CFL 'Quick Kicks': Week 11

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week eleven of our weekly review of each CFL game week for the 2024 season. ‘Quick Kicks’ will bring 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 Ottawa RedBlacks visit the Calgary Stampeders and come away with a walk-off 32-29 win. Combined with Ottawa beating Calgary 33-6 in Week 8 of the season this became the first time an Ottawa team has swept a season series since 2004. (When the 5-13 Ottawa Renegades got two of their wins against the Stamps).

6-2-1 is the best start that Ottawa have made to a season in their incarnation as the RedBlacks. They find themselves in a great position having gone 5-0-1 over their last six games.

This was something of a moment for Jeremiah Masoli who had been out with injury for some time and returned for the injured Drew Brown to post a solid 27 of 35 for 254 yards and 1 TD stat line. He was ably assisted by Running Back Ryquell ‘rock’ Armstead who had 11 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown, as well as 6 catches for 44 yards.

On the other side, Jake Maier went 24 of 32 for 269 yards and Reggie Begelton had 4 receptions for 92 yards taking him past 5,000 career yards with Calgary. While short-yardage specialist QB Tommy Stevens ran in three goal-line TDs to keep the Stampeders scoring in the red zone.

The RedBlacks now have seen their (British born) Canadian kicker Lewis Ward hit a walk-off game winner in Week 4, Week 6, a game tying Field Goal in overtime last week, and now another game winner as he hit on a 51-yarder as the clock showed zeros this week.

A real key to this victory came from the Ottawa run D too who held Calgary to sixty-two yards on 21 carries across the game meaning they could not establish dominance at the line.

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The second game of the weekend featured the Saskatchewan Roughriders hosting the Montreal Alouettes. The defending champ Alouettes left with a 27-24 win. Coupled with a 20-16 win over the Roughriders in Week 8 the Als have now swept Saskatchewan for the first time since 2016.

Montreal are now on a 17-1 run, (including playoffs), dating back to September last season. They also set a franchise record with their eighth consecutive road win here.

Making his third straight start in place of Cody Fajardo, Davis Alexander continues to impress, here going 22 of 33 for 285 yards and a touchdown as well as running in a score too. 7 of those completions went to Charleston Rambo for 94 yards. Rambo now has 19 catches for 304 yards and 3 scores over his last three games.

The Riders had some stars back and they performed too. Trevor Harris went 31 of 39 for 355 yards and 2 touchdowns, whilst AJ Ouellette had 111 yards of total offence.

The real difference here though was in the kicking game. Brett Lauther, who is the most accurate kicker in Roughriders history, had a terrible outing connecting on just 3 of 7 Field Goal attempts. He was keen to blame himself for the loss.

At one point in this one Saskatchewan were looking to pad the lead when James Letcher Jr returned a blocked Field Goal attempt 128 yards for a touchdown to give the Als a 21-17 lead. The Riders got it back to 24-21 in their favour and had a chance to tie it at the end down 27-24 but anther kick went astray.

There is an adage that it is better to be lucky than good. Well, it looks like the Alouettes are both.

The third game of the weekend was in Hamilton, where the Edmonton Elks recorded their third straight win with the same formula they had used in their previous two wins – strong running coupled with a decent defensive showing.

In this one they had 23 carries for 122 yards 4 touchdowns. This was keyed by Justin Rankin who had 17 carries for 108 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Javon Leake ran in the other score.

Defensively the Elks forced four turnovers, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries that led to three touchdown scoring drives.

For the Tiger-Cats, after the quarterback controversy of last week that saw Taylor Powell start, he was knocked out of the game, and we saw the irony of Bo Levi Mitchell returning to take control as he went 23 of 34 for 294 yards with 1 score and 1 pick.

Also starring for Hamilton were Greg Bell who had 12 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown and 6 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown, and Shemar Bridges who had 8 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.

Edmonton are on a charge having gone from 0-7 to 3-7 whilst the Tiger-Cats continue to fall away, now standing at 2-8.

The final game of the weekend saw the Winnipeg Blue Bombers continue their own rise back after a slow start as they went into BC and beat the Lions 20-11. The Blue Bombers were coming off a bye and with this win have now managed to win 16 of the last 17 times they have come off a rest week.

The Lions who were 5-1, have now lost four in a row for the first time since 2021 have slipped to 5-5 whilst Winnipeg, who were 0-4 at one point are now 4-6. This marked the 100th regular season win for Mike O’Shea as Head Coach of the Bombers too, meaning he is only the second Blue Bomber Head Coach to achieve this, and is two wins away from supplanting the legendary Bud Grant as all-time leader in this category.

There had been quite the buzz before this one about the return of Nathan Rourke to the Lions. But historically Winnipeg has not been a favourite for him to face as he has now lost to them four times as a starter. They did an excellent job of curtailing his return here too as he was held to just 126 yards passing with two interceptions and only connecting on a third of his passes.

Central to the success of the Blue Bombers here were Brady Oliveira who had 13 carries for 96 yards and 6 catches for 51 yards, and Nic Demski who had 6 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. While QB Zach Collaros went 21 of 31 for 288 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.

The West Division is increasingly coming together with the Roughriders on top at 5-4-1 down to the Elks at 3-7 while teams are starting to move up who had poor starts to the year.

MOP's of Week 11:

O – Justin Rankin RB, Edmonton Elks: 17 carries, 108 yards and 3 touchdowns.

D – Kordell Jackson DB, Edmonton Elks: 2 tackles, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble.

ST – James Letcher Jr WR/KR, Montreal Alouettes: 3 kick returns for 86 yards, 1 blocked field goal return 128 yards and a touchdown.

Interdivisional Standings 2024 This Week: East Division 2 West Division 1

Interdivisional Standings 2024 season: East Division 15 West Division 8 Ties 1

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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