CFL 'Quick Kicks' 2025: week 20

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week Twenty 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 Winnipeg Blue Bombers hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It was the home team that came away with the win 17-16 on a walk-off field goal.

It didn’t start all that well for the home team as they coughed up the ball on the opening kickoff return, got flagged for pass interference near the goal-line and saw Saskatchewan immediately plunge over on the quarterback sneak to take the lead. However, they struck straight back as Collaros hit Ontaria Willson with the deep touchdown shot to make it 7-7 in the opening frame.

The teams traded field goals after that to make it 10-10 after the first quarter. For the rest of the game, points would be much harder to come by.

With the score 13-11 to Saskatchewan in the third quarter it was Winnipeg’s turn to benefit from a turnover as a handoff was fumbled and they recovered it, but they were held to a field goal out of it.

In the final frame with the visitors up 16-14, Brett Lauther tried a field goal from midfield, but it drifted wide. Trey Vaval, who has made something of a habit of great missed field goal returns ran it back out to pretty much from where Lauther had attempted his kick from. A play we may see very little of when the new rules come. Which is a shame, because it is potentially one of the most exciting plays in the 3 down football game. Vaval is now up to 391 yards on missed field goal returns this year, bombing past the old franchise record of 277 set by Albert Johnson III in 2000.

Saskatchewan had their chances here, but Winnipeg managed to squeeze out the win and they have now taken the final playoff spot.

The Roughriders were resting some players here including starting QB Trevor Harris. Harris didn’t want to sit but his replacement Jake Maier finished the game 15 of 20 for 123 yards. After that Jack Coan came in and went 2 of 8 for 38 yards.

On the ground the Riders were held to 12 carries for 29 yards whilst for Winnipeg Brady Oliveira had 16 carries for 75 yards as the Blue Bombers had 28 carries for 107 yards overall.

You do sense given how close it ended up being that the Blue Bombers were relieved to walk away with the win against a team that was resting some starters. The result drops Saskatchewan to 12-5 and lifts Winnipeg to 9-8. The question will be for Winnipeg, if it was this close against a team resting players, can they step it up for the playoffs?

The second game of the weekend had the Edmonton Elks visiting the BC Lions at BC Place. The in- form Lions put together a 37-24 win for their fifth straight victory. It moves the Leos to 10-7 and drops Edmonton to 7-10. BC are in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, whilst the Elks are five seasons from their last playoff game and seven seasons away from a winning record. Although the way this season has panned out it may be giving their fan base the most cause for optimism in quite some time.  

Back to this game though. BC are really known for their high-octane offence but here that side of the ball made a steady start, and the Elks were 10-2 ahead before James Butler ran in a touchdown and 2 pointer near halftime to tie it up at 10-10 for the intermission. After the break however they got things moving and added 27 points to really pull away from Edmonton.

At this point I really think that the BC quarterback Nathan Rourke has a real inside track on winning the Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian awards. After finishing this game, he was 21 of 32 for 338 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception as well as having 3 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. His season stats now show 329 of 472 for 4,922 yards with 28 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Now, Bo Levi Mitchell has slightly more yards, more touchdowns and less interceptions but the difference is Mitchell has 21 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown whilst Rourke has 60 carries for 559 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Alongside Rourke James Butler had 15 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown whilst the league’s leading receiver by yardage Keon Hatcher had 5 catches for 97 yards and a touchdown.

For Edmonton Cody Fajardo finished 19 of 34 for 230 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. One of those picks went to Lions linebacker TJ Lee who had 6 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and an interception.

Edmonton have had their most success when they got Justin Rankin going in games recently, but the Lions D Line held him in check at 11 carries for 36 yards.

BC will be looking to guarantee a home playoff date with a win against Saskatchewan next week and it might be hard to bet against them given their current form and the fact the Riders are resting people.

The third game of the weekend was in Ottawa where the Ottawa RedBlacks were playing host to their East Division rivals the Montreal Alouettes. It was the Alouettes who notched their fifth straight win with a commanding 39-28 victory.

At this point I think I could have saved myself a lot of time this season if I had the following phrase copied ready to paste in on a weekly basis – ‘Stop me if you’ve heard this before RedBlacks fans but Ottawa found themselves down by double digits early in this one once again’. That has been a repeated pattern on the season, and whilst they manged the odd comeback, it is a major factor in why they now stand at a league worst 4-13 on the year.

As for Montreal, they live to fight another day when it comes to the East Final placings. If they win and Hamilton lose next week then Montreal will host the final and get a bye week. Montreal is set to play a Winnipeg team who are in, but don’t yet know if they will crossover so have things to play for. Hamilton, meanwhile, who can guarantee a home Eastern Final with a win in their next game hosts…Ottawa! I think we know what the likeliest scenarios are, but that’s why they play the games. You just never know what might happen.

As for this one? Davis Alexander extended his CFL record winning streak for a pivot at the start of their career to 11-0 and looked sharp going 21 of 31 for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns. His leading receivers were Tyler Snead with 7 catches for 114 yards and Austin Mack with 5 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. Stevie Scott III brought some balance with 13 carries for 63 yards and a score.

Alouettes fans will have been nervous when quarterback Davis Alexander was hit by Redblacks linebacker Davion Taylor early in the game, and when he was clutching his throwing arm, but he was able to play on. Should Hamilton beat Ottawa I am almost certain we won’t see Davis Alexander in the final game of the season. If the Redblacks find a way to win though, he will lead the way as Montreal try to exploit an advantage for the playoffs.

Darnell Sankey led the way with 10 tackles here whilst Najee Murray had 3 tackles, and 2 picks and Tyrice Beverette had 3 tackles and another interception.

Those three interceptions were off Tyrie Adams who would sit third on the depth chart usually but started here and went 27 of 44 for 286 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

This was the Alouettes’ 11th consecutive victory over the RedBlacks, and their 12th win in a row at TD Place. Meanwhile, a year after posting a franchise-best 7-1-1 record at TD Place, the 2025 Redblacks finished their home schedule by going 2-7 at home.

The Als are 10-7 and Head Coach Jason Maas has his 72nd career CFL win (19th all-time in the CFL) at 72-52-1. Meanwhile Ottawa Coach Bob Dyce is 21-44-1 as the Ottawa coach and 24-50-1 all time.

The Final game of the weekend was in Alberta as the Calgary Stampeders played host to the Toronto Argonauts. They were not the friendliest of hosts however as they beat down the Argos 44-13. This drops Toronto to 5-13 on the season and ends their 2025 campaign to the probable relief of their fans. Meanwhile Calgary moves to 10-7 and are just waiting to see where they slot in for the West Division playoffs.

This one was one-sided from the get-go. Maybe Calgary was taking inspiration from Shania Twain who rode mascot horse Quick 6 in the pre-game warmups and wanted to impress people much. If so, they achieved their goal and fast. Especially as they turned in a pick-six within the first two minutes and dominated from there on in.

Calgary had leads of 14-6 after the opening quarter and 28-7 at the half, only to follow that up with the opening score of the third quarter. In fact, they were up 44-7 before the Argos scored a consolation touchdown to see out their season.

Among the standouts for Calgary was QB Vernon Adams Jr who had 12 completions on 14 attempts for 213 yards and 3 touchdowns as well as 1 carry for 16 yards. He was ably assisted by Jalen Philpot who had 6 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown. While Dedrick Mills extended his lead atop the leading rushers with 14 carries for 115 yards and a touchdown (while adding 2 catches for 62 yards).

If Argos fans are looking for a silver lining to a season that was a terrible defence of their Grey Cup win from last year (or the solace of having gone 37-17 over the past three years and won two Grey Cups before this season), then it comes in the form of kicker Lirim Hajrullahu who hit 57 of 63 field goals on the season and his 56th field goal of the season set a new single-season franchise record. Hajrullahu also recorded 12 field goal from 50+ yards which is a league record.

Playoff Scenarios:

In the East: Hamilton win = Hamilton hosting the East Final and Montreal hosting an East Semi-Final. A Hamilton loss combined with a Montreal win = Montreal hosting the East Final and Hamilton hosting the East Semi-Final.

In the West: Saskatchewan will host the West Division Final.

Calgary and Winnipeg win and B.C. loses = Calgary hosts Winnipeg in the West Semi Final and BC crosses over to the East Semi-Final.

Calgary wins and both Winnipeg and BC lose = Calgary hosts B.C. in the West Semi-Final, and Winnipeg crosses over to the East Semi-Final.

B.C. wins = BC hosts Calgary in the West Semi Final and Winnipeg crosses over to the East Semi-Final.

Got that? Great. Let’s see how it all plays out on the field!

Looking ahead: Week 21 starts with the Ticats facing the RedBlacks for the final time this season in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time. The best game for UK fans to watch timewise though will be the Blue Bombers hosting the Alouettes. That will be played at 8PM on Saturday UK time. That said all the games are available for 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.

MOP's of Week 20:

O – Nathan Rourke QB, BC Lions: 21 of 32 for 338 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. 3 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown.

D – Najee Murray LB, Montreal Alouettes: 3 tackles, 2 interceptions.

ST – Trey Vaval KR/DB, Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 1 special teams tackle, 6 punt returns for 103 yards, 2 kickoff returns for 48 yards, 1 missed field goal returned 62 yards.

Interdivisional Standings 2025 This Week: East Division 0 West Division 2

Interdivisional Standings 2025 season: East Division 13 West Division 23

Playoff Scenarios:

West Final: Saskatchewan Roughriders v ????

In: Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes, BC Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers & Calgary Stampeders

Out: Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa RedBlacks, & Edmonton Elks.

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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