THIS WEEK IN THE CFL - WEEK 16

Saturday features a double header. At 4 p.m. ET the Saskatchewan Roughriders continue their East Division road trip and visit the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field. A win for the Boatmen would give them a playoff berth and a home playoff date. Saskatchewan is in a western battle for playoff position, with three teams separated by only two points.

The back end of the doubleheader starts at 7 p.m. ET in Vancouver where the BC Lions play host to the Ottawa REDBLACKS. The Lions are looking to snap a two-game losing streak, while the REDBLACKS will try to take the season series (Ottawa won 31-24 over BC in Week 10).

The week concludes on Thanksgiving Monday in Montreal when the Edmonton Eskimos come for a visit. Edmonton is looking to right the ship and snap a six-game losing streak after starting the season 7-0.

REMAINING SCHEDULE

• Schedule with the highest winning percentage: BC Lions 39-28-1 (.581)
• Schedule with the lowest winning percentage: Montreal Alouettes 20-32 (.385)
• Most road games remaining: Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, three each
• Most home games remaining: BC Lions, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers with three each

5,000 PASSING YARDS

• Four quarterbacks are on pace to reach 5,000 passing yards this season: Mike Reilly (4,260), Ricky Ray (4,079), Matt Nichols (3,844) and Bo Levi Mitchell (3,978).
• In order for the four quarterbacks to hit 5,000 yards they would need to average the following amounts in the final weeks of the season:

Mike Reilly – 148 yards per game
Ricky Ray – 231 yards per game
Matt Nichols - 232 yards per game
Bo Levi Mitchell – 256 yards per game

• Four quarterbacks passing for 5,000+ yards in a season has only happened twice previously:
  • 2004: Anthony Calvillo (6,041), Jason Maas (5,270), Casey Printers (5,088) and Danny McManus (5,034)
  • 1993: Doug Flutie (6,092), David Archer (6,023), Kent Austin (5,754) and Tom Burgess (5,063)

• Both Trevor Harris and Kevin Glenn have a chance to reach 5,000 yards. Harris would need to average 426 yards per game and Glenn would need 313 yards per game.
• There have never been five quarterbacks with 5,000+ yards in the same season.
• Last season Mike Reilly (5,554), Bo Levi Mitchell (5,385) and Jonathon Jennings (5,226) eclipsed the benchmark.
• 5,000 yards has been reached 38 times in CFL history by 19 different players.
• There are six players with 20+ touchdown passes already this season. This marks the most since 2005 when there was seven: Anthony Calvilio (34), Damon Allen (33), Kevin Glenn (27), Ricky Ray (25), Kerry Joseph (25), Henry Burris (23) and Dave Dickenson (21).

KEEPING IT 100

• Calgary’s Alex Singleton became the first player to reach 100+ defensive tackles this season. He’s averaged 7.3 tackles per game this season.
• To this point, there are four additional players on pace for 100+ tackle seasons:
  • Solomon Elimimian – 133 tackles
  • Alex Singleton – 131
  • Kyries Hebert – 116
  • Larry Dean – 109
  • Bear Woods – 100
• Elimimian needs seven tackles in his game in hand to surpass Singleton for the league-lead.

• Last season four players reached 100+ defensive tackles: Solomon Elimimian (129), Bear Woods (126), Adam Bighill (109) and Deon Lacey (103).
• On the offensive side of the ball, four receivers are on pace for 100+ receptions: Brandon Zylstra, Brad Sinopoli, Andrew Harris and Luke Tasker.
  • Andrew Harris is on pace for 116 receptions
  • Brandon Zylstra is on pace for 109 reception
  • Brad Sinopoli is on pace for 105 receptions
  • Luke Tasker is on pace for 100 receptions
• Last season five players reached the 100 receptions mark: Adarius Bowman (120), Derel Walker (109), Emmanuel Arceneaux (105) and Andy Fantuz (101).
• Andrew Harris needs 19 receptions to set a new league-record for receptions for a running back. Craig Ellis had 102 in 1985 with Saskatchewan. 
• Among Sinopoli’s 88 receptions 41 of them were for second down conversions. He has three games to break the league record held by Ben Cahoon in 2004 with 45.

QUICK SLANTS

• Bye Weeks: Teams coming off a bye this year are 8-5. The BC Lions are coming off a Week 15 bye to host the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Saturday night.
• It’s Good: Calgary’s Rene Paredes has now taken over number one all-time in career field goal percentage. He has accomplished this in part due to his current streak of 18 consecutive made field goals. His career percentage is now 86.8%.
• Winnipeg’s Justin Medlock was ahead of Paredes but went 0 for 3 last week in field goal attempts to bring his average to 86.2%.
• The Stampeders have become the first team to have two players record multiple punt return TDs in the same season since 2004 (Toronto: Bruce 2, Levingston 2) and only the fourth team ever to do so. Roy Finch leads the CFL with three TDs this season while teammate Tunde Adeleke is now up to two having made another in last week's win over Montréal.
• Only one player has ever had 800+ rushing and receiving yards in the same year, a mark that Harris has outpaced in 2017.  He is now just six yards off a 1,000-yard receiving pace. He’ll have to average 56.4 yards per game to reach 1,000 on his receptions, and 41.4 rushing yards to get to 1K there.
• Winnipeg’s 10-3 start is the best start they have had since 2001 when they began the season 11-2.
• Go Long: SJ Green has had the most 20+ yard targets this season with 42, followed by Greg Ellingson (35) and Darvin Adams (30). Green also has the most receptions downfield 20+ yards with 19 (45%). Bryant Mitchell has the best percentage by catching 8 of 10 targets 20+ yards down field.
• Penalties are down 12% compared to last season at 15.57 per game.
• Red Zone: BC has the best red zone efficiency at 70.5%. The East Division-leading Toronto Argonauts have a league-low 44.4%.
• 27 % of Winnipeg’s points scored this year have come after forcing a turnover.
• Ottawa has attempted (19) and converted (13) the most two-point converts this season. Winnipeg has the fewest attempted (4) and fewest converted (1).
• Brandon Zylstra and Darvin Adams joined Greg Ellingson and SJ Green in the 1,000 receiving yards club. The next closest receivers are Brad Sinopoli (989) and Naaman Roosevelt (929).
• Home teams this year are 34-26-1 (.566)
• Three teams this year have scored 40+ touchdowns: Calgary (47), Winnipeg (45) and Saskatchewan (42).
• Edmonton has the highest average time of possession per game with 31:58. Hamilton has the lowest with 27:01.
• CFL-wide punt return average: The 10 punt return TDs have driven the league-wide average up to a near-record level in 2017. The 11.0 yards per return in 2017 is the second highest in CFL history, just behind the all-time record of 11.3 set last year.