THIS WEEK IN THE CFL

Stats, Storylines and Trends Heading Into Week 15

Quarterback carousel not just for kids

All eyes will on Friday Night Football when 24-year-old Tiger-Cat quarterback Jeff Mathews makes his first start in relief of Zach Collaros
Mathews will be the 21^st quarterback to start a CFL game this year – that equals last year’s total for the entire season
Seven of the CFL’s nine clubs have lost their number one quarterback at some point this year
But that doesn’t mean a total lack of experience at the position: last week’s eight starters averaged 30.3 years of age with a collective total of 504 career starts, led by Kevin Glenn and Henry Burris, who have 393 between them

The Calgary Stampeders can clinch a playoff spot with either a win of their own or a BC Lions loss to Saskatchewan this week
If the Stamps win in Hamilton, they are also assured of a home playoff date
Edmonton can clinch a playoff spot with a win of their own AND a BC loss
That would ensure a 10-win season for the Eskimos, and BC and Winnipeg could each do no better than 9-9
Riders will need to go at least 4-1 in their remaining games to stay in the playoff chase as they do not hold the tie-breaker against either BC or Winnipeg
Still, they play BC this week and end their season against crossover threat Montreal so they still have a chance
Things are more open in the East, where only six points separate first place Hamilton (8-4) and last place Montreal (5-7), compared to the West where first place Calgary (10-3) is 16 points up on last place Saskatchewan (2-11)

Calgary’s Rene Paredes has made his last 21 field goal attempts, after going 3 for 3 last weekend
Paredes is now tied with Montreal’s Boris Bede with a 90.9% success rate
Each of them has made an identical 30 of 33 attempts
Hamilton’s Justin Medlock (29 for 32) has a 90.6% success rate
This is the first time the CFL has ever had three kickers at 90% or better in the same reason

Only Saskatchewan’s Jerome Messam and BC’s Andrew Harris are on pace to reach 1,000 rushing yards this season
Only Calgary receiver Eric Rogers has reached 1,000 receiving yards already but another nine receivers are on pace to reach the milestone this season

Last weekend’s games averaged 53.8 points per game, the fourth highest of the season
It was the third week in a row that scoring was up over the previous week
None of the games had fewer than 48 points – a first for the 2015 season
Net offence averaged 334 yards per team, the highest in six weeks
All eight clubs scored at least 20 points last week for the first time this season
Overall, we are averaging 49.5 points per game, up from 45.4 a year ago (a 9% increase)

Last week we saw 23.5 penalties per game
We are now averaging 24.4 penalties per game, the lowest so far this season
We are still up two flags per game from a year ago, when we averaged 21.6
Teams that have taken more flags than their opponent have a record of 17-32 this year, for a winning percentage of just .346
Teams still manage to score a TD on a drive that included an offensive penalty only one time in ten
Defences that give up a penalty allow a TD 36% of the time, compared to only 9% on drives that do not include a defensive penalty

Edmonton came back from a 16-point deficit to beat BC 29-23
Edmonton scored the final 22 points of the game
It was the 11^th comeback from at least 10 points down in the CFL this year
It was the second week in a row they came back from more than 10 points down, after overcoming a 12-0 start in Hamilton last week

Victor “Macho” Harris had three interceptions in the Riders’ 33-21 victory over Montreal
It was the first time a CFL player achieved that feat since August 22, 2014, when Winnipeg’s Maurice Leggett had three picks in one game
They were Harris’ first three picks of the season
He had made just one interception in his first 40 games in the CFL

Coordinator, Communications, Canadian Football League

Director, Communications, Canadian Football League