Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
TORONTO — It all comes down to this. Just one week remains on the CFL regular season schedule and where each team will end up in their respective divisions is anything but clear.
The week starts in Hamilton on Friday where two non-playoff teams – the Tiger-Cats and Alouettes – battle it out at Tim Hortons Field. One of the league’s hottest receivers over the past month, Brandon Banks, will be looking to make it six consecutive games with 100+ receiving yards. The speedster has made an impact on the Ticats lineup since moving to receiver from his usual position of return man. Matthew Shiltz is slated to make his first career CFL start for the Alouettes as Montreal looks ahead at the future of their squad. Can Shiltz help the Als end the regular season on a high note or will the Tabbies grab one more win in front of their home crowd?
The second half of Friday’s double header is in Calgary where the Stampeders host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Stamps have already punched their ticket to hosting the Western Final but where will Winnipeg land? With a win the Bombers can clinch second in the West and will host the West Semi-Final. A loss, however, and they risk dropping to third and having to play on the road. It’ll be a tough task this week for Winnipeg as they roll without starting quarterback Matt Nichols. Instead, it’ll be Dan LeVefour getting the start under centre. Andrew Buckley will make his first CFL start this week as the Stampeders look to snap an out of character two-game losing skid.
Next up the Saskatchewan Roughriders host the Edmonton Eskimos in the first half of Saturday night’s double header. The Esks are getting hot at the perfect time with Mike Reilly and his squad riding a four-game winning streak. Expect Adarius Bowman to make an impact this week as last year’s league-leading receiver has finally found his footing in 2017. The Riders, on the other hand, are also peaking at the right time. Duron Carter is making an impact on defence after making two-straight starts at cornerback while Chad Owens is picking up right where he left off last season at receiver. Edmonton has a chance at finishing in second, third or fourth in the Division depending on what happens on Friday night between the Bombers and Stampeders. The Riders, on the other hand, could play in the West Semi-Final or become the crossover team.
The final game of the week lands in BC where the Lions host the Toronto Argonauts. There’s a lot on the line for the Argos this week – a win and they host the East Final and earn the elusive bye. James Wilder Jr. should continue his strong second half of the season for Toronto as the rookie has completely ignited the team’s ground game. The Lions, on the other hand, have missed out on a post-season berth but will be riding momentum from their victory last week against the Bombers. Will BC play spoiler and take down the Boatmen or will Marc Trestman’s rested team coming off a Week 19 bye be able to move into first in the East?
Buy Week 20 Tickets 
» Friday, 7:00 p.m. ET: Montreal at Hamilton
» Friday, 9:30 p.m. ET: Winnipeg at Calgary
» Saturday, 7:00 p.m. ET: Edmonton at Saskatchewan
» Saturday, 10:00 p.m. ET: Toronto at BC
THIS WEEK IN THE CFL
MONEY IN THE BANKS
- After recording 13 receptions for a career-high 193 yards, Brandon Banks became the eighth player to record five+ games of 100+ receiving yards. The other players are Hal Patterson, Terry Greer, Joey Walters (twice), Jamel Richardson, Brian Kelly, Allen Pitts and Mac Cody.
- In those five games Banks has produced 34 receptions for 641 yards and five touchdowns.
- Here is a breakdown of his five games:
- Week 15 vs. Toronto – three receptions, 100 yards, one TD
- Week 16 vs. Winnipeg – six receptions, 104 yards, one TD
- Week 17 vs. Calgary – six receptions, 115 yards
- Week 18 vs. Montreal – six receptions, 129 yards, one TD
- Week 19 vs. Ottawa – 13 receptions, 193 yards, two TDs
- The longest streak of 100+ receiving yard games is eight, held by two players: Hal Patterson during the 1956 season and Terry Greer in the 1983 season.
- Banks is only 65 yards away from recording his first 1,000 yard season.
ELIMIMIAN – REWRITE THE RECORD BOOKS?
- Solomon Elimimian (133 tackles) is 11 tackles away from breaking the all-time CFL record for defensive tackles – a record that is currently held by Elimimian when he recorded 143 tackles in 2014.
- This season Elimimian has reached 10 tackles in a game five times and 11+ three times.
- When Elimimian broke the record in 2014, he had 137 tackles through 19 weeks. That same year, Elimimian took home some serious hardware: Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Most Outstanding Player.
- This season there are three players who have reached 100+ tackles: Elimiman (133), Alex Singleton (121) and Kyries Hebert (108). The next players knocking on the door are Larry Dean (94) and Bear Woods (86).
- Alex Singleton has set the new record for tackles by a Canadian.
- Kyries Hebert became the oldest player to record 100+ tackles (37).
496 COMBINED YARDS
- Diontae Spencer’s 496 combined yards, produced last Friday night against Hamilton, set a 17-year record for the most combined yards in a single game.
- He recorded 58% of Ottawa’s total yards (861) in the game.
- Here is a breakdown of his historic performance:
- Receiving yards – 133
- Punt return yards – 169
- Kickoff return yards – 165
- Missed field-goal return yards – 29
- The previous record was held by Winnipeg’s Albert Johnson III on July 21, 2000. Here’s is a breakdown of his game:
- Receiving yards – 153
- Punt return yards – 1
- Kickoff return yards – 198
- Missed field-goal return yards – 122
- To round out the top 5: 441 yards Larry Taylor, 402 yards Chad Owens and 401 yard Raghib “The Rocket” Ismail.
CLOSE GAMES AND PARITY
- Seven clubs have at least seven wins, and playoff positioning is still up in the air in Week 20 for 5/6 teams in the playoffs.
- 61% of the games have been decided in the final three minutes. 30 of those were decided by fourth-quarter game-winning drives.
- The average margin of victory is the lowest since 2001 – 11.6 points.
- In both divisions neither playoff slate is set and three of the final four games have direct impact on home dates and matchups.
CFL SCORING
- At 53.8 points per game, scoring is the highest since 2008 (56.2) and is up 18% from 2014 (45.5).
- This will be the third-highest scoring year in the last 20 seasons.
CFL OFFENCE AND GAME FLOW
- Net offence is at 736 yards per game. Like 2016, this year showed 9% growth over 2015.
- Second down conversions: At 48% this produces fewer two-and-outs which is key to the game flow and scoring opportunities.
- Two-and-Outs occur less than 1/3 of time (30%). By comparison, in 2014 40% of all drives ended up in two-and-outs.
- Emphasis on passing is the most since 1993 and second-highest in league history. Just under 70% of all offensive plays originated as pass calls.
WEEK 20 GAME NOTES
Bye Weeks: Teams coming off a bye this year are 10-7 (.588). The Toronto Argonauts are coming off a Week 19 bye when they play the BC Lions on Saturday night.
5,000 Yards: Mike Reilly (5,536) and Ricky Ray (5,205) have eclipsed the 5,000 yard barrier. With one game left, Bo Levi Mitchell (4,700) is 300 yards away from joining Reilly and Ray.
League-Leading Passers: Mike Reilly needs one touchdown pass to surpass Trevor Harris for the league lead. He also needs 464 passing yards to reach the 6,000 yard mark. If he were to do it this weekend, he would become the sixth player to ever reach the mark and the first since 2004 (Anthony Calvillo).
Ricky Ray (448) would need 33 completions to tie the CFL record of 481, set by Henry Burris in 2015.
1,000 Yard Receivers: Entering Week 20 there are 12 receivers who have reached 1,000 yards: Brandon Zylstra (1,615), Greg Ellingson (1,459), SJ Green (1,379), Bryan Burnham (1,149), Darvin Adams (1,120), Duron Carter (1,043), Naaman Roosevelt (1,035), Brad Sinopoli (1,009), Emmanuel Arceneaux (1,085), Jalen Sanders (1073), BJ Cunningham (1,047) and Luke Tasker (1,065). There are three players that need 100 yards or fewer to get to 1,000: Bakari Grant (995), Brandon Banks (935), and Armanti Edwards (911). The record for most receivers with 1,000 yards in a season is 19, set in 2005.
1,700-Yard Seasons: If Zylstra records 85 receiving yards he would reach 1,700 on the season. Since 2000, 1,700 yard seasons have occurred just six times:
2016 – Adarius Bowman 1,761
2011 – Jamel Richardson 1,777
2006 – Geroy Simon 1,856
2004 – Geroy Simon 1,750
2003 – Jermaine Copeland 1,757
2002 – Milt Stegall 1,896
Zylstra set a Edmonton franchise record with 10 100+ yards games, two off the CFL record set by Jamel Richardson in 2011.
1,000 Yard Rushers: After 133 yards on the ground in Week 19, Ottawa’s William Powell became the first player this season to reach 1,000 rushing yards. Powell leads the league with 1,025 followed by Jerome Messam (986) and Andrew Harris (967).
100 Receptions: Andrew Harris (100) is two catches shy of tying Craig Ellis’ running back receptions record with 102. Four other players have a chance to reach the 100-catch mark this year: SJ Green (99), Brandon Zylstra (97), Luke Tasker (97) and Emmanuel Arceneaux (94). If all four record 100 receptions, it would tie a single-season record.
Rosters: 196 players made their CFL debut, pushing the total since 1936 over the 10,000 mark (10,182) to ever play a CFL game. Hamilton had 86 different players suit up and play at least one game. Winnipeg has the most stable lineup, using only 57 players.
Sack Attack: Charleston Hughes is one sack away from becoming the 11th player to reach the 100 career sack mark in the CFL. He would also set a new Calgary franchise record.
Bowman Milestone: John Bowman will be playing in his 200th career CFL game.
Fans: If we average 25,547 fans per game in Week 20, the CFL will reach 2,000,000 fans for the fourth year in a row and the 16th time in the last 18 years.
