CFL 'Quick Kicks': Week 20

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week twenty of our weekly review of each CFL game week for the 2024 season. ‘Quick Kicks’ brings you week to week news of how the games went, scores, surprises, and a general feel of ‘what we learned’ from the games.

Let’s dive right in. The first game of the weekend saw the Hamilton Tiger-Cats welcome the Calgary Stampeders to Tim Hortons Field. Neither team had anything left to play for beyond pride and a potential place in next year’s squad. And it was Hamilton that found a little joy as they recorded an impressive 42-20 victory over the Stamps.

This marked the first time Bo Levi Mitchell has tasted victory over his former team, and he did it in fine style here going 24 of 37 for 450 yard, addings 5 touchdowns and 1 pick. That moved him to a league-leading 5026 yards passing and 31 touchdowns. He has by far the best passing numbers on the season, but the Ticats are 7-10 and out of the playoffs, so it will be interesting to see how the All-CFL voting goes here.

Mitchell had plenty of help in this one too, as Greg Bell had 15 carries for 139 yards, and Steven Dunbar Jr had 7 catches for 146 yards and 2 scores, whilst Tim White added 5 catches for 128 yards and a further two majors. In total Hamilton racked up 583 yards of net offence, and this one was out of reach by halftime when Hamilton walked in with a 30-9 lead.

Whilst Mitchell’s one interception led to a pick six, Hamilton had two interceptions of their own in the first half to set up good field position and increase the pressure on Calgary.

The stampeders have now fallen to 4-12-1, a far cry from being 4-4 after 8 weeks of the season. They now stand at 10-24-1 over the past two seasons. Quite the fall from a team that went to the playoffs 18 consecutive times, appeared in six Grey Cup games, winning three, between 2008-23. Meanwhile Hamilton fans will be rueing the team’s 2-9 start to the season as they have since gone 5-1 and looked like what would have been an in-form team heading into the playoffs.       

The second game of the weekend was in Toronto as the Toronto Argonauts hosted the Ottawa RedBlacks at BMO Field. On the line was the chance for homefield advantage in the upcoming East Semi-Final playoff game between these two teams. It was Toronto who booked a home playoff date thanks to holding off a furious fourth quarter comeback from Ottawa to register a 38-31 win.

Toronto dominated through three quarters on their way to building a 38-6 lead going into the final frame. Overall, this was reflected by the fact that the Argos had the ball for 37:24 of the game. Some solid performances were put in by the Double Blue attack too, led by Chad Kelly who went 21 of 26 for 331 yards and 3 touchdowns, as well as running in a score. Alongside that Ka’ Deem Carey had 55 yards on the ground and a score and rookie receiver Makai Polk led the way with 3 catches for 104 yards and a score.

The final quarter however belonged to Ottawa who racked up 25 unanswered points but were eventually beaten by the clock. Part of their success here came on special teams as they had back-to-back successful onside kicks. Meanwhile returning QB Dru Brown went 31 of 43 for 400 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 pick, and the also returning Justin Hardy had 7 catches for 102 yards and a score. Bralon Addison also hauled in 2 majors.

The main takeaways then were that the Argos, (now 10-7) would host a home playoff game for the fourth year in a row, just not in the East Final this time, and Ottawa, despite losing their fifth straight game to fall to 8-8-1 were getting some key pieces back into form. If that form carries over into the playoffs, then we may get a very interesting game between these two on November the 2nd.

The final game of the weekend was between the Montreal Alouettes and BC Lions, who hosted the matchup at BC Place. Led by a returning Vernon Adams Jr under Centre it was the Lions who picked up a convincing 27-3 win.

Adams Jr started the game like a man with something to prove after previously losing his starting spot to Nathan Rourke. He, and the Lions roared out of the gate as he threw a perfect 43-yard spiral to Justin McInnis on the opening play from scrimmage, setting the tone for a strong opening drive that ‘Big Play VA’ finished himself with a rushing touchdown.

Throughout the game BC racked up 526 yards of net offence, and Vernon Adams Jr was responsible for 424 total yards when combining passing and rushing. This was a man that looked like he was in the MOP form he showed early in the season. Whether that was more about VA having something to prove since injury and the return of Rourke or whether it is about Montreal having nothing to play for here remains to be seen.

That opening drive pretty much set the tone for the game as the Lions took a 17-0 lead into the break and were up 24-0 before the final quarter. A lot of the success ran through Adams Jr who finished 26 of 36 for 385 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 picks. As well as having 5 carries for 39 yards and a score.

McInnis and Keon Hatcher hauled in 15 receptions for 223 yards between them, but the touchdowns went to Stanley Berryhill III and Alexander Hollins.

This was the last game of the regular season for BC who finished 9-9 for the year and will now carry some momentum into the playoffs. Meanwhile the Als, (who dropped to 12-4-1), had everything tied up a while ago and replaced starting QB Cody Fajardo part way through the game. They will now have the difficult balancing act of having one game left, not wanting injuries, but also not wanting people to be off form as they will not play again after next week until the East Final on November the 9th.   

All that is left to decide now in the playoffs is if the Winnipeg Blue Bombers or Saskatchewan Roughriders will host a West Semi Final or get a bye and wait in the West Final. We will know the answer to that after next week and the final round of regular season games.

MOP's Of Week 20:

O – Bo Levi Mitchell, QB Hamilton Tiger-Cats: 24 of 37 for 450 yards 5 touchdowns and 1 interception.

D – Ben Hladik, LB, BC Lions: 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 1 tackle for a loss.

ST – Mark Liegghio, K, Hamilton Tiger-Cats: 3 for 3 on Field Goals. 3 extra points, – 12 points in total, 6 kickoffs for 382 yards at a 63.7-yard average.

Interdivisional Standings 2024 This Week: East Division 1 West Division 1

Interdivisional Standings 2024 season: East Division 22 West Division 14 Ties 2

Into the Grey Cup playoffs: East – Montreal Alouettes; will host East Division Final, Toronto Argonauts will host the Ottawa RedBlacks in the East Semi Final.

West – Winnipeg Blue Bombers, will host a home game, Saskatchewan Roughriders will host a home game, BC Lions.

Out of the playoffs: Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Elks, Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

CHRIS LAWTON

CFL ANALYST

Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK

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