both teams (14 for 139 for Montreal to Saskatchewan’s 12 for 120). I’m pretty sure had they won they would have said the same thing. But we got the victory, (we) build on it. Let’s go back home and get another one.”

For the first time in almost a full calendar year, though, the Alouettes were able to enjoy being in the moment. There’s a reason that we (many of us, at least) wear shorts on a double-digit degree day in February. The Als looked like that on Saturday, overjoyed to emerge from a long and painful stretch. Once they’d survived the Riders’ final-second attempt that saw multiple laterals get them to the Montreal 42-yard line, they could finally exhale.

“You think three minutes is long. Those last two seconds were long,” Sutton said. “I’m glad our special teams did a great job of getting them down. It was a very hold-your-breath moment and so I’m glad they got them down. Boris (Bede) made that big tackle at the end.”

“These are the type of wins,” Williams said, “teams that are struggling to get wins, these gritty type of wins can change seasons around. They can change morale, change all of that. We’re happy to be on the plus-side.”

The Als return to Montreal a more confident group and will host Ottawa on Friday.