Get Set For The CFL Labour Day Classics

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week nine 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 Winnipeg Blue Bombers look like their old selves as they blanked the BC Lions 25-0 at home in front of over 31,000 fans on a Thursday night that had Princess Auto Stadium rocking. A far cry from Week 3 when BC upended Winnipeg 26-24 thanks in part to Alexander Hollins having over 200 yards receiving alone, as this time around BC were held to just 86 yards passing in total.

Vernon Adams Jr was not having a great game anyway, but Lions fans will not have wanted to see him exit injured as he did. He is week to week on returning according to the team.

This was the first time BC has been blanked since October 2021 – which happened here against the same team.

Take a bow the Winnipeg D. They held BC to 4 first downs and registered the same tally in sacks whilst not allowing an offensive TD for the second week in a row. They held the Lions to just 102 yards of net offence and forced 10 two and out drives.

How dominant were the Blue Bombers here? Well, they held the ball for an incredible 41 minutes and 52 seconds of game time – a team record.

Stars on offence were Zach Collaros who went 27 of 33 for 295 yards and a touchdown, Brady Oliveira who had 17 carries for 100 yards and 4 catches for 42 yards, Ontaria Wilson who had 7 catches for 112 yards, and former Lion Lucky Whitehead who had 6 catches for 56 yards and a score.

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The second game of the weekend featured the Montreal Alouettes travelling to Hamilton who had been on a two-game win streak. That was ended abruptly here however by the Als, as the defending champions had a dominant 33-16 win.

Going into this one both teams had put up a league leading 21 touchdowns. However, after Hamilton scored on a pick six to take the lead in the second quarter, the Montreal D held the Ticats attack at bay for 57 minutes and 15 seconds, before with 2:45 to play before giving up a TD. By which time the game was out of reach anyway.

It is all about depth this season for the Als. Starting QB Cody Fajardo is out, so Davis Alexander has stepped in. Here he went 19 of 27 for 262 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception. But he was down in this one, and third string QB Caleb Evans mustered a touchdown passing to add to one rushing before leaving the game himself.

Montreal have now won six straight against Hamilton with this win.

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The third game of the weekend was in Saskatchewan where the Roughriders were upended 42-31 by an Edmonton Elks team recording their first win of the season. Elks fans have been calling for Canadian QB Tre Ford to be given a chance to start and he did that here after delivering three scoring drives when brought into a losing cause last week.

This time around he went 18 of 22 for 252 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception. He also had 5 carries for 46 yards to help the Elks along.

The biggest performance of the game came on the ground however where, for Edmonton, Javon Leake showed explosiveness with 12 carries for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns. Justin Rankin spelled him with 10 carries for 60 yards as Edmonton racked up 28 carries for 276 yards at 9.9 yards per carry. Phenomenal numbers, but even more impressive when you consider that up to this point, Saskatchewan have been incredibly solid against the run allowing a league low 48 yards per game this season.

There sometimes feels like there is an unwritten law in sports that if you come back to play your former team you will have a great game. That certainly proved to be the case here for Tevin Jones who had 3 catches on 3 targets for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns as he made a start against his old team the Riders for the first time.

It all seems such a long way from how it started in this game too when KR Mario Alford had the home fans cheering with a 101-yard return touchdown on the opening play of the game.

With this result there are now no winless teams in the league.

The final game of the weekend saw the Calgary Stampeders host the Toronto Argonauts. It was the hosts who ran out 27-23 winners thanks to a fourth quarter comeback.

The Argos led 8-0 after the first quarter, and 22-6 at half time. But the Stamps D tightened in the second half as all Toronto managed was a punt single. Jake Maier led the comeback going 26 of 37 for 287 yards, 2 TDs and 1 pick.

Demerio Houston picked off Torontos’ Cam Dukes on the last drive to seal the win. Up to that point Dukes had gone 18 of 26 for 177 yards with 1 TD, and 1 pick. As well as 12 carries for 95 yards and a score on the ground.

The win moved Calgary to 4-4 on the season. They are 4-0 at home and 0-4 on the road. This was the first of a home and home contest so Calgary will want to break that pattern at Toronto in week 10, while the Boatmen will hope it holds.

Over the past 10 years (2014-2024) Calgary are now 16-2 versus Toronto, including being 9-1 at home so maybe this comeback should have been expected!

Renee Paredes, who was appearing in his 219th game for Calgary finished going 4 for 4 on Field Goals and 6 for 6 on all kicks.

MOP's of Week 9:

O – Javon Leake RB, Edmonton Elks: 12 carries for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns. 3 catches for 26 yards, 2 punt returns for 19 yards, and 1 kick return for 33 yards.

D – Royce Metchie DB, Toronto Argonauts: 9 tackles, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery.

ST – Sergio Castillo K, Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 6 for 6 on Field Goals. Including from 37, 60, 32, 51, 36 and 11 yards. Became the first CFL kicker to have two 60-yard Field Goals in the same season. 7 for 7 on all kicks.

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

Interdivisional Standings 2024 season: East Division 12 West Division 7

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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