CFL 'QUICK KICKS': WEEK 7

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week seven 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 a rematch from last week of the contest between the Ottawa RedBlacks and Edmonton Elks. As they had done in Edmonton, the Redblacks came out on top here, this time with a 20-14 victory.

Coming into this one, the Elks had dispensed with the services of Coach Chris Jones. He had overseen an 0-5 start, with an average margin of defeat of 4 points. At some point regression to the mean must have some of these close finishes go their way. But this was not the week for that to happen.

This time around the Ottawa D-Line pressured Edmonton consistently and the Elks were held to just 40 yards on 12 rushing plays, while QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson had his least impressive game in green and gold, going 27 of 39 for 206 yards and a pick.

One area that really hurt Edmonton was on special teams. Last year in Toronto Boris Bede was a weapon. His long kickoffs and Field Goal prowess made a difference in plenty of games. This year however he has struggled, and in this game, he was 4 of 7 on Field Goal tries. Meanwhile Lewis Ward went 4 for 5 on his attempts.

Ottawa moved to 4-2 (including being 3-0 at home). Remarkably, this is the first time Ottawa fans have seen their team with a winning record at this stage of the season since 2018! That year they finished 11-7 and went to the Grey Cup, ultimately losing to Calgary. From 2019 to 2023 Ottawa fans have suffered their team putting in a 14-54 run. Any success like they are experiencing right now will undoubtedly be being relished.

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The second game of the weekend featured another team that are perfect at home this season. The Saskatchewan Roughriders. The 5-1 Riders are now 3-0 at home courtesy of a 19-9 win over heated rivals the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. A defensive battle was locked at 6-6 at halftime before Saskatchewan took over.

The biggest difference here came on the ground where the Roughriders amassed 135 yards to Winnipeg’s 65 yards rushing. The Blue Bombers often do well when their ground game is dominating, so Saskatchewan holding them was key.

The only TD of the game came from an unexpected source as Full Back Clint Ratkovich hauled in a 15 yard catch in the end zone. Stand in QB Shea Patterson went a solid 17 of 25 for 261 yards and that TD pass to lead the Roughriders to the win.

On the Riders site their post-game notes picked up that this is the seventh time Saskatchewan have started 5-1 in the post second world war period. On each of those occasions they made the West Final, appearing in the Grey Cup 4 times and winning it once.

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The third game of the weekend was another rivalry game. This time the Hamilton Tiger-Cats picked up their first win of the season with a 27-24 win over their biggest rivals, the Toronto Argonauts. I doubt there is a Hamilton fan out there who wasn’t smiling at the fact the Ticats, now 1-5, finally got their first win of 2024 and it was against the Argonauts of all teams. Made all the sweeter by virtue of the fact Toronto had won six straight regular season meetings prior to this too.

Hamilton had been notoriously slow starters this season, outscored 53-11 in the first quarter of games, but this time it was them getting out to a 7-0 lead thanks to a blocked punt setting up great field position and James Butler running in a 9-yard TD.

Like Saskatchewan against Winnipeg, Hamilton had a disruptive D-Line throughout in this one and a forced fumble led to a defensive score.

Toronto will have a decision to make at QB before the next game. Cam Dukes went 20 of 27 for 180 yards here, while backup Nick Arbuckle went 8 of 14 for 118 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception. One thing the Boatmen are missing at the moment is a deep passing threat.

Meanwhile for the Tabbies Bo Levi Mitchell finished 20 of 29 for 270 yards with 1 score and 1 pick. BLM is starting to look more like his old self than the player we saw the last couple of years. So far this season he is 165 of 243 for 1,941 yards with 12 scores and 6 picks – a rate he and the team would like to see spread over the whole season.

After a great week last week, Janarion Grant once again returned a kick for a score in this one.

The final game of the weekend saw the Calgary Stampeders host the BC Lions. On the weekend they added Wally Buono to the Stamps Wall of Fame, the hosts beat out the BC Lions 25-24. It appears home is where the heart is for 3-3 Calgary as all three wins have come at home, and all three defeats on the road. BC, who fall to 5-2, are also 3-0 at home. It appears that home comforts matter so far this season as Saskatchewan, BC, Calgary & Ottawa who have a combined 17-8 record so far this year are 12-0 at home.

When you hear one of the QBs in this game threw for over 300 yards you might well expect that to be Vernon Adams Jr who was on a record setting pace going into this one. Well, it wasn’t to be here as he had his lowest rated game of the year going 17 of 31 for 192 yards 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Instead, it was Calgary QB Jake Maier who took the spotlight with 307 yards passing and three touchdown tosses.

Despite this the result was far from inevitable. This was a great game with lead and momentum changes aplenty. The Lions could have nicked it at the end, but Calgary hung on for an important win.

A key play near the end of the game came when the Lions were rolling, but Kobe Williams picked off Adams Jr to end the drive. If the Leos had been able to give kicker Sean Whyte a chance to win it, they would have felt very confident. He was 3 for 3 on Field Goal attempts in this one and has now made 42 Field Goals in a row (second most in CFL history behind Ottawa’s Lewis Ward who hit 69 in a row from 2018-19).

MOP's of Week 7:

O – Jake Maier QB, Calgary Stampeders: 25 of 32 307 yards, 3 touchdowns, zero interceptions.

D – Kye Wilson LB, Hamilton Tiger-Cats: 8 tackles, 1 forced fumble, Destin Talbert CB, Hamilton Tiger-Cats: 8 tackles, 1 fumble returned for a touchdown.

ST – Stefan Flintoft P, BC Lions: & punts for 383 yards, (54.7-yard average), 4 kickoffs for 284 yards, (71 yard average).

Interdivisional Standings 2024 This Week: East Division 1 West Division 0

Interdivisional Standings 2024 season: East Division 8 West Division 6

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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