Elite performance from WR Tyson Philpot: The Montreal Alouette caught nine passes for 238 yards. He averaged 11.1 yards after the catch per reception and led the league with 8.50 yards per route run.

Hamilton CB Jamal Peters shuts down Winnipeg receivers: Peters saw just three targets and didn’t allow a catch while picking off one pass and breaking up another.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Week 15 in the CFL saw a major upset in the Montreal Alouettes ending their five-game losing streak by defeating the first-place Saskatchewan Roughriders, 48-31. We also had the Hamilton Tiger-Cats keep a two-game hold on their East Division lead with a 32-21 win over Winnipeg. Toronto and B.C. also kept pace in their playoff races with big wins. As always, we’ll highlight the top players at every position in this week’s “Team of the Week.”

With Montreal’s massive victory, it’s no shock that it leads the way this week with six players selected to the Team. The Toronto Argonauts are second with five, while Saskatchewan, B.C. and Edmonton all notched four. Surprisingly, Hamilton had just one player make the team — the same number as Winnipeg, the team it defeated.

OFFENSE

QB: McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Montreal 

RB: Stevie Scott, Montreal 

Receiver: Tyson Philpot, Montreal

Receiver: Keon Hatcher, British Columbia

Receiver: Justin Hardy, Ottawa

Receiver: Bralon Addison, Ottawa

Receiver: Jake Herslow, Toronto

LT: Jarell Broxton, British Columbia

LG: Pier-Olivier Lestage, Montreal

C: Logan Ferland, Saskatchewan

RG: Jacob Brammer, Saskatchewan

RT: Jermarcus Hardrick, Saskatchewan

DEFENSE

DI: Jonah Tavai, British Columbia

DI: Jared Brinkman, Edmonton

EDGE: Derek Parish, Toronto

EDGE: Noah Taylor, Edmonton

LB: A.J. Allen, Saskatchewan

LB: Tyrice Beverette, Montreal

Cover LB: Redha Kramdi, Winnipeg

CB: Jamal Peters, Hamilton

CB: Tyrell Ford, Edmonton

HB: Deontai Williams, British Columbia

HB: Wesley Sutton, Montreal

S: Darrius Bratton, Toronto

SPECIAL TEAMS

QUARTERBACK OF THE WEEK: QB MCLEOD BETHEL-THOMPSON, MONTREAL

After missing several weeks due to injury, Bethel-Thompson returned and was instrumental in Montreal snapping its five-game losing streak. The quarterback was nearly perfect, going 21-of-27 for 379 yards and two touchdowns. He made three big-time throws and had zero turnover-worthy plays.

Bethel-Thompson’s 72.0% accuracy percentage ranked second in the league, and he also finished second with 44.4% of his passes going beyond the sticks. It’s no surprise that Bethel-Thompson led the league by a wide margin with a 93.3 PFF passing grade. 

This was Bethel-Thompson’s best game of the season by far. Previously, he recorded just two big-time throws and six turnover-worthy plays in six games, good for just a 63.4 PFF passing grade.  

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: WR TYSON PHILPOT, MONTREAL

After starting last season as one of the best receivers in the CFL before missing the second half of the year to injury, Philpot has had a down year. He’s missed multiple games to injury yet again, and had totaled 28 catches for 317 yards, three touchdowns and seven explosive receptions in six games. That was good for a 61.9 PFF receiving grade.

But this week, Philpot nearly matched those numbers in one game. He caught all nine targets he saw for 238 yards, two touchdowns and five explosive receptions. Philpot averaged a ridiculous 11.1 yards after the catch per reception and led the league with 8.50 yards per route run. His 89.4 PFF receiving grade was more than 10 points higher than second place. 

OFFENSIVE LINE OF THE WEEK: SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS

Another week, another Offensive Line of the Week award for Saskatchewan. As a unit, the Roughriders led the league with a combined 78.3 PFF run-blocking grade. As pass blockers, the unit also paced the CFL with a combined 94.3 pass-blocking efficiency score after allowing just five pressures on 44 dropbacks.

Once again, the Roughriders were led by RT Jermarcus Hardrick, who allowed just one pressure and had the third-highest PFF run-blocking grade in the league at 77.8. Hardrick is the highest-graded offensive lineman in the CFL this season at an 82.2 overall mark. 

PASS RUSHER OF THE WEEK: EDGE DEREK PARISH, TORONTO 

Parish had his best game of the year last week by a large margin. In his previous 10 contests, Parish mustered just two sacks, an 8.6% pass rush win rate and a 62.7 PFF pass-rush grade. But this week, he doubled his sack total and had eight total pass-rush wins, good for a 27.6% pass-rush win rate. That was the third-highest win rate among qualified pass rushers.

His second sack was a game changer, too. Just before the 3 minute warning, Parish stripped the ball from Edmonton quarterback Cody Fajardo, with the fumble recovered by teammate Andrew Chatfield and returned for a touchdown. That score put the Argonauts up 28-27 late in a game that they would end up winning 31-30. Parish ended up leading all qualified pass rushers with an 83.1 PFF pass-rush grade.

RUN DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: S ROYCE METCHIE, EDMONTON

It’s not often that a free safety wins a run-defense award, but Metchie earned it this week. The former Argo was instrumental in holding his former team to just 45 yards on 16 carries. Metchie made five total tackles and a solo stop, while not recording a single negative grade on a run snap. He finished with an 85.6 PFF run-defense grade, which led all defenders this week. This was also the first time all season that Metchie recorded a run defense grade above 68.0 in a game. 

COVERAGE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: CB JAMAL PETERS, HAMILTON

One of the best corners in the CFL had one of his best games of the year last week. Peters played 33 coverage snaps and was targeted just three times. On the first of those targets, he sniffed out a screen pass early in the game, jumped in front of it and picked it off, returning it to just a few yards out of the endzone. During the second, he was in tight coverage on a throw behind the receiver. The third was a pass defense in the end zone with just a few seconds left in the game.

PFF tracks individual coverage matchups, and Winnipeg receivers were deemed open on just two of Peters’ 26 snaps covering a receiver (and not just sitting in a zone). That 7.7% open rate was the lowest of the week among corners.