CFL 'Quick Kicks' 2026: Week 8

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week eight 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.

Week 8 was one of those weeks where you finish the last game and realise you have barely thought about anything else for four days. A walk-off from 57 yards, a running back who somehow found three different ways to score a touchdown in one half, a Grey Cup MVP getting his revenge on a defender who put a division rival on the sideline, and a finish in Montreal so tense that both benches looked completely locked in until the end. Let’s dive right in.

The first game of the week sent the Edmonton Elks to Mosaic Stadium to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and it turned into exactly the shootout nobody expected from the two stingiest defences in the league by yardage allowed. Cody Fajardo and Trevor Harris spent the evening trading scores like they had somewhere better to be, and it took a 57-yard field goal from Vincent Blanchard as time expired to separate them, Edmonton escaping 36-34 in what has to be one of the games of the season so far.

Fajardo was magnificent here, with a career-high 510 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, spreading the ball around all night before Austin Mack turned quiet into decisive with touchdowns of 57 and 81 yards in the second half after managing just one catch before the break. TJ Luther did the unglamorous work underneath, 10 catches for 157 yards, and Blanchard was perfect on his first three attempts before the winner, while Gavin Meyer kept Edmonton’s league-leading takeaway count moving with an interception. Saskatchewan’s defence, for their part, more or less solved the Justin Rankin problem that has troubled the rest of the West all season, holding the league’s leading rusher to 39 yards on 12 carries, although his backfield partner Javon Leake still found a way to be useful, a 12-yard touchdown catch to go with 121 return yards on a night where his rushing line read a rather unfortunate minus one.

Harris gave as good as he got, going 26 of 36 for 386 yards and four touchdowns, finding all three of his marquee receivers in the end zone. Kian Schaffer-Baker was the pick of the bunch, past 100 yards before halftime on his way to eight catches for a game-high 185, enough to move him into second on the CFL’s receiving charts behind only Montreal’s Tyson Philpot, while Samuel Emilus and KeeSean Johnson chipped in scores either side of him. Saskatchewan actually led 34-33 in the closing stages after Edmonton stumbled through a spell of pure comedy, a missed two-point convert off the crossbar, a fumble deep in their own territory, a stuffed quarterback sneak, and a holding penalty on the kickoff that pinned them at their own eight-yard line. It read like the sort of fourth quarter that finishes seasons rather than launches them, and Elks head coach Mark Kilam admitted as much, but Edmonton refused to let the script end there, driving nine plays and 52 yards to set up Blanchard’s winner. It is Edmonton’s third win on a short week this season, and Kilam was in no mood to let that slide by afterwards either, joking that the win was “for the CFL schedule makers” regardless of what he had actually been asked. Sole possession of first in the West at 6-1 is a decent way to make the point for him.

MOP of the game

O – Cody Fajardo, QB, Edmonton Elks: career-high 510 passing yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, capped by a game-winning field goal drive. 25 of 32 for 510 yards, 4 touchdowns, 2 carries for 5 yards.

The second game of the week sent the Calgary Stampeders into Princess Auto Stadium, and what followed was less a football game than a highlight reel that occasionally paused to check the scoreboard! Calgary ran out 52-30 winners over Winnipeg. Tyreik McAllister opened the scoring with a 17-yard rushing touchdown, added a 56-yard touchdown catch from Vernon Adams Jr. in the second, and then returned a missed Winnipeg field goal 118 yards for a third score before halftime. In the process, he became the first player in CFL history to score rushing, receiving, and return touchdowns in the same half. Adams Jr. was busy making his own bit of history too, his 18th touchdown pass of the season without an interception breaking the old CFL benchmark of 17, set jointly by Ricky Ray and Darian Durant back in 2013. He finished 18 of 27 for 319 yards and three scores, with Jalen Philpot enjoying a career night, four catches for 128 yards and a touchdown, while Erik Brooks did the underneath work, seven catches for 64 yards. Benjamin Labrosse went from zero career interceptions to three in the space of one Friday night, the sort of stat line you check twice before believing it.

Winnipeg’s Dru Brown arrived with a perfect 4-0 record against Calgary, and that streak went the way most perfect records eventually do, undone by four Stampeders interceptions and an offence that scarcely needed the extra chances. Brown still went 24 of 40 for 249 yards and a touchdown, with Nic Demski conjuring a one-handed grab to get the Bombers on the board early and finishing with seven catches for 76 yards, Ontaria Wilson matching him catch for catch with 95 yards. The night’s quieter piece of history belonged to Brady Oliveira, who rumbled to 128 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries to become only the fifth Canadian in CFL history to pass 6,000 career rushing yards, joining Andrew Harris, Normie Kwong, Jon Cornish, and Sean Millington in that particular club, a genuinely fine achievement rather thoroughly buried by the manner of the defeat around it. Dedrick Mills added a late Calgary flourish with a 36-yard touchdown run, and the Stampeders’ defence, previously leaking a division-worst 35.6 points a game, chose Friday night of all nights to find its best form of the season.

 

MOP of the game

O – Tyreik McAllister, RB/KR, Calgary Stampeders: first player in CFL history with rushing, receiving, and return touchdowns in the same half.1 carry for 17 yards, 1 touchdown; 2 catches for 62 yards, 1 touchdown; 3 punt returns for 42 yards; 4 kickoff returns for 79 yards; 1 missed field goal return for 118 yards and a touchdown.

The third game of the week took the Toronto Argonauts back to BC Place, where they spoiled the Lions’ return with a 26-12 win that was more comfortable than the scoreline lets on and considerably nastier than either side would have wanted. Makai Polk did the early damage, with two first-half touchdowns from Chad Kelly worth a game-high 91 yards, and Toronto never really let go of the lead from there. Kelly finished 15 of 18 for 197 yards and two touchdowns before the game turned unpleasant.

Late in the second quarter, Kelly slid to end a scramble and was hit late by BC linebacker Darnell Sankey, a shoulder to the helmet that ended his night and, by his own admission afterwards, left Sankey needing to explain himself to reporters. He was adamant there was no intent to injure, insisting he was “not a dirty player” and simply finishing the tackle he was taught to make. However, the 15-yard roughing penalty and the brief scuffle that followed suggested plenty of people on the Argos saw it differently. Nick Arbuckle came on in relief and did more than enough, 134 yards on the same field where he won Grey Cup MVP not so long ago and got a small measure of personal satisfaction later on when he stiff-armed Sankey to the turf on an 11-yard run, a moment he later admitted he did not even realise was Sankey until after the final whistle.

Special teams quietly did a great deal of the winning for Toronto here, and it is the sort of thing that tends to get overlooked when a quarterback change dominates the headlines. Brady Lidster, making his CFL debut at kicker, landed field goals from 24, 47, and 48 yards to push the lead out at exactly the moments Toronto needed points rather than possessions, while BC’s own kicking game never found the same rhythm, managing only three Sean Whyte field goals and a late single to show for a night when the offence rarely threatened. Chase Brice made his first CFL start in place of the injured Nathan Rourke and finished with 163 yards, with Kaidon Salter adding 121 in relief once BC had fallen too far behind to matter, as the Lions slipped to a miserable 1-5.

MOP of the game

O – Makai Polk, WR, Toronto Argonauts: game-high 91 receiving yards and two first-half touchdowns. 4 catches for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The final game of the week was a proper East Division scrap in Montreal, where the Alouettes needed every last one of their four straight wins to see off a Hamilton side that simply refused to go quietly, eventually prevailing 31-18 to move to 6-1 and level with Edmonton as the winningest teams in the league.

Travis Theis set the tone from the opening snap, rumbling 46 yards on the very first play from scrimmage on his way to a career-high 156, and it was Terry Wilson doing the finishing early, a pair of one-yard touchdown plunges either side of half-time. Hamilton scored first anyway, and it came from special teams rather than the offence, Isaiah Wooden Sr. running back a 100-yard punt return for a touchdown after Hamilton lined up two returners to bait Montreal’s coverage unit into the wrong shape, a properly clever piece of special teams trickery that deserved a better result than it eventually got. Although Wooder Sr still had to make three men miss tackles even then. Tre Ford gave Hamilton the lead in the third quarter with a 33-yard touchdown to Kenny Lawler, and Marc Liegghio’s field goal had the Ticats up 18-17 heading into the fourth, at which point Montreal’s kicking game took over. Jose Maltos Diaz landed two field goals in the closing minutes to nose the Alouettes back in front, before Theis capped his own night with a late touchdown run to settle it.

Hamilton will look back at this one and wonder how they let it slip: 11 penalties for 116 yards against Montreal’s two for 14, and a mistimed alignment on what should have been a first down deep in Montreal territory in the fourth quarter that instead cost them five yards and, in the end, the game. Wynton McManis was ejected in the third quarter for a needless kick on a player already down, precisely the kind of self-inflicted wound a team chasing a one-loss divisional rival cannot afford. Davis Alexander’s remarkable run without an interception, which had stretched to 356 attempts, finally ended in Hamilton’s favour in the first half, though the Tiger-Cats could not make it count on the scoreboard. Ford finished 15 of 23 for 164 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in defeat, and there was at least one smart piece of game management to admire from the Ticats sideline, Wooden deliberately letting a kickoff roll dead in the end zone for a conceded single rather than risk a bounce out of bounds, trading a point for better field position with two minutes to go. It did not save them in the end, but it was the sort of decision that shows why special teams so often decide these things far more than the box score ever lets on.

MOP of the game

O – Travis Theis, RB, Montreal Alouettes: career-high 156 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including the game-sealing score. 19 carries, 156 yards and 1 touchdown & 1 reception for 2 yards.

A word too on CFL records, because Week 8 produced an unusual number of them for a single round of games. Tyreik McAllister’s rushing, receiving, and return touchdown treble in Calgary has never been done before in CFL history, not in one half and not in one game either. Vernon Adams Jr. broke a 13-year-old record held jointly by Ricky Ray and Darian Durant for touchdown passes to open a season without an interception. Brady Oliveira became just the fifth Canadian to reach 6,000 career rushing yards, a list that now reads Andrew Harris, Norm Kwong, Jon Cornish, Sean Millington, and Oliveira. Davis Alexander’s interception-free streak ended at 356 attempts, a mark that had been building since the spring. Four different records in four different games is not something you see very often, and it is as good a sign as any of the standard of football on show this week.

If there is one theme worth pulling out of this week beyond the individual brilliance, it is how much of it came down to special teams rather than the offences everyone tunes in for. Blanchard’s walk-off, McAllister’s return touchdown, Lidster’s kicking debut, Wooden’s punt return and the smart decision to concede a single late on. These are the often-overlooked plays that actually decide games, and it is exactly the sort of thing that gets forgotten by the time the highlight packages are cut together on a Monday morning.

Edmonton and Montreal both sit at 6-1 now, with the two best records in the league sitting on opposite sides of the country, and both sides of the standings are starting to take proper shape as we edge past the quarter mark of the season. Ottawa’s misery drags on; BC now sit at 1-5 with more questions than answers at quarterback, and Hamilton will be frustrated they let a winnable game slip through self-inflicted mistakes rather than anything Montreal did especially well.

There is a full slate again next week, with of particular note for UK-based fans the Tiger-Cats hosting the Stampeders at the very reasonable UK watching time of 8 PM on Sunday evening. That aside, of course you can catch up with the games on CFL+ or on the league’s own highlight videos.  

Until next week, CFL fans!

Standings

Interdivisional Standings this week: East Division 1 West Division 0

Interdivisional Standings 2026 season: East Division 6 West Division 9

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