FanDuel Canada Day Weekend is in the CFL record books.
And what a journey it took us on from a historic quarterback performance to get the ball rolling on Thursday night in Calgary, to two legendary passers seeing their young Canadian replacements take over due to unfortunate injuries Sunday in Hamilton.
FANDUEL CANADA DAY WEEKEND
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» Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally
Here are my five takeaways from a hectic Week 5 experience.
STANDOUT PERFORMER
20 completions for 400 yards, six passing touchdowns and a blowout home win.
Vernon Adams Jr. is a player fuelled by confidence, with success breeding more success. On Thursday at home on a short week after getting a win over his old club the BC Lions in Kelowna, Adams Jr. felt untouchable for much of the game. He has now set the bar for this season in a place where even a 300-yard, three touchdown performance might feel lacklustre, as we saw the true potential of that aerial attack against Toronto.
TOP DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE
The BC Lions could also factor in here after upping their level of play, winning the net yardage battle against Edmonton and getting a much-needed victory, but the real answer is the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Sure, it came against backup quarterbacks and a shell-shocked Tiger-Cats roster following the Bo Levi Mitchell injury, but it was clear that Tony Jones, Willie Jefferson, Major Williams, and more were all up to the task of adjusting their mentality to the differences between Bo and Tre Ford. The confident speed they played with in that second half proved that Winnipeg still has the potential to lean on their veteran core and three layers of complementary football to reach the win column.
STATEMENT WIN
The easy answer here is the BC Lions getting their first victory of the season, but the Calgary Stampeders out-sprinting Chad Kelly and the Toronto Argonauts by leaps and bounds should put everyone in the CFL on notice.
Adams Jr. went for seven total touchdowns, the Stampeders won their second straight Stampede Bowl and ran out of fireworks in the process, as Dejon Brissett scored a pair of majors against his old club. All of this while Calgary didn’t have to rely nearly as much as normal on Dedrick Mills and their power running game, which could be a more ominous sign than anything else.
STUNNER
Coming into the weekend, Edmonton Elks running back Justin Rankin had seemed near untouchable, or if you got a hand on him there was no slowing his forward momentum through contact. The Elks’ multi-purpose threat has stated openly his goal of going for 1,000 yards in both rushing and receiving this year. That goal seemed more realistic after a monster Week 1 outing on the road in Ottawa and multiplied in realism with more explosive rushes in Week 3 against Montreal.
After a road win against Winnipeg in Week 4, all signs pointed to another heroic effort in Kelowna against the BC Lions, but the biggest jaw drop of the weekend comes from reviewing Rankin’s stat line in the Pacific party recap.
Seven carries for just 19 yards makes the game seem empty, but as always, the dual threat nature of successful CFL running backs lessens the overall impact, as Edmonton squeezed a 100-yard receiving effort from Rankin after 10 catches on 13 targets.
Not sure what’s more stunning: that initial rushing stat line or the ease with which he adds value in the passing game.
UNSTOPPABLE FORCE
Give Kenny Lawler a chance to catch the football and he will do spectacular things, it’s as simple as that.
On the third play of the game against Winnipeg, Bo Levi Mitchell connected with Lawler for a stunning pitch-and-catch while Tre Ford later on elevated the rock high in the Hamilton skies as Kenny nearly pulled off another mind-blowing aerobatics act.
Regardless of what Hamilton does at quarterback moving forward, they need to find ways to give Lawler chances to be great. The loss of one great player cannot result in the disappearance of two.
