Walter Tychnowicz/CFL.ca
TORONTO — It’s Canada Day weekend with three entertaining games on schedule, but before we can look ahead, let’s go back to assess which units dominated in Week 3 of the CFL, according to PFF.
The BC Lions beat the Winnipeg Bombers at IG Field behind a strong defensive performance, while the Montreal Alouettes, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts also took care of business on the road.
To get a sense of which unit carried their team to victory, here are Week 4’s Player Grades Powered by PFF.
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PFF utilizes extensive review of game footage to provide additional context for every action on the field. Highly-trained PFF staff break down every game, player and play to provide over 200 unique data points, which are used to compile Player Grades – a numerical representation up-to-100 of performance at their specific position.
For more information on PFF, Player Grades, the Grading Scale and more, please visit pff.com/grades.
*All player grades required a minimum of 15 snaps played in Week 3 of 2023
Toronto Argonauts (82.3 offensive grade, 83.4 defensive grade)
Key areas: 89.1 rushing grade and 79.9 run blocking grade
The defending champions finished with the highest offensive and defensive grade of Week 3. There are a lot of areas to highlight for the Argos, but none more so than a dominant running game that finished with 194 yards and three touchdowns.
Toronto had a league-high 15 first downs on the ground and had 39.5 per cent of their rushing attempts either moving the chains or scoring a touchdown, also best in the league in Week 3.
BC Lions (68.0 offensive grade, 79.1 defensive grade)
Key area: 79.0 coverage grade
The Lions had an outstanding defensive performance against the Bombers and it translated to their grades. BC finished top two in run defence, pass rush and coverage, excelling in all three defensive areas.
The Orange and Black secondary allowed a league-low 214 passing yards and no touchdowns in Week 3 against a previously-explosive Winnipeg offence, to go along a league best 12.5 per cent of plays with 15 or more yards allowed.
Montreal Alouettes (80.4 offensive grade, 68.4 defensive grade)
Key area: 91.5 passing grade
Quarterback Cody Fajardo was the highest graded offensive player in Week 3 and together with wide receivers Austin Mack and Kaion Julien-Grant they finished as the No. 1 passing offence.
Fajardo averaged 11.7 passing yards per attempt and completed 76 per cent of his passes, both league-best in Week 3.
Saskatchewan Roughriders (68.4 offensive grade, 69.9 defensive grade)
Key area: 80.5 rushing grade
Saskatchewan played a well-rounded game against the Calgary Stampeders, highlighted by both their offence and defence finishing with top-three grades for the week.
No area did better than their rushing game though, as running back Jamal Morrow finished with 133 yards on 22 attempts. The Riders as a team rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns and forced a league-high 12 missed tackles.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers (57.9 offensive grade, 63.4 defensive grade)
Key area: 54.3 receiving grade
A week after leading the league in receiving grade, the Bombers pass-catching unit struggled against a lockdown secondary in BC that kept Dalton Schoen, Nic Demski, Carlton Agudosi and co. in check.
The unit finished with a league-low 47 yards after catch and eight receiving first downs.
Calgary Stampeders (64.0 offensive grade, 65.9 defensive grade)
Key area: 62.6 pass blocking grade
Calgary had 291 passing yards in Week 3 in part because of an offensive line that kept the Riders pass rush in check. The Stamps allowed zero sacks and only conceded a pressure on 25 per cent of their pass-blocking snaps.
The O-line was anchored by centre Sean McEwen, who allowed a pressure on only 2.4% of his pass-blocking snaps.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats (56.6 offensive grade, 55.3 defensive grade)
Key area: 49.4 passing grade
It was a tough week for the Tiger-Cats as starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was placed on the six-game injured list leading up to the game against the Montreal Alouettes. Backup Matthew Shiltz started in favour of the veteran and was unable to produce an efficient offensive outing.
Hamilton’s offence finished with the worst passing grade of Week 3, completing only 53.2 per cent of the passes with 7.3 yards per attempt.
Edmonton Elks (53.2 offensive grade, 50.1 defensive grade)
Key area: Pass blocking 36.9
The Elks made a change a couple changes at quarterback midway through the game against the Argos. First it was Kai Locksley then Jarret Doege taking over at pivot for Edmonton in place of Taylor Cornelius.
Regardless of who’s under centre, pass blocking remains an issue for the Green and Gold as they finished last in pass protection in Week 3 against a dominant Toronto pass rush. The Elks O-line allowed a pressure in 42.1% of all pass-blocking snaps.
| TEAM | OFFENSIVE GRADE* | DEFENSIVE GRADE* | OVERALL OFFENSIVE GRADE** | OVERALL DEFENSIVE GRADE** |
| Toronto Argonauts | 82.3 | 83.4 | 80.8 | 86.4 |
| BC Lions | 68.0 | 79.1 | 75.8 | 86.2 |
| Montreal Alouettes | 80.4 | 68.4 | 75.5 | 80.7 |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 68.4 | 69.9 | 69.9 | 79.5 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 57.9 | 63.4 | 76.8 | 72.2 |
| Calgary Stampeders | 64.0 | 65.9 | 60.9 | 78.4 |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 56.6 | 55.3 | 59.2 | 60.8 |
| Ottawa REDBLACKS | Bye | Bye | 49.6 | 65.0 |
| Edmonton Elks | 53.2 | 50.1 | 48.1 | 57.9 |
*Grades based on team-performance in Week 3 of 2023
**Cumulative grades based on team-performance in Weeks 1-3 of 2023
