Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
TORONTO — Hamilton started Week 14 with an important win highlighted by a passing offence that seems to be coming on its own.
Super Saturday then followed with two dominant performances by the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers followed by a comeback win by the Elks and their (still) dominant running offence.
That means we have a lot of units to go through – both good and bad – here on CFL.ca’s Team 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 14 of 2023
Hamilton Tiger-Cats (72.0 offensive grade, 63.4 defensive grades)
Key area: 81.8 passing grade
Taylor Powell delivered one of his best performances of the season in the win over the REDBLACKS.
Hamilton’s pivot had the second highest passing grade in Week 14 after tallying three big-time throws to only one turnover-worthy play. The Tiger-Cats also ranked second in passing yards (325) and touchdowns (three) for their efforts on Friday.
Ottawa REDBLACKS (69.7 offensive grade, 69.2 defensive grade)
Key area: 83.8 rushing grade
Ottawa’s offence continues to rely heavily on the running game. They ranked second in rushing first downs (13) and touchdowns (three), first in missed tackles forced (14) and explosive runs (eight) and third in yards after contact (124).
Toronto Argonauts (81.0 offensive grade, 78.2 defensive grade)
Key area: 82.7 pass blocking grade
Toronto’s offensive line continued a dominating run that now spans five games without allowing a sack. The Argos allowed a pressure on only 10 per cent of Chad Kelly‘s dropbacks while keeping him to two hits and one hurry over 30 pass blocking snaps.
Montreal Alouettes (62.9 offensive grade, 55.7 defensive grade)
Key area: 70.5 passing grade
The passing offence was not the reason the Alouettes lost to the Argonauts on Saturday. Fajardo and co. finished with the highest completion percentage (87.6) on a 26-of-30 performance for 290 yards, two big-time throws and two interceptions.
It was a conservative approach, however, as Montreal averaged the lowest depth of target (6.5) amongst all teams in Week 14.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers (88.8 offensive grade, 70.6 defensive grade)
Key area: 74.8 pass rush grade
There are a lot of areas to highlight for the Blue Bombers, including a pass rushing unit that dominated the line of scrimmage.
Winnipeg finished with three sacks, six hits, seven hurries and a 46.4 pass rushing win percentage in the rematch against the Roughriders to lead all teams in pass rush grade.
Saskatchewan Roughriders (60.0 offensive grade, 50.5 defensive grade)
Key area: 71.3 pass rushing grade
The Roughriders also did a decent job when it came to pressuring the quarterback, but couldn’t convert pressures into sacks to stop Winnipeg’s offence from moving the ball.
Saskatchewan had four hits and seven hurries with a 34.6 pressure percentage, while finishing with zero sacks on Zach Collaros.
Edmonton Elks (68.4 offensive grade, 70.0 defensive grade)
Key area: 81.9 rushing grade
It’s not a finished product in Edmonton yet but their running offence continues to be the engine behind a suddenly alive Elks offence.
The Green and Gold were third in rushing first downs (nine), missed tackles forced (eight), second in yards (214), yards after contact (128) and first in yards per carry (8.9) in their win over the Stampeders.
Calgary Stampeders (68.5 offensive grade, 71.6 defensive grade)
Key area: 79.3 coverage grade
The other side of the coin is a coverage unit in Calgary that kept the Elks passing offence at bay for most of the game.
The Stampeders allowed the second fewest passing yards (179), tied for fewest passing first downs (eight) and fewest open targets (11).
| TEAM | OFFENSIVE GRADE* | DEFENSIVE GRADE* | OVERALL OFFENSIVE GRADE** | OVERALL DEFENSIVE GRADE** |
| Toronto Argonauts | 81.0 | 78.2 | 83.9 | 88.6 |
| BC Lions | Bye | Bye | 76.4 | 89.9 |
| Montreal Alouettes | 62.9 | 55.7 | 73.5 | 84.0 |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 60.0 | 50.5 | 65.7 | 78.8 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 88.8 | 70.6 | 87.0 | 87.7 |
| Calgary Stampeders | 68.5 | 71.6 | 68.0 | 83.0 |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 72.0 | 63.4 | 70.6 | 75.4 |
| Ottawa REDBLACKS | 69.7 | 69.2 | 68.2 | 79.7 |
| Edmonton Elks | 68.4 | 70.0 | 68.8 | 61.6 |
*Grades based on team-performance in Week 14 of 2023
**Cumulative grades based on team-performance in Weeks 1-14 of 2023
