- Montreal Alouettes (Last Rank 2)
The Als retake the top spot on the Power Rankings after an incredible second half by 3rd string QB Davis Alexander. Caleb Evans got the start after Cody Fajardo injured his hamstring in the previous game but was not able to get anything going in the first half as the Riders were up 16 – 3 at the break. HC Jason Maas made the decision to go with Alexander and the Alouettes scored 17 unanswered points to beat the Riders at home. With Fajardo on the 6-game injured list, I would assume this is Alexander’s team until he is healthy. They travel to Hamilton for a matchup on Friday Night Football this week. - Saskatchewan Roughriders (Last Rank: 1)
The Roughriders were able to start fast in Montreal last week, with RB Frankie Hickson (who was starting in relief of AJ Ouellette) running all over the field with 16 carries for 117 yards and the Riders
lone TD. Brett Lauther was unlucky as he had 2 long FGs hit the uprights and Corey Mace and Co. were unable to match the halftime adjustments that Jason Maas and the Alouettes made. They took a quarter and a half to figure out Davis Alexander and were not able to stop the blitz or score any points in the second half. They look to rebound when they host the Edmonton Elks on Saturday night but will need to exorcize past demons of back up quarterbacks beating them when they should not. - BC Lions (Last Rank: 3)
BC should be well rested after the bye and Vernon Adams will be looking to wipe the last game against Calgary from his memory this week. This is not the first time this year that the team that has the bye, will play a team on a short week when they head to Winnipeg to face the Bombers on Thursday Night Football. The recipe IS there for them to make a statement and try to reclaim their position as the top dog in the CFL. - Ottawa REDBLACKS (Last Rank: 4)
Another week and another win for Dru Brown and the rest of the REDBLACKS. While the two previous games against the Elks were close games, Ottawa dominated the Stamps, holding them to 2 FGs. I think it’s time that the rest of the league opens their eyes and starts to give Ottawa the respect they are deserving. Kalil Pimpleton had another great game and had a 99-yard punt return for a TD. Dru Brown was 30/37 for 325 yard and 1 TD. Dustin Crum added a 1-yard TD and Lewis ward was 4/4 on his FG attempts. They head into the bye doing well. - Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Last Rank: 6)
Hamilton traveled to Edmonton for the 2024 Toilet Bowl and laid a whooping on the Elks. Bo Levi Mitchell looked like vintage Bo as he was 17/25 for 316 yards and 5 TDs with 1 INT. James Butler nearly had 100 yards on 21 carries and the defense locked almost everything down while McLeod Bethel-Thompson was in the game. Tre Ford did come in and was able to get 3 TD drives in the fourth quarter, but that was mostly against a prevent defense. They improved to 2-5 and look to keep the winning streak alive when they host the Alouettes on Friday. - Toronto Argonauts (Last Rank: 7)
The Argos defense came to play this week against the Bombers, but their offense struggled. Cameron Dukes was pulled after the first quarter, but Nick Arbuckle did not fare much better. The defense won the game as they were able to sack Zach Collaros 5 times, pressured him non-stop and Tavarus McFadden scored a pick-6 in his first game of the season after getting cut and the end of training camp and re-signed. The Argonauts head west to Calgary on Sunday. - Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Last Rank: 8)
Nothing was going right for the Bombers this week. They were not able to protect their QB (5 sacks allowed), not able to protect the ball (5 turnovers) and arguably had a poor coaching decision by Mike O’Shea cost them the game. With 00:57 on the clock in the fourth quarter, O’Shea decided to gamble on 3rd and 1 instead of having Sergio Garcia attempt a 29-yard FG to take the lead (as a road team, I believe you always take the points, especially when you are 2-5 and need wins badly). Chris Streveler was 15/15 on third and short attempts this year, so I can understand the rationale, if they were successful, they could run the clock out and kick the FG to win with no time remaining. However, the Argos defense came up huge again and stopped them and went on to win the game in OT with a Lirim Hajrullahu FG after Sergio missed his FG on the first scrimmage in OT. The Bombers are in tough as they host the Lions on a short week with BC rested, coming off their bye week. - Calgary Stampeders (Last Rank: 5)
The Stamps just cannot seem to stay in a rhythm after the got beat down in the Nation’s Capital, losing their third in the last four games. Jake Maier had 20 completions for 136 yards, but the busiest player for the stamps was punter Cody Grace who had to punt 8 times (and almost was able to recover one of his punts). It is exceedingly difficult to decide if Calgary is a bad team or not as they have played good teams tight and won but have also laid a few eggs. This week they host the Argos on Sunday. - Edmonton Elks (Last Rank: 9)
Both McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Tre Ford both completed 10 passes this week, the only difference is three of those completions were TDs for Ford in garbage time after the visiting Hamilton Ticats embarrassed them. The game started out good for the Elks. FG on the first drive and then they intercepted Bo Levi Mitchell to set up a 2nd FG and were up 6 – 0 early. The wheels fell off however and MBT was pulled to start the fourth quarter (way too late) in this game after failing to do anything offensively. As mentioned earlier, Tre Ford was able to engineer 3 TD drives, but when it’s against a soft prevent defense, it’s not really THAT impressive. Hopefully, the Elks start Tre on Saturday when they head to Mosaic Stadium to face the Riders, who have a terrible history against back up QBs.
2 and Out CFL Podcast 