CFL 'Quick Kicks' 2026: Week 2

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week two of our weekly review of each week of the 2026 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 Hamilton Tiger-Cats visiting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. For the fourth game in a row since the seasons started it was the visiting team that came away with the win. This time 37-27 to Hamilton.

How big of a win was this for the Ticats? Well, they now sit at 1-1 and have avoided starting the regular season off 0-2 for the sixth straight year. It’s also a good sign for their road form, (last year they were 6-3 away from home their best look since 2019), especially as this was their first win in Winnipeg in six attempts.

In their season opener, Hamilton had found their ground attack quite limited. Which made them a little one-dimensional.  On Thursday night in Winnipeg however, the ground game came to life early. Larry Rountree III carried the ball four times for 27 yards on the opening drive to set the tone.

Two veteran QBs were slugging out in this one too as Bo Levi Mitchell and Zach Collaros, were matching each other with great throws, but Collaros was the only one to turn the ball over despite putting up impressive aerial numbers.

One key to beating Winnipeg is to disrupt their running game. The Ticats certainly did that here. Although lead back Brady Oliveira had 6 catches for 51 yards in this one, he was held to 32 yards on the ground on 8 carries. Whilst Collaros was making up for that through the air, that isn’t really the Blue Bombers natural game plan.

Mitchell hit Keric Wheatfall for a deep pass to set up the first touchdown pass to Kiondre Smith. There was some sense of inevitability here with Wheatfall being a former Blue Bomber. Like when you watch the footy here and a player seemingly inevitably scores against his old team, Wheatfall would snag a touchdown too later in the game.

Hamilton certainly surprised the crowd, (a 15th straight home sellout), on a wet evening in Winnipeg by building a 24-10 halftime lead with another great catch by Wheatfall in the open field and another Mitchell to Smith touchdown doing most of the damage. That went to 31-13 early in the fourth quarter and backup QB Jake Dolegala had his second close range touchdown run of the season. Winnipeg would pull two further touchdowns out in the fourth, but Hamilton did enough to hang on for the win.

For the Ticats, Bo Levi Mitchell went 19 of 24 for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns. Larry Rountree III had 23 carries for 124 yards, Keric Wheatfall had 3 receptions for 102 yards and Kiondre Smith made 5 grabs 92 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, the linebackers Braxton Hill and Ryan Baker had 15 tackles between them.

For Winnipeg, Zach Collaros finished 28 of 35 for 421 yards with 2 majors and 1 pick. Tommy Nield had 7 catches for a career-high 111 yards whilst Ontaria Wilson and Nic Demski provided 166 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns between them. Defensively, DT Evan Holm and LB Tony Jones had 15 tackles and sack in total.

The second game of the weekend had the Montreal Alouettes hosting the Toronto Argonauts who were making their 2026 season debut. It was also the first game for the Argos new Head Coach Mike Miller. For the first time this season it was the home team that took the win with the Als walking away victorious thanks to a 37-30 win.

One of the main talking points to come out of the game was a sideline bust up between new HC Miller and his QB, the controversial Chad Kelly. Whilst the organisation has played that down as part a parcel of the emotions of the game, this is not a good look. Especially for Chad Kelly, who having missed the entire 2025 season due to injury should be looking to repair his image following his previous suspension. However, Kelly, who has had a list of issues as a pro but always found a job may not see it that way sadly.

With this win Davis Alexander extended his CFL record number of wins to start a career in the regular season to 13. Alexander himself says the streak is broken with having lost in the Grey Cup but I am not sure either the CFL or Als marketing departments are about to agree with him. Meanwhile, Tyson Philpot delivered another impressive performance, finishing with 193 yards on nine catches. His connection with Alexander has been impressive early in the season. Especially on deep passing plays. Exemplified well by the Als opening score as Alexander hit on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Philpot.

If you have ever read these columns before you will know that I am always banging the drum for the importance of special teams to the overall game and results. That certainly applied here as late in the fourth quarter, the Argonauts were trailing by one and forced to punt. That punt was blocked by Micah Awe, and the ball rolled into the end zone where it was recovered, massively increasing the chances of a win for the Alouettes.

That moment had put the Als up 30-23. They doubled down on the win moments later as Alexander hit Philpot on a crossing route, and the receiver raced 56 yards for his second touchdown of the night, stretching the Alouettes’ lead to 37-23. Toronto did score a consolation touchdown late on, but it was too little too late at that point. Having led 20-17 after three they would certainly have liked some of the late game plays back.

For Montreal, Alexander finished 30 of 42 for 441 yards and two touchdowns while improving to 13-0 as a regular season starter. Tyson Philpot had 9 catches for 193 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Jerreth Sterns had 9 receptions for 114 yards.  

For the Argos, Chad Kelly went 28 of 46 for 445 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 pick, whilst Kevin Mital had 7 catches for 109 yards and a score, Tyler Kahmann had 6 catches for 196 yards and a touchdown and defensively James Ceasar had 6 tackled and a forced fumble.

The Final game of the weekend was in Regina as the defending Grey Cup Champion Saskatchewan Roughriders welcomed the BC Lions to town for a rematch of the 2025 West Division Final. If you’ve ever studied history, you’ll know the two main takeaways from that are we never learn from the mistakes of the past and that history will repeat itself. It certainly felt like the latter was true here as memories of last November’s Western Final came to the fore with the result looking the same and feeling the same with he Riders taking a 31-27 victory late in the game.

It started well for the Riders who were obviously pumped up after unfurling their championship banner as they scored on their first two drives. BC Head Coach Buck Pierce certainly felt this was where the game was lost for his team stating that, “I think that’s the tale of the tape tonight. We got behind early, took us a bit of time to get going. We’ll look at the reasons why and try to improve that for next week”. 

This was pretty big for the men in green-and-white too as Saskatchewan threw a touchdown pass on its first offensive possession of the season for the first time since a 1983 game at the Montreal Concordes! The win also saw the Roughriders win their sixth consecutive season opener, which is the longest active streak in the league.

If you have ever read these columns before you will know that I am always banging the drum for the importance of special teams to the overall game and results. (Sound familiar?). That certainly applied here as the Lions return specialist Seven McGee had his ankle rolled on by tackler Liam Hoskins on his first touch of the game. He did not return, and the return game took away one of the receives for the Lions. Also though, it may well have affected the ending. BC needed a touchdown to win down 31-27 at the death. But could it have been different? On the final play of the third quarter, Saskatchewan kicker Alex Hale missed a 43-yard field goal, and the Leos conceded the single point. However, the CFL’s new rouge rule, which came into effect this season, says that had the ball been allowed to bounce out of the back of the end zone, no point would have been awarded. McGee, who is a trained return specialist, should know this and maybe if BC were just chasing a field goal for a tie we would have had a different finish. Ifs, buts and maybes don’t win games though.

For Saskatchewan Trevor Harris finished the game 30 of 36 for 417 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kian Schaffer-Baker had 11 catches for 165 yards, KeeSean Johnson had 9 catches for 131 yards and Samuel Emilus snagged three touchdowns catches. Defensively, Antoine Brooks Jr had 13 tackles, the most by a Rider defender since Reggie Hunt had 16 in 2003. He finished the game tied for the second-highest total in franchise history.

For the Lions Nathan Rourke went 24 of 37 for 330 yards and had 5 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. James Butler had only 35 yards on the ground but ran in two scores and Justin McInnes had 8 receptions for 129 yards. CJ Coldon and TJ Lee, both DBs had 8 tackles each.

This week really showcased the starting CFL Quarterbacks. On Thursday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ Bo Levi Mitchell (three TD passes, 158.7 efficiency rating) and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Zach Collaros (421 passing yards, 126.0) displayed their wares. On Friday night, Toronto’s Chad Kelly (445 yards, three TDs) and Montreal’s Davis Alexander (441 yards, two TDs) kept up the pace. On Saturday it was over the Trevor Harris (30 of 36, 417 yards and 3 touchdowns), and Nathan Rourke (330 yards passing).  

MOP's of Week 2

O – Samuel Emilus WR, Saskatchewan Roughriders: 6 catches for 91 yards and 3 touchdowns.  

D – Antoine Brooks Jr LB, Saskatchewan Roughriders: 13 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 pass knockdown.

ST – Janarion Grant KR, Toronto Argonauts: 5 punt returns for 104 yards, 5 kickoff returns for 129 yards.

Interdivisional Standings This Week: East Division 1, West Division 0

Interdivisional Standings 2026 season: East Division 1, West Division 1

Home Field Advantage?

This Week: Home 2 Away 1

The Season so Far: Home 2 Away 4

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

Rated 5 out of 5