Minas Panagiotakis/CFL.ca
TORONTO — You never know when your chance will come in professional sports.
All you can do is prepare yourself to the best of your ability and have patience, sometimes a lot of patience.
Then – as often happens – you get one chance to show you belong. That’s what Davis Alexander, Tre Ford and Frankie Hickson did in Week 8, taking over for the starter due to different circumstances and putting on a show.
The trio of offensive players were the highlight of their respective teams, showing all three teams can turn to their bench when they need an infusion of talent.
Two more veterans that we are accustomed to see dominating made the list as Marc-Antoine Dequoy and Bryce Carter did their thing once more on the defensive side of the ball.
CFL.ca brings you five PFF grades that standout from Week 8.
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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.
Davis Alexander | QB | Montreal Alouettes | 87.6 offensive grade
Alexander took over in the second half for the Alouettes and led his team to a come-from-behind victory against one of the best defences in the league.
Davis completed 15 of 18 passes for 178 yards and two majors in only two quarters of play. The pivot had a big-time throw percentage of 10.5 to go alongside an 89.5 adjusted completion percentage.
Tre Ford | QB | Edmonton Elks | 91.6 offensive grade
Ford is another quarterback that took over for the starter and put together an excellent performance passing the ball.
The National pivot completed 10 of 15 passes for 121 yards and three touchdowns without a single turnover-worthy play. His big-time throw percentage of 18.0 led all signal-callers in Week 8.
Frankie Hickson | RB | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 90.3 rushing grade
The tendency so far on this list is of players making the most of their opportunities.
Hickson started in place of an injured AJ Ouellette and rushed for 117 yards and a score, tallying 7.3 yards per carry, forcing six missed tackles and gaining five first downs.
Marc-Antoine Dequoy | S | Montreal Alouettes | 89.1 coverage grade
Dequoy had the second highest coverage grade after playing 38 snaps and being target exactly zero times.
That’s right, the Roughriders avoided looking towards Dequoy’s side of the field all evening with the defensive back playing lockdown coverage once again. It’s the second time this season that opposing quarterbacks have avoided Dequoy, and it won’t be the last if the National defender continues to excel in coverage.
Bryce Carter | DL | Ottawa REDBLACKS | 87.0 defensive grade
Carter dominated the line of scrimmage all evening for the REDBLACKS, finishing with two sacks and winning 30 per cent of his matchups against opposing blockers.
The pass rusher led a defensive unit that allowed only six points and no touchdowns to the Calgary Stampeders in Week 8.
