Here comes Week 11 in the CFL. It’s a biggie.
As I stated in “Overreaction Monday,” a few days back, I believe this week has the potential to provide a defining fulcrum for every team involved. Which way are you headed in the second half of the season?
Within these big games, we’ll get big performances, big moments.
Here are five bold predictions for Week 11.
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KEON HATCHER SR. GETS LARGE
I don’t mean large, physically. That’d be a silly thing to predict as he’s already like a running redwood out there.
I don’t think Keon Hatcher Sr. will be too too happy about his performance against Hamilton in Week 10, where he had two catches — and at least as many drops — on six targets for 28 yards.
A prickly Hatcher is what we should expect to see and I think BC quarterback Nathan Rourke is smart enough to know that that will mean it’s a pretty good day to fire away at number four.
As good as his Week 4 (nine catches for 162 yards) performance against Calgary?
Well, that’ll be tough to replicate on a night where light rain and 11 degrees are forecast for the game but these are bold predictions, yeah? So let’s call it six for 85. And spice it up by saying he hauls in two touchdown passes.
He has just one, so far, this season and that came in Week 7 against Edmonton.
THE BLUE BOMBERS LET IT FLY
Coming off the bye, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have a couple of big questions to answer.
One, can they stop the run? And, two, can they get the offence ignited?
On the first point, if Winnipeg can’t clamp down on Ottawa’s ninth-ranked rushing game (53.4 yards per game, 3.8 yards per rush), then that will really signal some ongoing trouble — or confirm it, I suppose — on the heels of giving up 377 ground yards to BC in Week 9.
On the second point, the Bombers hit the bye as the most timid passing team in the CFL, attempting 34 passes of over 20 yards. League-wide, 446 such passes have been hurled with — no surprise — Davis Alexander and the Montreal Alouettes leading with 60, and the average coming in at just shy of 50 per team.
So here’s the prediction: With Zach Collaros apparently back at the controls, the Bombers decide to just flat out let ‘er fly, with a bevy of downfield passes and a healthy dose of Collaros doing what he does so well; rolling right and firing deep.
Even if Collaros isn’t quite ready to go, I’ll stand by the prediction with Dru Brown back of centre.
SOMEONE’S MAKING A HOUSE CALL IN EDMONTON
Can Toronto’s Janarion Grant pull off a touchdown return for a second straight week?
Can Edmonton’s Javon Leake break his personal goose egg and haul one back for the first time in 2026?
Both these teams defend punt returns pretty well (Toronto ranks second, Edmonton fourth) so I’m gonna lean on kickoff stats for this prediction.
A check of the numbers through Week 10 shows that the Argos give up an average of 24.3 yards per kick-off return, ranking them eighth in the CFL.
In ninth? The Elks, averaging 26.6 yards given up per kick.
Turning our attention to ‘big play’ returns surrendered (40 or more yards), the Elks rank last with seven while the Argos (as well as the Lions, the Als, and the Ticats) are pretty well right there with them, with six.
The prediction: Either Grant or Leake is taking a kickoff all the way back.
IT WILL BE AN AIR SHOW
Edmonton’s Cody Fajardo put up 51 pass attempts in a game against the BC Lions in Week 5. Toronto’s Chad Kelly made 46 throws in Week 2 against Montreal.
Those are this season’s two highest attempt totals, so far.
The prediction: Both quarterbacks hit the 40-throw mark at Commonwealth on Saturday afternoon.
Toronto’s run defence has been pretty solid and the Elks aren’t shy about turning Fajardo into Cody the Catapult when needed.
And Throw-a-palooza is just how Toronto always rolls, so, yeah. Forty-forty.
I checked the weather for Edmonton on Saturday. Sunny with a high of 20, barely a whisper of a breeze.
Nice day for chuckin’.
TOMMY STEVENS DOES SOMETHING REMARKABLE
Touchdown Tommy is coming off consecutive hat-trick games so if that isn’t “remarkable” then what exactly do I think he will do in Week 11 that is?
A four-touchdown game seems the logical next step but that ain’t where I’m headed.
On Saturday night in Hamilton, Tommy Stevens will throw a touchdown pass.
That’s something Stevens hasn’t done since October 29, 2022, when he was a Calgary Stampeders’ rookie, shooting a nine-yarder to another rookie, Jalen Philpot.
Stevens has attempted zero passes in 2026 and threw just one in 2025. It’s time.
This week, on goal-to-go from somewhere inside the 10-yard line, Tommy Stevens fakes a run and finds somebody in the end zone for a major.
