Landry's 5 takeaways from Week 10

Hello, BC Lions. YES, to the orange socks. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

Here are the Week 10 takeaways.

SOMETIMES YOU OWE IT ALL TO THE PUNTER

The Ottawa REDBLACKS trailed the Toronto Argonauts by a score of 22-1, and had another drive stalled, early in the second quarter.

Mistakes were made. Points were gifted. Points were left off the board. Things were bleak. They needed a spark.

That’s when punter Richie Leone stepped into a towering, 55-yard punt that landed in the corner and rolled out at the Toronto three-yard line. It was a surgical strike, never easy to pull off, but particularly tough on a day where the lake breeze was blowing pretty good into BMO Field.

A Toronto two-and out came after that, and a big punt return by Kalil Pimpleton set the REDBLACKS up at the Toronto six-yard line. Two plays later, Eugene Lewis caught a touchdown pass from Dru Brown and the comeback was on.

Yes, an awful lot of water flowed under the bridge in Ottawa’s 46-42 win over the Argos and all of it was impressive and very much needed for victory to be had.

But we know exactly where that river was sourced and it was with Leone, who provided a tactical foothold from which everything else flowed.

SPEND YOUR TIME OFF WELL

After getting their hearts ripped out a couple weeks ago, the BC Lions had some adjusting to to as they headed into the bye week after a crushing, last-second home loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Tuning up for the re-match, the Lions did the tinkering they needed to.

Ticats’ quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell noticed, especially in an arid first half for the Hamilton offence.

“Comin’ off a bye week, you know they’re gonna come out with a bunch of crazy looks,” said Mitchell, post-game.

“Completely change what they do,” he added. “They wouldn’t be very good coaches or a very good team if they just came out and ran the same thing against us after comin’ off a bye week.”

“The group focused on the things that we needed to fix and were able to implement those things when it mattered most,” said Lions head coach Buck Pierce of his team’s big road win.

Instead of letting a late lead slip away and into a loss, the way they had in Week 8, the Lions rebounded with an overtime victory.

“We’re building some grit,” said Pierce. “We’re building some toughness.”

Time well spent during a bye helped in that construction.

REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD. NO, NO. COLDER THAN THAT

BC running back James Butler had a whale of a game a couple of weeks back, against the team that released him during the off-season.

But his 16-carry, 115-yard effort against Hamilton in Week 8 did not come with a cherry on top in a 37-33 loss.

In Week 10, Butler soared even higher, with 140 yards from scrimmage, including a rushing major and a toe-tap touchdown reception worthy of any wide receiver’s highlight reel, never mind a running back’s.

And this time, a win.

“Always extra gumption,” Butler said about meeting his old team. “It’s always just a little more personal.”

Over in Montreal, Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo — denied Week 8 vengeance against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the team that discarded him in 2023 — got some instead against the club that traded him this past off-season.

“I’d be (bleeping) lying to you if I didn’t say that meant a lot to me,” an excited Fajardo told his teammates in the locker room, post-game.

“From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate every single one of you guys.”

Both Butler and Fajardo, then, had to wait a little longer for full satisfaction. The colder the pizza, the better it tastes, I guess.

SOMETIMES YOU FINALLY GET TO BE THE WINDSHIELD. SOMETIMES YOU JUST KEEP ON TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW NOT TO BE THE BUG

Heading into Week 10, the BC Lions, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa REDBLACKS and Edmonton Elks all were in pretty desperate need of victories and of finding ways to pull out the closely contested ones.

The Elks, REDBLACKS and Lions all did that, fashioning crunch time victories and in the case of Edmonton and Ottawa, in comeback fashion. Calgary got that kind of victory too, though they were far less thirsty, I’d say, for a gut check compared to the other four.

The defending champion Toronto Argonauts, have fallen a long way since last November’s Grey Cup celebration, destined for the bottom of the Power Rankings at the midway mark of the 2025 season.

Saturday’s loss to Ottawa had their head coach, Ryan Dinwiddie, questioning the character of some of his players.

“I think we’ve got some pretenders in the building,” Dinwiddie told reporters after the game. (Those who) like to talk a big game but don’t show up on game day.”

“I just think as a football club, right now, we don’t have enough courage. We don’t handle adversity very well.”

In Week 11, in Edmonton, they’ll have to figure out a way to handle adversity against a team that just did that themselves.

I NEED TO LEARN TO TAKE IT ONE WEEK AT A TIME

Hurdlin’ Herslow! 🤩#CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) August 9, 2025

I apologize, unreservedly, Week 10. I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you — or your family — and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.

In last week’s takes, I began by expressing that while I thought the Week 10 games would come with some intriguing possibilities, I was really looking ahead to Week 11 and to the Hamilton Ticats meeting the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Dammit, Landry. You’ve been around football for long, long time. You know how this is supposed to go.

One. Week. At. A. Time.

You were absolutely sensational, Week 10.

A brilliant second half and overtime finish in the opener. A last-minute drive for victory authored by a returning quarterback and receiver in the second.

A crazy track meet in the third, one that included the greatest hurdle play I’ve ever seen. (BONUS TAKEAWAY: Flights in and around Toronto’s Island airport were suspended for a short time immediately following Jake Herslow’s incredible leap while flight controllers tried to figure out what the hell just caused that blip on their radar screen.)

And then a capper that featured back-to-back clutch boots by two of the greatest placekickers to ever don a CFL uniform, including a record-tying 63-yarder from Winnipeg’s Sergio Castillo.

You were a superstar, Week 10, and I thank you. And I beg your forgiveness. I will never look too far ahead again.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: You know I absolutely will look too far ahead again.

AND FINALLY: You most definitely have our attention, Jacob Roberts. You and everyone else on that Calgary defence.

Landry’s 5 takeaways from Week 10

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