THIS WEEK IN THE CFL – WEEK 12
Stats and storylines heading into this week's action
MANY HAPPY RETURNS
- 2021 Most Outstanding Special Teams Player, DeVonte Dedmon, has returned to Ottawa.
- Last season, the William & Mary star led the league in kick return touchdowns (3), punt return yards (737), punt return average (15.4), kickoff return yardage (1,223) and kickoff return average (25.0).
- In 16 career games, Dedmon has five return TDs, highlighted by a 111-yard kickoff return in 2019
- Dedmon recorded his fifth return touchdown in his 15th game, becoming the fastest player in CFL history to reach the milestone. Gizmo Williams managed the feat in 18.
- He has 14 career big play returns.
- In Week 8 in 2019, Dedmon recorded 382 combined kick return yards – the second-highest single-game total in league history.
- On offence, he has 15 career receptions for 161 yards (average of 10.7) and ten carries for 68 yards (average of 6.8) and a touchdown.
THREE-PEAT OR SHOWSTOPPER?
- Winnipeg and Calgary will have their third and final regular season meeting of 2022.
- The Blue Bombers won the previous two games 26-19 in Week 6 and 35-28 in Week 8.
- Winnipeg last swept the teams’ season series in 2002 (2-0). They have not swept a three-game set against the Stampeders since 1987.
- The last eight meetings between the two have been decided by no more than eight points. Winnipeg claimed six of those victories, with each of Calgary’s two wins coming by one point.
- A Blue Bombers’ win would give them the distinction of being the league’s first team to reach 400 home victories. Calgary sits at 399, while Edmonton has 397.
- In the first two meetings:
- Collaros tallied 585 yards on 72.1 per cent passing, with six touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
- Ka’Deem Carey rushed for 202 yards (7.8 yards per carry), and added 45 receiving yards on five receptions
- Rene Paredes was perfect on his nine field goal attempts
- Titus Wall registered seven tackles and two sacks
QEW CLASH
- Toronto and Hamilton will meet for the third time in 20 days, and the seventh time inside a calendar year. The Argonauts hold a 4-2 advantage over that span.
- In their first back-to-back this season (Weeks 9 and 10), both teams claimed home victories.
- The familiar foes have had six back-to-back sets since 2013; Hamilton is 9-3 and 6-0 at Tim Hortons Field:
- 2013 | HAM sweep
- 2015 | HAM sweep
- 2016 | Split
- 2018 | HAM sweep
- 2021 | Split
- 2022 | Split
QUICK SLANTS
- This season, there have already been 91 interceptions made by 61 different players. Last season, 71 players registered a pick.
- Calgary’s Ka’Deem Carey and Dedrick Mills have combined for 704 rushing yards this season to form the league’s most prolific duo on the ground.
- Stampeders quarterback Jake Maier has made three appearances this season off the bench. Two have led to game-winning fourth-quarter drives, including last week in Toronto.
- Calgary’s Shawn Bane recorded a career-high 129 yards on four catches against the Argos last week.
- With two sacks over the weekend, Shawn Lemon is now tied with Willie Pless (84) for 19th all-time. Next on the list are James Curry (85.5) and Gregg Stumon (86).
- Winnipeg is coming off a bye; teams are 7-5 on a week’s rest in 2022. Since 2017, the Bombers are 8-1 off a bye.
- Zach Collaros (22,619) needs 106 passing yards to hurdle Joe Kapp (22,724) for 26th all-time and 295 yards to move past Dave Dickenson (22,913) for 25th.
- Last week, Ticats quarterback Matthew Shiltz reached 300+ passing yards for the first time in his career (303), while passing for two majors.
- Hamilton’s Tim White, Edmonton’s Kenny Lawler and Winnipeg’s Greg Ellingson are tied for the most catches in a single game this season (11). White has managed the feat twice, setting his new personal-best in Week 2 and matching it last week.
- Toronto’s McLeod Bethel-Thompson (11,036) needs 190 yards to pass Doug Flutie (11,225) for 4th on the Argonauts’ all-time passing list.
- BC is looking to sweep Saskatchewan for the first time since going 3-0 in 2016.
- In their first two meetings this season (Weeks 8 and 11), the Lions shut out the Roughriders in the second half, while scoring 25 points.
- Despite his injury, Nathan Rourke reached the threshold of 300 passing attempts, so his completion percentage (79.2) is a CFL record and is now second in efficiency rating (125.1) only behind Ricky Ray (126.4) in 2013.
- Rourke still passed for 375 yards in his shortened outing in Week 11 for his league-leading 6th game of the season with 300+ yards.
- In each of his nine starts this season, Rourke notched multiple TD passes. The record for games with multiple passing touchdowns is 12, set by Doug Flutie in 1997, who tallied 36 majors over that span. It was also part of an overall streak of 21 games with at least one touchdown pass.
- BC’s Michael O’Connor is set to become the third Canadian quarterback to make a start this season, following Rourke and Edmonton’s Tre Ford. Three Canadian pivots have not started in the same season since 1968 with Ottawa’s Russ Jackson, Edmonton’s Frank Cosentino, and BC‘s Peter Ohler.
- In 2021, Ottawa swept the season series against Edmonton. Edmonton won the teams’ first meeting this season, but has not swept Ottawa since 2018.
- In his past two games, Edmonton’s Taylor Cornelius has 133 rushing yards and 407 passing yards. During that stretch, he has four touchdowns (two of each).
- Elks’ defensive lineman Jake Ceresna has played three games since returning from the injured list, notching four total sacks with at least one in each contest.
Lucas Barrett
Associate Vice-President, Communications & Public Affairs, Canadian Football League