CFL 'Quick Kicks' 2025: Week 7

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week seven 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. Following three teams being on a bye last week we are back to the usual four game slate to look back on this time around.

Let’s dive right in. The first game of the weekend saw the Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Alouettes battle it out at Percival Molson Stadium in Montreal. There are plenty of adages around the game of football, and one of them is it’s not how you start but how you finish that counts. Well that certainly proved to be the case here as the Als won 26-25 by outscoring the Boatmen 12 to nothing in the fourth quarter.

That said, we should mention someone’s start – and that is Davis Alexander’s career start. He has tied the CFL record and become only the second quarterback to win eight consecutive games to start their career (the other being Danny McManus who won six games starting for Winnipeg between 1992-3 and his first 2 games leading BC in 1993). If it is all about how you finish and not just how you start then Alexander can take inspiration from McManus who finished up in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

It was all very CFL in the second quarter as the score went from 3-3 to 4-4 thanks to back-to-back rouges. Toronto converted that into a 18-7 halftime lead and at one point were up 25-7-part way through the third quarter all thanks to three consecutive touchdown drives. It all fell apart in the final stanza as two turnovers were used to good effect. The last being an interception of Nick Arbuckle as the Argos were driving to try and hit a go-ahead score.

For Toronto Nick Arbuckle finished 28 of 40 for 242 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception whilst for Montreal Alexander notched his 8th straight win as a starter by going 26 of 39 for 303 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Cole Spieker reeled in eight of those passes for 129 yards and a major score.

This win gives the Als the series tie breaker over Toronto and means they have won their in-season series for the first time since 2019. Montreal move to 4-2 and the Argos drop to 1-5. This is Toronto’s worst start to a season since 2019 when they started 0-6 and finished 4-14.

The second game of the weekend had the Calgary Stampeders in Winnipeg to take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Something had to give here as Calgary were undefeated on the road and Winnipeg undefeated at home heading into the game. It was Calgary, who right now are looking a class apart, that maintained their winning road record by defeating the Blue Bombers 41-20  in this one.

Winnipeg had started out this season 3-0 but, in back-to-back games for the home team the Stampeders have made that feel like a distant memory with 37-16 and 41-20 wins. These are the heaviest back-to-back defeats Blue Bombers fans have endured since the 2014 season. As the boos rained down near the end in front of a sold-out crowd it did feel a little like ‘what have you done for me lately’ from the Bombers fans. After all, Winnipeg is on a 62-24 run over the last five seasons that has delivered 5 straight West Division titles and 2 Grey Cup wins. As for the Stamps, they sandwiched the wins over Winnipeg around a 24-10 takedown of Saskatchewan and are looking pretty good for their 5-1 start to the season.  

Zach Collaros had been 8 of 11 for 151 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 picks when he was knocked out of the game. The Winnipeg QB hit the turf following a clean hit and left after banging his head on the ground with ‘an upper body injury’. The two-time league MOP has led a renaissance in Winnipeg but Blue Bombers fans and fans around the league always take a sharp intake of breath when he has a head injury as history of concussion is one of the reasons he was moved on from Saskatchewan before landing in Manitoba.

Collaros was replaced by Chris Streveler, who is not the same level of passing QB and he finished 16 of 25 for 136 yards with 1 major and 2 picks. However, none of that should take away from the Stampeders performance. Their D has looked strong this season and 4 interceptions here backed that up. In amongst that was Damon Webb returning a pick-six from Streveler. Marking the second time in as many games has run back a touchdown against Winnipeg.

One bright spot for the men in blue and gold was Nic Demski who had 7 catches for 146 yards and a score.

For Calgary, Vernon Adams Jr finished 16 of 24 for 267 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Early on here he looked amazing as his first eight completed passes all went for over 10 yards, with 37-yard touchdown to Damien Alford mixed in for good measure.

Which brings me to this. One standout for the Stamps so far this year has been how right they got their first pick in this year’s CFL Draft. In five career games Damien Alford has over 300 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns. Here ‘moose’ had 2 receptions for 72 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Dedrick Mills and Ludovick Choquette combined for 20 carries for 129 yards on the ground to give the Stampeders a balanced attack too.  

For all the things that had gone on in this one it was only 17-13 to Calgary at the half but they took more control as the game wore on. It was 24-13 heading into the fourth and did not let up as they took it out to 41-13 before Winnipeg responded with a consolation score with 48 seconds on the clock.

For those that love their special teams and are in the kickers matter camp, (like me), Sergio Castillo wet 2 for 2 on field goal attempts including one that went from 58 yards out which is the longest successful kick so far this season.

The third game of the weekend was between the BC Lions and their guests the Saskatchewan Roughriders. This one was being marketed by the Lions as their third annual ‘watermelon smash’ game. The game is preceded by watermelon eating contests, and of course the smashing of watermelons. Given that watermelon helmets are associated with Rider fans this is a fun way to promote this annual contest. Prior to this too it has worked out well for the home team who had won the first two watermelon smash themed games 19-9 in the first one and 35-20 last year. This year however it was the visitors who were celebrating thanks to a 33-27 victory.

Trevor Harris led from the front going 23 of 30 for 395 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. That over 76% completion rate means that Harris has set a new CFL record for most consecutive games (nine) with a completion percentage of at least 70. The previous best was eight shared by Harris himself and Dane Evans.

Last week the Stampeders held AJ Ouellette pretty much out of the game. Here he had 15 carries for 72 yards. That included a 16-yard run early that meant play action worked well for Saskatchewan and that led to Harris hitting Dohnte Meyers with a 50-yard touchdown bomb for the first score. A fumble on the kickoff return meant Saskatchewan got out to a 10-0 lead early and could build from there.

Harris hit Meyers for another touchdown (a 30-yarder) in the third quarter. Meyers ended the game with 7 catches for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sandwiched in between was a 7 yarder to Ouellette. Last week BC dominated time of possession against Edmonton thanks to strong running. This week they were held to 43 yards on the ground and the Roughriders had the ball for 35:46 of game time. Not to mention they did not punt until the fourth quarter.

One sour note for the Roughriders was an ugly looking injury to running back Ka’Deem Carey. He was hit following a five-yard run late in the third quarter. The tv view was that his leg got badly twisted. They never re-showed it from that angle, so it was probably bad.

The score probably flattered the Lions in all honesty. Especially as they scored their last touchdown and 2-point conversion, with very little time left on the clock. Speaking of looking flattering, Nathan Rourke’s stat line was 27 of 41 for 337 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 pick. Two of those touchdowns came late on and he was very lucky that at least two of his passes weren’t intercepted as his ball placement wasn’t always the best here.

One Lion who could celebrate was Micah Awe as recorded seven tackles here, taking his career mark over 500 (505).

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The final game of the weekend was in Ottawa where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats took on the Ottawa RedBlacks in the return game of their home-and-home series. It was the Ticats who triumphed here running out 30-15 winners.

Given that future Hall of Fame QB Bo Levi Mitchell was coming to town with Kenny ‘the King’ Lawer putting in a receiving masterclass so far this season, it was not great news for the RedBlacks to be going into this game without both of their starting cornerbacks. The effects of that could be felt early in the contest as Mitchell connected on a 41-yard touchdown to Lawler in the opening quarter. That connection meant Micthell has now placed 10th on the CFL all-time passing yardage list. In total, Mitchell has appeared in 195 CFL games, completing 3,139 passes on 4,831 attempts for 40,835 yards, 238 touchdowns, and 119 interceptions. The two-time league MOP has a chance to also pass Doug Flutie (41,355) and Matt Dunigan (43,857) on the all-time list before the end of the season.

During the contest the RedBlacks lost starting QB Dru Brown after a hard hit and had backup Dustin Crum the rest of the way. Ottawa also saw receiver Justin Hardy throw a pass – all three men were picked off by the Ticats D, two of those interceptions falling to LB Destin Talbert.

Mitchell finished the game 21 of 33 for 327 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Mitchell led the league in passing yardage last year and is currently leading that area this year too. Johnny Augustine gave Hamilton some balance with 18 carries for 85 yards and Tim White snagged 8 catches for 89 yards.

Marc Liegghio went 3 for 3 on field goals for Hamilton, taking his tally to 30 consecutive times he has hit the 3-point conversions – and extending his franchise record. On the other side, whilst there weren’t many positives for Ottawa, British born kicker Lewis Ward was 5 for 5 on is field goal attempts including from 45 yards out. In fact, early on it was Lewis keeping the RedBlacks close before Hamilton pulled away.

After this Hamilton move to 4-2 atop the East, whilst Ottawa drop to 1-6, 0-3 at home and 0-4 in the division. After starting 7-2-1 last year they have gone 2-12 since. Head Coach Bob Dyce is 15-31-1 overall (take out that 7-2-1 run and it’s 8-29-1). I always believe coaches should be given time but a lot of Ottawa fans must be thinking the sample size with Dyce is large enough to suggest he isn’t the answer. They head into a bye week now so it will be interesting to see what they do.

Week 8 starts out with Montreal in Calgary for Thursday night football (early Friday morning here in the UK). All four games will be in the early hours UK time. That said, all the games are available free on CFL+. The league’s free streaming service is a great 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 7:

O – Dohnte Meyers WR, Saskatchewan Roughriders: 7 catches for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns.

D – Damon Webb DB, Calgary Stampeders: 1 tackle, 1 knockdown, 1 interception returned for a touchdown.

ST – Lewis Ward K, Ottawa RedBlacks: 5 for 5 on field goal attempts, 1 kickoff covering 59 yards.

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

Interdivisional Standings 2025 season: East Division 2 West Division 7

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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