CFL 'Quick KIcks' 2025: Week 17

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week seventeen of our weekly review of each week of the 2025 CFL 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 Montreal Alouettes hosting the Calgary Stampeders. It was the home team that won out by a decent margin 38-20. The Als are a different team with Davis Alexander under centre and he returned this week to push his record as a starter to 9-0. A new CFL record number of wins to start a career for a QB. If he could have stayed healthy for more of the season who knows what Montreal’s record could have been. As it is this moves them to 8-7 and solidifies their claim on second place and a playoff spot in the East Division. Conversely, Calgary falls back to 8-6 and are looking over their shoulder at the teams coming up on the rails in the West.

The game started with a rouge to Montreal and that very CFL score of 1-0. The rouge came on the returner stepping out of the end zone and immediately made you think of the changes to the traditional rules that are coming to the 3 down league.

Montreal were 4-0 ahead before Calgary took the lead as Vernon Adams Jr found Jalen Philpot for the first major of the game. Montreal answered in spectacular fashion as Alexander found Charleston Rambo for a 42-yard touchdown bomb. He would hit Cole Spieker for a 46-yard gain on a screen play on the next drive too before Shea Patterson ran in a score.

Although Calgary mustered another touchdown before halftime Montreal went into the intermission ahead 18-14 and would never trail again.

Alexander finished the game 26 of 36 for 350 yards and a touchdown, whilst backup QB Shea Patterson ran in three touchdowns. That was augmented by Tyler Snead who had 8 catches for 115-yards and defensively Tyrice Beverette who was all over the place recording 9 tackles a sack and an interception.

For Calgary Vernon Adams Jr went 19 of 29 for 238 yards with 1 touchdown and the pick by Beverette. He also had 3 carries for 37 yards and a brilliant scrambling touchdown. Derick Mills finished with 10 carries for 81 yards and cracked 1,000 yards on the season.

This win means Montreal are now 5-0-1 in the past six meetings between these two teams, whilst it also saw Als Head Coach Jason Maas record his 70th win in the CFL.

The second game of the weekend had the BC Lions face the Toronto Argonauts at home in Vancouver. It was the Leos who sent their fans home happy with a third straight win, this one by a 27-22 margin over the Double Blue.

Last time the two teams met Toronto put up 52 points, but BC were much better defensively this time around. They had the Argos hitting only field goals until they finally got a touchdown with 5:50 to play. It was the D that wrapped things up too as the game was wrapped up by a strip sack.

Nathan Rourke, who has had things to say about the coming rule changes, finished the game 16 of 24 for 235 yards with 1 touchdown and three interceptions. He also had 9 carries for 31 yards and 2 scores on the ground. Rourke now has over 4,000 yards on the season making him the first Canadian quarterback to achieve this feat. He also has broken 10,000 career yards passing (10,054) meaning he has surpassed Gerry Dattilio for the second-highest career total by a Canadian. Dattilio’s total was 9,952. Hall of Famer Russ Jackson stands at the top some way away with 24,593 career passing yards.

James Butler returned to the lineup and had 7 carries for 72 yards and 1 catch for 6 yards in the game. The rushing total tipped him over 1,000 yards for the season marking his second 1,000-yard season in the CFL and second with the Lions.

Defensively for the Leos Mathieu Betts had 3 sacks and Josh Woods had 8 tackles and a fumble recovery.

For Toronto the returning Nick Arbuckle finished the game 28 of 38 for 281 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He is returning from a calf injury and did look to be struggling to find his rhythm at times. Although they stopped ‘Touchdown Jake’ Herslow from finding the end zone here he continued his fine recent form with 10 catches for 104 yards.

Lirim Hajrullahu kept the Argos in the game by going 5 for 5 on field goals (including a 50 yarder).

The win moves BC to 8-7 and they now have a winning record for the first time since week one of the 2025 CFL season. They are rounding into form at a good time to make a playoff run and by winning here whilst dropping the Argos to 5-10 they have massively increased the chances of a West Division team crossing over and taking the third playoff spot in the East. The Argos loss also meant that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had tied up a playoff spot before they even played this weekend.

The third game of the weekend was in Manitoba where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers welcomed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. This was the most lopsided game of the week as the home team dominated from start to finish and walked away with a crushing 40-3 win. Whilst Hamilton might have wanted to celebrate clinching a playoff spot thanks to BC’s earlier win things could not have started worse for them or better for Winnipeg as Trey Vaval took the opening kickoff back 98 yards to open the scoring. That really set the tone for the whole game.

A seven play 97-yard drive from Winnipeg added to the lead as the returning Zach Collaros hit Dillon Mitchell from 44 yards out for the score. Hamilton had to be a little shell shocked by the fast start and never really got back into it after that.

Collaros who finished the game 20 of 25 for 367 yards and a touchdown was a perfect 8 for 8 for 130 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter before throwing his first incompletion in the second period and leaving Winnipeg to settle for a field goal. Marc Liegghio got the Ticats on the board with a 55-yard field goal to pull them to 16-3 down but that was as close as the tabbies would ever get in this one.

Brady Oliveira brought balance to the Blue Bomber offence with 15 carries for 98 yards and 4 catches for 53 yards. Meanwhile Chris Streveler appeared to relish a return to the running quarterback role behind Collaros and had 7 carries for 26 yards and 3 touchdowns. Nic Demski led the Winnipeg receivers with 7 catches for 114 yards.

It wasn’t Hamilton’s day, and they will want to chalk this one up to experience and look forward to meeting their rivals the Argos next week with a chance to solidify their East Division lead and officially knock the boatmen out of the playoffs.

Bo Levi Mitchell finished this one 21 of 32 for 212 yards and stepped aside for Taylor Powell to finish it out 5 of 6 for 42 yards. Greg Bell had 11 carries for 88 yards and Kiondre Smith had 6 catches for 65 yards. I doubt many Ticats fans or players will want to remember much from this one however.

The win moved Winnipeg to 8-7, meaning Calgary, Winnipeg and BC are now all sat on 8 wins and every game is crucial for where they will end up in the playoffs from here on in. Hamilton falls to 9-6 and will have a nervous eye on Montreal who are now only a game behind them.

The final game of the weekend was in Edmonton as the Saskatchewan Roughriders travelled to face the Edmonton Elks. This was a fun back-and-forth game for the neutral to watch in the final period as Edmonton held on to take a 27-25 victory.

A major aspect of the win for Edmonton here was how good their D was early on. They held an 11-0 lead on the cusp of halftime before Brett Lauther hit on a field goal to give the Roughriders their first points of the game. In that first half they had picked off Trevor Harris twice and held the Saskatchewan offence pretty much in check.

Brett Lauther has been a concern for Riders fans all season long and he was 2 of 4 on kicks here in a game they lost by 2 points. Sure, they were from over 50 yards, but hitting on one of them would have made all the difference. The kicking game really does matter.

What had started as a defensive contest through three quarters with teams putting up 20 point combined exploded in the final period as both teams added two touchdowns and a field goal in the final 15 minutes of game time.

The Roughriders first real signs of life had come in the third quarter with an 11-play, 108-yard drive that culminated in a five-yard TD run by A.J. Ouellette. I mention this specifically because this drive was tied for fifth longest in franchise history and is the sort of thing you won’t see under the coming rules with a 100-yard-long field.  

Edmonton extended their lead to 27-19 with just 48 seconds left in the game but Saskatchewan responded with seven plays for 81 yards (the last 3 minutes in CFL games are built for comebacks and excitement under current rules) and back-to-back completions from Harris to KeeSean Johnson covering 61 yards put the ball on the one-yard line. Short yardage specialist Tommy Stevens ploughed that in for the score, but Edmonton covered the 2-point try well and took the win instead of heading into overtime.

For Edmonton Cody Fajardo finished 18 of 23 for 305 yards, whilst Justin Rankin had 14 carries for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns. Kordell Jackson and Brock Morgensen had 15 tackles between them.

For Saskatchewan Trevor Harris finished 33 of 46 for 351 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions and AJ Ouellette had 19 carries for 115 yards (taking him over 1,000 on the season), and a score. KeeSean Johnson had 8 catches for 119 yards and broke 1,000 yards receiving on the year.

The result drops Saskatchewan to 10-4, but they still have a 4-point lead in the West, whilst Edmonton who are now 6-9 are still last in the West and will feel like they need to win out to have a shot at a playoff spot.  

Looking ahead: Week 18 starts with the RedBlacks hosting the Roughriders in the early hours of Saturday morning. The best game for UK based fans to watch timewise though will be the Hamilton Tiger-Cats visit to face the Toronto Argonauts at 8:00PM UK time on Saturday. That said, all the games are available free on CFL+. The league’s free streaming service is a terrific way to check out some CFL action and see what you think of it. They are also available to catch up the next morning so there is every chance to see some three-down action.

Week 17 MOP's

O – Zach Collaros QB, Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 20 of 25 for 367 yards and 1 touchdown.  

D – Brock Morgensen LB, Edmonton Elks: 7 tackles, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble.

ST – Lirim Hajrullahu K, Toronto Argonauts: 5 for 5 on field goals, 6 for 6 on all kicks. 2 kickoffs for 124 yards.

Interdivisional Standings 2025 This Week: East Division 1 West Division 2

Interdivisional Standings 2025 season: East Division 13 West Division 20

Playoff Scenarios:

In: Saskatchewan Roughriders. 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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