THIS WEEK IN THE CFL – WEEK 11

MAKING THE TURN

Entering the second half of the season, comparing 2022 to 2021 through 39 games:

• Scoring: 50.5 vs. 43.5 – Increase of 16 per cent
• Decided in the final 3 mins: 26 vs. 20 – increase of 30 per cent
• Kickoff return TDs: 6 vs. 0 – only two total in 2021
• TD drives: 172 vs. 138 – 34 more (or 25 per cent)
• Two and Outs: 369 vs. 408 – 11 per cent fewer drives
• TD passes: 104 vs. 93
• Second down conversions: 47% vs. 44% – 55 more conversions
• QB starters: 15 vs. 17
• 100+ receiving yard games: 33 vs. 26: increase of 27 per cent; eight players have multiples

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON

• Hamilton’s Lawrence Woods III leads the league in punt return yards (662) and kickoff return yards (689)
• He is on pace for 1,324 punt return yards (15.4 per return) – the second best in a single season, trailing only Henry ‘Gizmo’ Williams’s 1,440 set in 1991.
• Chris Williams holds the team record with 1,117 punt return yards with a 13.0 yard average per return
• Woods is on pace for 1,378 kickoff return yards (24.6 per return). Brandon Banks holds the team record of 1,245 set in 2016.
• Woods is on pace for 2,798 total kick return yards, which would be the second best all-time, trailing only Eric Blount’s 2,878 in 1998.

THE LION’S SHARE

• In his past two games, Nathan Rourke has passed for 488 yards against Calgary and 477 against Edmonton
• Trevor Harris was the last QB to record 400+ yards in consecutive games (420 vs. Toronto on August 16 and 430 against Winnipeg on August 23 in 2019)
• Only one QB eclipsed 400 passing yards in 2021 (Zach Collaros’s 417 on October 1); four have done so in 2022 (Rourke three times and Dane Evans once)
• No QB has reached 400+ in three consecutive games since Doug Flutie went for five-in-a-row in 1993.
• Flutie and Anthony Calvillo hold the record with 29 career 400+ yard games.
• Flutie took 17 starts to notch his third 400-yard game; Rourke needed ten.

PUSHING THE PACE

• Nathan Rourke
  • Passing Yards: 6,539 – On pace for the second-best in league history
  • Completions: 509 | All-time record of 481 set by Henry Burris in 2015
  • Passing TDs: 52 | All-time record of 48 set by Doug Flutie in 1994
  • Rushing TDs: 16 | All-time QB record of 14 held by Doug Flutie (1991) and James Franklin (2018)
• Dalton Schoen
  • Receiving yards: 1,256 | Winnipeg first-year record held by Perry Tuttle (1,373 yards)
  • TD receptions: 14 | Most by a Bomber since Milt Stegall’s 17 in 2005
• Zach Collaros
  • Passing Yards: 4,419 | Career-high of 3,376 set in 2015
  • Passing TDs: 32 | Career-best of 25 set in 2015
• Eugene Lewis
  • Receiving yards: 1,500 | Career-best of 1,133 set in 2019. No Alouettes has hit 1,500 yards since Jamel Richardson (1,777) in 2011
  • Receptions: 94 | Career-high of 72 set in 2019
• Jaelon Acklin
  • Receiving yards: 1,609 | Team record of 1,459 set by Greg Ellingson in 2017
  • Receptions: 90 | Personal best of 58 set in 2019
• Dominique Rhymes
  • Receiving TDs: 20 | Milt Stegall holds the record with 23 set 2002; Allen Pitts (21) and Darrel Smith (20) are the only other players to reach 20+
• Wynton McManis
  • Defensive tackles: 119 | Team record of 121 set by Calvin Tiggles in 1994
• Darnell Sankey
  • Defensive tackles: 114 | Team record of 118 set by David Albright in 1987
• Ciante Evans
  • Knockdowns: 22 | Team record of 18 set by Malcolm Frank (1994) and Adrion Smith (1996)
• Dominique Davis
  • Rushing TDs: 18 | Mike Pringle holds the all-time record of 19 in a season; Doug Flutie and James Franklin hold the QB record of 14. Nathan Rourke is on pace for 16.

QUICK SLANTS

• Three players enter Week 11 with 99 career games played: Ottawa WR Darvin Adams, BC OL Sukh Chungh and Montreal OL Landon Rice
• Edmonton’s Manny Arceneaux sits at 149 career games. With four more receiving yards, he’ll move past Ray Alexander (8,842) into the Top-30. With six catches, he’ll reach 24^th all-time past Tony Gabriel (614).
• Ottawa is coming off a bye; teams are 7-4 on a week’s rest in 2022.
• BC’s Bryan Burnham needs 71 receiving yards (6,929) to reach 7,000 yards in his career.
• Nathan Rourke is 736 passing yards back of Russ Jackson (3,641) for the Canadian single-season record set in 1969.
• Last week, BC’s Sean Whyte (1,647) moved passed Noel Prefontaine (1,634) for 13^th on the all-time scoring list
• Saskatchewan is on pace to have two players with 100+ tackles in a season (Sankey and Dean); the only other team to accomplish the feat was BC in 2016 with Adam Bighill and Solomon Elimimian.
• Saskatchewan’s Charleston Hughes needs one more sack to pass Joe Montford (135) for fifth on the all-time list.
• Calgary’s Rene Paredes (1,839) needs two points to move past Trevor Kennerd (1,840) into the Top-10 in CFL scoring
• Calgary rookie Jalen Philpot is averaging 32.8 yards per kickoff return; tied for 6^th-most in CFL history
• Dave Dickenson is 8-1 as a head coach against the Argonauts
• Toronto’s Brandon Banks (5,944) needs 56 receiving yards to reach 6,000 in his career.