CFL 'Quick Kicks': Week 8

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week eight of our weekly review of each CFL game week for the 2024 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 5-1 Montreal Alouettes host the 5-1 Saskatchewan Roughriders in a battle of the top teams from the East and West Divisions. It also started out as a battle of the backup quarterbacks as Shea Patterson was standing in for Trevor Harris for the Roughriders and Caleb Evans was standing in for Cody Fajardo for the Alouettes. But that was not how it would finish under centre.

To quote that great British football, (soccer), cliché, this really was a game of two halves. Which saw Montreal coming away with a 20-16 win. The first half was dominated by Saskatchewan who took a 16-3 lead into halftime. Much of that dominance was built around the running of Frankie Hickson, who finished the game with 16 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown. However, 98 of those yards came in the first half.

The second half started with a solid return for the Als that had a 15-yard penalty tacked on for unnecessary roughness, and from there Montreal took over the game. In fact, Saskatchewan did them self no favours on the penalty front here amassing 105 yards in penalties through the game.

The spark Montreal needed came with a change of quarterback. Third string QB Davis Alexander came in and started hot. He finished up going 15 of 18 for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns – both of which went to Reggie White Jr.

As ever, kickers matter too. Riders’ kicker Brett Lauther went 3 of 5 on Field Goal attempts. Coming so close on a 57-yarder that hit the crossbar and a 53-yarder that hit the upright.

Perhaps we should have seen this result coming. The Als have now won their last five games when coming off a bye, and Saskatchewan have not won in Montreal since October 2021.

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The second game of the weekend featured two teams coming off wins last week as the Ottawa RedBlacks hosted the Calgary Stampeders. It was Ottawa who dominated this one, romping to a 33-6 victory. This season is tuning into quite the story for Ottawa. They now stand at 5-2, their best start to a season since the RedBlacks franchise was introduced to play in 2014. They are also 4-0 at home, and this marks the first time an Ottawa team has started 4-0 at home since the 1978 Ottawa Rough Riders.

Perhaps we should have seen this coming as the Stamps have yet to win on the road this year, and the RedBlacks have yet to lose at home. But I doubt anyone expected this level of domination. And domination it was. One man who really epitomised that dominance was Kalil ‘The Thrill’ Pimpleton. A one-time MAC special teams’ player of the year, Kalil provided thrills in this one with 209 total return yards. Which included a 47-yard kickoff return, and eight punt returns for 162 yards that included a 99-yard touchdown return. He also had 7 catches for 80 yards in this one too!

Dru Brown had a great came under centre for Ottawa too. His 30 of 37 for 325 yards and 1 TD performance was just what was needed as the ground game provided just 79 yards.

After all that though, the biggest area of dominance might just have come on Defence. The RedBlacks held Calgary to 6 points, 3 first half first downs, and Jake Maier who had a fabulous outing last week was held to just 136 yards passing. In fact, this D has now not given up a TD in just over 9 quarters of football.

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The third game of the weekend was in Toronto where the Argonauts eked out a 16-14 overtime win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, in large part thanks to the efforts of their D.

The Argonauts really struggled with the ball in this one. Cam Dukes and Nick Arbuckle were 15 of 26 for 124 yards between them while the team managed 96 yards total on the ground. The only ‘skill’ player to really look the part was Running Back Ka’Deem Carey who had 10 carries for 62 yards, and 6 catches on 6 targets for a further 35 yards.

Meanwhile for the Blue Bombers Zach Collaros went 25 for 32 for 317 yards 1 TD & 1 pick. Ontaria Wilson had 7 catches for 129 yards and a score, and Brady Oliveira added 96 yards on 13 carries – yet the Blue Bombers were held to just 13 points in regulation.

All because of a ferocious hitting Toronto Defence who really turned up for this one. The only touchdown for the Double Blue came on a 41-yard pick six from Tavarus McFadden, whilst the Argos also forced four fumbles – three of which ended drives that could have at least ended with a Winnipeg Field Goal.

Sergio Castillo also missed on a Field Goal that could have changed things at the end of the first half – and that was largely due to LB Fraser Sopik, (8 tackles and a fumble recovery), as he may have got a hand to it to divert the ball.

Meanwhile the D-Line had a high old time, sacking Collaros 5 times and putting him on the floor a handful more too.

Castillo hit a single in overtime before Liam Hajrullahu came through for Toronto with the game winning Field Goal. He was 3 for 3 on three pointers on the night and hit all 4 of his kicks.

The final game of the weekend saw the Edmonton Elks hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They entered into this one with a combined 1-11 record between them. It was the visitors who came away happiest with a dominant 44-28 win.

We had mentioned here before that Bo Levi Mitchell was starting to look more like his old self. Well, he certainly did in this one, throwing for 316 yards and 5 touchdowns to lead the Tiger-Cats to an impressive victory.

On the flip side Edmonton were held to 8 points through three quarters with McLeod Bethel-Thompson at the helm, (10 of 22 for 85 yards and 1 pick), before Tre Ford stepped in to lead the green and gold to three fourth quarter scores while going 10 of 15 for 121 yards and 3 touchdowns as well as having 3 carries for 19 yards.

Also critical for Hamilton in this one was RB James Butler who had 21 carries for 98 yards and three catches for 19 yards.  With that balanced attack Hamilton had 416 yards of net offence at over 7 yards a play while Edmonton were held to 258 yards at just over 4 yards per play.

Special teams played a part here too as Marc Lieggiho was 3 for 3 on filed Goals, and the Ticats blocked a punt to set up the first of Mitchell’s TD passes. Up to that point it was 8-7 Elks with a lot of back and forth, but after the blocked punt and TD pass Hamilton took over. A real discernible turning point in this game.

After starting out 0-5, back-to back wins for Hamilton fans will have been welcome. Edmonton fans still wait for that first W. Things don’t get any easier for Edmonton either as they must now travel to play the 5-2 Roughriders.

This week saw the East Division win every interdivisional matchup against the West – which hasn’t happened for quite some time.

MoP's of Week 8:

O – Bo Levi Mitchell QB, Hamilton Tiger-Cats: 17 of 25 for 316 yards, 5 touchdowns and 1 interception.

D – Benji Franklin DB, Toronto Argonauts: 7 tackles, 1 sack, I fumble recovery and 1 tackle for a loss.

ST – Kalil Pimpleton KR/WR, Ottawa RedBlacks: 8 punt returns for 162 yards, (including a 99-yard touchdown), 1 kick return for 47 yards and for good measure 7 catches for 80 yards.

Interdivisional Standings 2024 This Week: East Division 4 West Division 0

Interdivisional Standings 2024 season: East Division 12 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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