5 PFF stats that stand out from Week 15

The Montreal Alouettes closed Week 15 with an upset win against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium thanks in part to the performance of McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Tyson Philpot.

The duo headlined a dangerous aerial attack and kept Montreal two points ahead of the Toronto Argonauts for second place in the East Division.

But just how impressive was their performance? Let’s see what our friends at Pro Football Focus had to say about the Alouettes duo and a trio of other outstanding performances in Week 15.

MCLEOD BETHEL-THOMPSON | QUARTERBACK | MONTREAL ALOUETTES | 3 BIG-TIME THROWS

McLeod Bethel-Thompson returned to the lineup for the first time since Week 10 due to an elbow injury and had his best game of the season to guide the Montreal Alouettes to a win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina.

The veteran pivot did it by leading the league in a couple of advanced metrics according to PFF. Bethel-Thompson had a league-best three big-time throws, while not having a single turnover-worthy play. A big-time throw, according to PFF’s website, is a “high-difficulty, high-value pass. They are characterized by excellent ball placement and timing, typically on deeper passes or into tight windows.” More impressively, Bethel-Thompson did it with the fastest time-to-throw of Week 15 (2.05 seconds).

Overall the quarterback completed 20 of 26 passes for 370 yards and two touchdowns in the 48-31 win.

TYSON PHILPOT | RECEIVER | MONTREAL ALOUETTES | 6 RECEIVING FIRST DOWNS

A big reason for Bethel-Thompson’s success was receiver Tyson Philpot. The Canadian pass-catcher went off for 238 yards and two touchdowns, catching all nine of the passes thrown in his direction.

Philpot finished second in receiving first downs (six) and first in receiving grade (91.4) according to Pro Football Focus, playing a huge part in his team dropping 48 points against a defence that entered Week 15 allowing the second-lowest total points among all teams.

KORDELL JACKSON | DEFENSIVE BACK | EDMONTON ELKS | 0 PASS COMPLETIONS ALLOWED

Kordell Jackson played 37 coverage snaps in the Edmonton Elks loss to the Toronto Argonauts and didn’t allow anything positive to happen.

That’s because Jackson was targeted three times among 37 snaps and didn’t allow a single completion, registering one interception, one forced incompletion and one pass knockdown according to PFF.

Overall the Elks defence forced six turnovers against the Argos, but were unable to hold on to a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

ANDREW CHATFIELD JR. | DEFENSIVE LINEMAN | TORONTO ARGONAUTS | 6 TOTAL PRESSURES

One of the reasons the Elks were unable to keep the Argos at bay was the play of Andrew Chatfield Jr., who impacted the game in multiple different ways.

The defensive lineman led the league in pressures with six, according to PFF, gaining five hurries and a hit against the Elks, impacting Cody Fajardo’s play despite not registering a sack.

However, his biggest impact play came with the team trailing by six points in the fourth quarter, when the defensive lineman recovered a fumble forced by linebacker Aaron Casey and defensive lineman Derek Parish and returned it to the end zone.

JUSTIN HARDY | RECEIVER | OTTAWA REDBLACKS | 3 CONTESTED CATCHES

Justin Hardy was among the top in a couple of receiving statistics in Week 15. Not only did he tie for second in receiving first downs with six, according to PFF, he did it so while leading the league in contested catches with three.

That means that more than a third of Hardy’s targets (eight) came against tight coverage, highlighting the veteran’s ability to win 50-50 balls and provide pivot Dustin Crum with an invaluable security blanket.

Hardy finished the game with 10 catches for 100 yards and a touchdown.

5 PFF stats that stand out from Week 15

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