• Winnipeg CB Tyrell Ford leading the league’s best defense: Ford has seven interceptions this season and a league-high 18 forced incompletions.
• QB Trevor Harris in the midst of a fantastic season: He leads the league with a 91.2 passing grade and ranks fourth with a 4.7% big-time throw rate
• Unlock your edge with a PFF+ subscription: Get full access to all of our in-season fantasy tools, including weekly rankings, WR/CB matchup charts, weekly projections, the Start-Sit Optimizer and more. Sign up now!
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
TORONTO ARGONAUTS VS. WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS
Week 19 kicks off with a game that has playoff implications for both teams. The Blue Bombers, winners of eight straight games, are one win away from clinching the West Division. A seemingly unthinkable moment earlier this year when they were 2-6 and sitting at the bottom of the division. They’ve been boosted by the league’s best defense and RB Brady Oliveira (90.9 season grade) carrying the offensive load. Across from them, the Argonauts need one win to clinch the final playoff spot in the East. Not only that, but an Ottawa loss would vault Toronto into the driver’s seat of an all-important home playoff game. Toronto will look to get better play from QB Chad Kelly, whose 75.7 season grade since his return is a far cry from his 92.0 grade a season ago.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: RT DEJON ALLEN, TORONTO VS. ED WILLIE JEFFERSON, WINNIPEG
The first matchup to watch of the week features two players at the top of their positions. Allen, winner of last season’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman award, is once again a favorite for the award this year. The tackle leads the CFL with an 81.2 pass-blocking grade and has an impressive 98.1 pass-blocking efficiency score. The ageless Jefferson ranks second in the CFL with 53 total pressures this season and ranks inside the top six in pass-rush win rate (13.9%) and pass-rush grade (80.9). He also has a ridiculous nine batted passes. These two going head to head is a true battle of the best and the winner might just provide all the edge their team needs to come out on top.
PLAYER TO WATCH: CB TYRELL FORD, WINNIPEG
Quarterbacks throughout the CFL need to think twice any time they throw the ball near Ford. The Canadian leads the league with a 91.6 coverage grade and is the definition of a big-play corner. Ford has seven interceptions this season and a league-high 18 forced incompletions. His 39.5% open receiver rate (percentage of plays with open targets) ranks fifth in the league, and his 22.2% forced incompletion rate ranks fourth. Ford has been one of the biggest reasons for Winnipeg’s turnaround this season and he’s someone to keep an eye on every team the opposition drops back to pass.
EDMONTON ELKS VS. CALGARY STAMPEDERS
While it was an impressive run for Edmonton, going from their 0-7 start to fighting for a playoff spot, it was always a longshot. The Elks' chances came to an end a week ago after they were defeated by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. While they are no longer playing for the playoffs, this game isn’t meaningless. The Elks will turn back to QB Tre Ford (70.0 season grade) to see if he can prove that he should be the team's long-term starter. For the Stampeders, their loss last week sealed their fate as well. For the first time since 2004, the CFL playoffs will not feature the Stampeders. A bitter pill to swallow for Stampeders fans, but there’s still plenty to watch in this game. The offense will see a lot of QB Matthew Shiltz running the show, after another disappointing up-and-down season for starter Jake Maier (79.2).
MATCHUP TO WATCH: WR EUGENE LEWIS, EDMONTON VS. CB DEMERIO HOUSTON, CALGARY
While it hasn’t been the usual dominant season for Lewis, he’s still been fantastic on the field. He has a 70.0 receiving grade and leads the league with 19 contested catches. He’s been even better against Calgary. In their two games so far this year, he’s caught 12 passes for 208 yards. He did a lot of that damage against Houston, who’s struggled at times this year. Houston has allowed the third-most yards in the CFL this season (783), and his 1.90 yards allowed per coverage snap is the highest in the league. He’s also only forced three incompletions to go with his four interceptions. The bright spot for Houston is that he’s only allowed two touchdowns all year. The bad news? Both of those were against Lewis.
PLAYER TO WATCH: QB MATTHEW SHILTZ, CALGARY
With the playoffs officially out of reach for Calgary, the Stampeders will turn to backup QB for his first start of the season. Shiltz saw his first action in the second half of last week’s game, completing four-of-five passes for 99 yards and a touchdown (a big-time throw to Reggie Begelton) in addition to rushing for 26 yards and two first downs on two scrambles. Shiltz has been a solid QB when given a chance to play over the past two seasons, putting up 21 big-time throws to just nine turnover-worthy plays since 2022. He needs a bit more consistency with his accuracy, but he’s shown to be a safer bet than what Jake Maier has done for Calgary in that same span.
BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS VS. SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS
The Lions against the Roughriders is another game with big playoff implications this week. Right now, Saskatchewan is one point ahead of B.C. for second in the West. A win, and the Roughriders clinch at least one home playoff game. Lose, and B.C jumps ahead of them with just one game remaining for both teams. For the Lions, they finally got the passing game they’ve been looking for out of QB Nathan Rourke last week. His 89.7 game grade led all offensive players. Rourke has struggled since his return, but last week could have been him turning a corner and moving him closer to that top echelon of CFL quarterbacks. It’ll be a much tougher test for him this week though against a Saskatchewan secondary that includes the likes of Rolan Milligan (90.2 coverage grade, ranks second in CFL) and Marcus Sayles (88.1, ranks third).
MATCHUP TO WATCH: WR KEON HATCHER, BRITISH COLUMBIA VS. HB ROLAN MILLIGAN, SASKATCHEWAN
It was always likely to take Hatcher a little bit to find his rhythm this season. Last season’s highest-graded receiver tore his Achilles in the playoffs and returned to game action less than nine months later. But last week saw Hatcher have his best game yet. He caught four passes for 97 yards, all of which went for first downs and three of which were explosive plays. Hatcher playing his way back to his elite form is scary for opposing defenses. But maybe not for Saskatchewan, who will have its elite halfback Milligan covering him much of the time. Milligan is a legitimate Most Outstanding Player candidate this season. His 90.2 coverage grade ranks second in the CFL. He leads the league with eight interceptions, and his 11 forced incompletions rank second as well. Quarterbacks have a 51.4 rating when targeting Milligan, the second-lowest mark in the league. If he can shut down Hatcher, it could be a big day for this Roughriders defense.
PLAYER TO WATCH: QB TREVOR HARRIS, SASKATCHEWAN
No quarterback has been playing as consistently as Harris has this season. He leads the league with a 91.2 passing grade and ranks fourth with a 4.7% big-time throw rate. Nobody is better at finding the open receiver immediately than Harris. That’s evidenced by his 50.0% rate of throws past the first down mark (third-highest in the CFL) while also having the quickest time to throw in the league at 2.29 seconds. If there’s a negative to Harris, it’s that his 4.4% turnover-worthy play rate is tied for fifth-highest in the CFL. If he can avoid those plays though, no defense can do much to stop him from methodically picking them apart.
OTTAWA REDBLACKS VS. MONTREAL ALOUETTES
Finally, we get to our Thanksgiving Monday bout. The Montreal Alouettes have already locked up the top spot in the CFL, and at this point, it's all about getting reps to stay active while remaining healthy for the playoffs. QB Cody Fajardo is having an excellent season (league-leading 79.0% adjusted completion rate), but there’s a chance he doesn’t play the entire game and we see some Davis Alexander at quarterback (80.6 season grade). For the Redblacks, they need a win to help right the ship. They started the season 7-2-1 but are on a 1-4 slide since, including losses in their last three games. They are still holding onto second place in the East and a home playoff game but are now just one point ahead of Toronto. That home game is very important for the Redblacks, especially QB Dru Brown. He has a solid overall grade of 76.6 at home, but that grade drops to just 58.8 when he’s on the road.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: LT NICK CALLENDER, MONTREAL VS. EDGE LORENZO MAULDIN IV, OTTAWA
While Montreal has one of the best offensive lines in the CFL, the Alouettes have been far from unbeatable. Calendar has had good moments, but he’s also struggled at times when it comes to protecting his quarterback. His 96.5 pass-blocking efficiency rating is the seventh-lowest in the CFL, and his 35 total pressures allowed are the fifth-most. He won’t have it easy this week any time Mauldin lines up across from him. The edge rusher has set a career-high with a league-leading 70 total pressures and ranks second with eight sacks. His 12.1% pressure rate leads the CFL, as does his 6.8 pass-rushing productivity score. Mauldin can get to the quarterback with the best of them, and if Callender can’t stop him, then it could be a long Thanksgiving Day for Montreal’s offense.
PLAYER TO WATCH: WR JUSTIN HARDY, OTTAWA
While all the talk at the start of the year was on Lions WR Justin McInnis, Hardy has quietly been putting up a season that can rival McInnis. Hardy ranks second with 1241 receiving yards, trailing McInnis by just three yards. He also leads the league with 90 receptions. Hardy has made 38 explosive receptions (first) and has caught 12 contested passes (fifth). He’s the only other receiver in the CFL aside from McInnis to be averaging more than 2.00 yards per route run (2.05 to be exact). He’s become a massive safety net for QB Dru Brown, who has a 105.9 QB rating when targeting Hardy and a 92.7 rating when targeting any other receiver.
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