September has almost arrived, once again, setting up one of the marquee weeks of action in the Canadian Football League.

Each of the teams involved would love nothing more than to get the rush towards November off on the right competitive and spiritual foot, with a win on OK Tire Labour Day Weekend.

Here are three strengths each team can lean on in their pursuit of victory.

OK TIRE LABOUR DAY WEEKEND

OK TIRE LABOUR DAY WEEKEND
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WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS

1. BRADY OLIVEIRA IS BACK IN GEAR

After being merely good to start the 2025 season, the 2024 Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian turned in a vintage Brady performance in Week 12. The Bombers’ running back rushed for 137 yards and a touchdown against the Montreal Alouettes, catching nine passes for 73 more yards (72 YAC). It sure looks like the shoulder injury that played a part in slowing Oliveira down is now a distant memory.

2. PASS DEFENCE IS BETTER THAN YOU MIGHT THINK

While the Bombers are ranked sixth in passing yards given up, which makes them a middling crew in that regard, they lead the CFL in a couple of pass defence categories. Winnipeg has allowed the fewest completions (195) and has held their opponents to a 61.1 completion percentage, overall.

3. WILLIE. ALWAYS WILLIE

 

Part of the reason the Bombers have held opponents to a low completion percentage is that Willie Jefferson swats so many passes away at the line of scrimmage. The 34-year-old veteran is having another outstanding season, on the minds and in the faces of opposing quarterbacks continually. Jefferson actually leads the CFL in pass knockdowns with 11. In fact, the Blue Bombers defence, as a whole, is tied for number one in knockdowns, with 41.

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS

1. THEY BOAST THE LEAGUE’S BEST DEFENCE

The league’s weekly defensive rankings take 11 different categories into account with each unit’s total ranking numbers being added up. Like a golf score, the lower the better and the Roughriders’ defence is number one with a total of 32 ranking points. They are number one in three categories including opponents’ net yards (339.5 per game), opponents’ rushing yards (76.3 per game) and in sacks (28).

2. TREVOR HARRIS HAVING AN MOP-CALIBRE SEASON

 

The Calgary Stampeders slowed the veteran’s roll in Week 11, but the 39-year-old is having one of his best seasons ever, leading the CFL with a very heady quarterback rating of 118.5, more than six points ahead of Edmonton’s Cody Fajardo, who’s second. Trevor Harris has thrown for 2,695 yards and 18 touchdowns, and he’s done it in an offence that has been missing star receivers Samuel Emilus and Kian Schaffer-Baker much of the time. Imagine what’ll happen when those two get into a line-up that includes top performers KeeSean Johnson and Dohnte Meyers.

3. THOR IS HAMMERING

Running back AJ Ouellette is having a superb season in the Saskatchewan backfield, standing third in rushing yards with 713, averaging a very healthy 5.1 yards per lug. After a disappointing and injury-interrupted 2024, Ouellette returned for this season determined to stay on the field and return to the old ways that made him a star in Toronto. He’s doing it and then some, on pace to break his personal record of 1,009 rushing yards, set during the 2023 season.

TORONTO ARGONAUTS

1. NICK ARBUCKLE IS EN FUEGO

 

The 2024 Grey Cup MVP started the 2025 campaign in a sluggish way but has been steadily turning in better and better performances as the weeks have gone by, and in Week 12 he put everything together in a three TD pass, 443-yard performance in a win over the BC Lions. Arbuckle leads the CFL in passing yards with 3,476, and has more big play completions (30 or more yards) than anyone else, with 22. Yes, he’s thrown 10 interceptions but only two of those have come in the last five games.

2. THE RECEIVING CORPS IS STEPPING UP

A quarterback, of course, doesn’t complete passes to himself so it stands to reason that Toronto’s pass-catchers have been doing their jobs well. The leader is Damonte Coxie (854 yards, six touchdowns), the dominating receiver that the Argos hope to have back in the lineup for the Labour Day game in Hamilton. Canadians Kevin Mital and Dejon Brissett are both in the top 15 when it comes to receiving yards, and now the Argos have brought back Makai Polk, who was an East Division All-CFL receiver in 2024.

3. HE’S MAKING HIS SECOND GO-ROUND REALLY COUNT

Linebacker Cameron Judge’s play certainly rates as a Toronto strength, as the 30-year-old is among the league leaders in defensive plays made, with 75, ranking him fourth overall. Judge’s defensive bingo card is almost full; He has 60 defensive tackles (third in the CFL), two forced fumbles, two interceptions, two knockdowns and three tackles for loss. The veteran has chipped in with three special teams tackles as well, making this — his second stint as an Argo — a sensational one.

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS

1. A NIGHTMARE OF A PASSING GAME FOR DEFENCES

 

As advertised, the Ticats greatest strength lies in their fearsome aerial attack, led by 35-year-old quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell who, like Trevor Harris in Saskatchewan, might just be having his best season ever. Second in passing yards with 3,057 (having played one fewer game than Arbuckle), Mitchell has been having a field day for the most part, leading the league in touchdown passes (21) and having thrown just five interceptions. The incomparable Kenny Lawler leads the parade with 845 yards and eight touchdowns as well as a bevy of circus catches on his reel so far this season. With Tim White and Kiondré Smith also in the top 15, Mitchell has been able to spread things around in this pitch and catch season for the Ticats.

2. SPECIAL TEAMS ARE JUST THAT

CFL clubs are ranked in 10 categories across a spectrum of kick, return and cover categories and just like the defensive rankings, lowest score is tops. With 30 total ranking points, the Ticats’ special teams are number one in the CFL, leading in four of the ten categories (both  punt and kick off return yardage, big plays and opponents’ punt return average), second in two more (field goal percentage and penalties) and third in another (net punting).

3. THEY ARE TURNOVER KINGS

The Ticats lead the CFL in turnover ratio (it’s not really a ratio, everybody, we need a new name for it) at plus-seven. Hamilton’s defence is number one in the CFL with 14 interceptions and the Ticats are number two in turnovers forced (25) while they rank third in giveaways with 18.

EDMONTON ELKS

1. CODY IS IN CONTROL

 

The Elks have been scaling the mountain ever since veteran QB Cody Fajardo took over as the starter back in Week 8. The 2023 Grey Cup MVP has been a performance and spiritual leader for the team, posting a quarterback rating of 112.1, second only to Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris. Fajardo’s 77.7 completion percentage is tops in the CFL and in five starts, he has thrown for 1,435 yards and six touchdowns, being picked off just three times.

2. MOMENTUM

The Elks have won three straight games, now, after starting the season with a record of one and six. And they came close to winning the two games they lost prior to getting on this little heater of theirs, so it could easily be a not-so-little fiver. There is something to be said for having a growing wind at your back, and Edmonton has that. Belief is a powerful drug.

3. THEY’VE GOT A RUNNING BACK THEY CAN RIDE

Justin Rankin has been heating up — coincidentally or not — with the emergence of Fajardo as starting quarterback. The rushing is one thing but it is the pass receiving numbers out of the backfield that are really popping. In the last five games, Rankin has pulled in 28 passes for 339 yards and his YAC abilities have really turned short patterns into gold for the Elks.

CALGARY STAMPEDERS

1. THEY’VE GOT A TOP-FLIGHT DEFENCE

While Saskatchewan has the CFL’s top-rated defence, the Stampeders are right there with them, with 39 ranking points compared to the Roughriders’ 32. The Stamps D is the league leader in offensive points allowed (just 19.1 per game) and turnovers forced (26). Calgary’s defenders have allowed only 15 touchdown drives this season, holding opponents to a major on just 10.9 percent of their drives and that easily makes this group the stingiest in the league, with Winnipeg coming in at second at 15.4 percent.

2. A FORTRESS OF AN OFFENSIVE LINE

The Stampeders have given up a league-low 11 sacks so far in 2025, and they are second in rushing yards (118.2 per game) so this is pretty easy math to do. Calgary has had the great luxury of running out the same five starters for every game this season, except for starting centre Bryce Bell, who was injured during the second game of the season. So what happened? Bell was replaced by first year man Chris Fortin, who’s played so well that he has emerged as a leading candidate for Most Outstanding Rookie.

3. THE BACKS

Mills fires up McMahon…TD Stamps! #CFLGameDay

📅: Roughriders vs @calstampeders is LIVE NOW!
🇨🇦: TSN
🌎: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/eZbdjXv8mO

— CFL (@CFL) August 23, 2025

The quarterback and the running back, that is. Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. has been instrumental in Calgary’s bounce back season, turning in big plays on the field and building positive culture off it. Adams leads the CFL in average yards per passing attempt at 10.5 and is tied for second with 20 big play throws. When he’s not passing, Adams is handing off to Dedrick Mills, the the fourth-year Stampeder who leads the league in rushes of 10 or more yards (21) and is second in total yards with 738. Mills is on pace to obliterate his personal best of 923 yards, set last season.