• RB Justin Rankin runs wild for Edmonton: Rankin only had 10 rushes, but he turned those into 140 yards, with 113 of those yards coming after first contact. He forced six missed tackles and had five explosive runs.
• Toronto’s Jake Ceresna records an impressive pass-rushing performance: The interior lineman finished with a sack, two hits, a hurry and three additional pass rush wins.
• Blue Bombers LB Tony Jones shuts down the run: He led the league with a ridiculous 10 total tackles against the run, with three of those being solo stops.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Week 19 is in the books, and we now know all of our playoff teams, as the Toronto Argonauts clinched the final spot with a win. There were plenty of exciting moments and big performances in all the games this past weekend. PFF’s weekly Team of the Week will highlight all of them, as well as shout out some players with some individual awards.
With Toronto’s huge win over the Blue Bombers, it’s no surprise that the Argonauts lead the way with six players selected to the team this week. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, fresh off a huge win that kept their hopes alive for first place in the West, had five players make the team. Surprisingly, it was the league’s No. 1 team, the Montreal Alouettes, that had the fewest players make it, with just one selection.
OFFENSE
QB: Chad Kelly, Toronto
RB: Justin Rankin, Edmonton
Receiver: Jerreth Sterns, Saskatchewan
Receiver: Justin McInnis, B.C.
Receiver: Samuel Emilus, Saskatchewan
Receiver: Kenny Lawler, Winnipeg
Receiver: Makai Polk, Toronto
LT: D’Antne Demery, Calgary
LG: David Foucault, Edmonton
C: Peter Nicastro, Toronto
RG: Patrick Neufeld, Winnipeg
RT: Joshua Coker, Calgary
DEFENSE
DI: Jake Ceresna, Toronto
DI: Miles Brown, Saskatchewan
Edge: Kene Onyeka, Ottawa
Edge: TyJuan Garbutt, Winnipeg
LB: Wynton McManis, Toronto
LB: Tony Jones, Winnipeg
Cover LB: Tunde Adeleke, Toronto
CB: Marcus Sayles, Saskatchewan
CB: Brandin Dandridge, Ottawa.
HB: Damon Webb, Ottawa
HB: Najee Murray, Montreal
S: Loucheiz Purifoy, Edmonton
SPECIAL TEAMS
K: Brett Lauther, Saskatchewan
P: Cody Grace, Calgary
Returner: Terry Williams, B.C.
QUARTERBACK OF THE WEEK: QB CHAD KELLY, TORONTO
It was a big week for QB Chad Kelly and the Toronto Argonauts, as they beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and jumped into second place in the East Division. Kelly had his best game of the season, finishing with a league-high 90.4 game grade. The quarterback only passed for 202 yards but made a big-time throw and didn’t have a single turnover-worthy play. He was accurate all night, and more than half of his completions went for first downs. Kelly also added 34 yards rushing and five first downs gained with his feet. Kelly’s season grade of 80.3 now ranks seventh among qualified quarterbacks.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: RB JUSTIN RANKIN, EDMONTON
Not enough people are talking about the season that Rankin has been having for the Elks. This game was very typical for Rankin. He only had 10 rushes, but he turned those into 140 yards, with 113 of those yards coming after first contact. He forced six missed tackles and had five explosive runs. All of those numbers led the CFL this week. If Rankin had the same number of carries as Brady Oliveira has this season, he’d have 1,940 yards, 11 TDs, 89 missed tackles forced and 51 explosive runs on the season, all of which would lead the league by a huge margin. Extrapolating rushing stats like that isn’t an exact science, but it helps put the run he’s on into perspective.
OFFENSIVE LINE OF THE WEEK: OTTAWA REDBLACKS
The Redblacks may not have gotten the win on Thanksgiving Monday, but their offensive line played an impressive game. As a unit, they helped anchor a run game that led the league this week with an average of 3.5 yards before contact per carry. That’s 71.2% of their rushing yards coming before contact; no other team was above 50%. They also played excellently when they dropped back to pass, allowing pressure on just 14.6% of their dropbacks. That was the second-lowest mark in the league this week. Right tackle Zack Pelehos was beaten on just one of his 41 pass-blocking snaps.
PASS RUSHER OF THE WEEK: DI JAKE CERESNA, TORONTO
Ceresna has been impressive all season, and this game against Winnipeg was no different. The interior lineman finished with a sack, two hits, a hurry and three additional pass rush wins. His pass-rush win rate of 20.6% led the league this week, as did his 76.6 pass-rush grade. For the season, Ceresna ranks inside the top five in pass-rush grade (82.4), pass-rush win rate (14.3%), total pressures (48) and pass-rushing productivity score (6.1).
RUN DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: LB TONY JONES, WINNIPEG
Despite losing the game, Winnipeg’s defense has to be encouraged by how it completely stifled the Toronto Argonauts rushing attack. Toronto rushed the ball 23 times and gained just 78 yards. That 3.4 yard-per-carry average was one of the lowest of the week. Winnipeg can give a big thanks to Jones, who was flying around the field all night long. He led the league with a ridiculous 10 total tackles against the run, with three of those being solo stops. He didn’t have a single negatively-graded run defense play, and finished with a league-leading 89.0 run D grade.
COVERAGE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: FS LOUCHEIZ PURIFOY, EDMONTON
Purifoy has been one of the best safeties in the CFL this season, and he had another fantastic game on Saturday afternoon. Purifoy led the CFL with an 86.1 coverage grade in Week 19, allowing just one catch for three yards on the four targets he saw. Purifoy forced two incompletions, including the final play of the game, when he cut off the route of Calgary’s Reggie Begelton on a potential game-winning touchdown. On the season, Purifoy has five picks and eight forced incompletions, and leads all free safeties with an 82.8 coverage grade.
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