The Forty Creek Quadruple Header is almost here, my friends.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to first point out to you that it is a must to rotate your couch cushions during this marathon. I once binged a season and a half of \u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d in one day, a few years ago, and that particular cushion still has not bounced back.<\/p>\n
In honour of the Forty Creek Quadruple Header, I\u2019ve put together a list of my favourite scoring plays of at least 40 yards so far this season.<\/p>\n
Related Content<\/p>\n
Seven of them altogether, one each from the following categories: Field goals, receptions, rushes, interceptions, kick, punt and missed field goal returns.<\/p>\n
RUSHING TOUCHDOWN | JUSTIN RANKIN | EDMONTON ELKS<\/p>\n
All the way back to Week 1 we go for this one, when the Elks were taking on the REDBLACKS on a rainy night in Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Early in the fourth quarter, and with the Elks up by nine, running back Justin Rankin took a hand-off deep in the backfield and accelerated up the middle, ever so briefly.<\/p>\n
Seeing no hole there at all, he cut HARD to his left. A split-second later, he cut HARD right when that lane was blocked too. Met by REDBLACK linebacker A.J. Allen at the line, Rankin spun like a top to get away from what looked like a sure-thing tackle, and then jetted to the perimeter to out-run containment before fully sprinting away on a 61-yard touchdown romp.<\/p>\n
Hard cuts, a video game move and scintillating speed. That run had everything.<\/p>\n
RECEIVING TOUCHDOWN | JALEN PHILPOT | CALGARY STAMPEDERS<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a handful of beautiful explosive touchdown receptions you could choose from in 2026, but I am going to go with one that is a little less-heralded, because I think it deserves a whole lotta love.<\/p>\n
In Week 8, Calgary\u2019s Vernon Adams Jr. and Jalen Philpot teamed up for a sensational touchdown to open the second half of their game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
Dropping back from his own 41-yard line, Adams fired a 25-yard strike to Philpot, who\u2019d made a marvellous cut inside to get open against Winnipeg cover man Jonathan Moxey.<\/p>\n
Looking up, Philpot immediately saw Winnipeg\u2019s Deatrick Nichols closing at warp speed.<\/p>\n
Philpot lowered his shoulder, blasted through Nichols, then spun and headed downfield, faking out Moxey once more and then doing the same to Evan Holm before sprinting the rest of the way to complete a 69-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n
Had Philpot\u2019s teammate Tyreik McAllister not stolen the headlines with a three-touchdown night, this one would have gotten tons more attention.<\/p>\n
FIELD GOAL | VINCENT BLANCHARD | EDMONTON ELKS<\/p>\n
Of all the money field goals we\u2019ve seen so far this year, this one is the most money-est.<\/p>\n
In Week 8, Edmonton kicker Vincent Blanchard blasted a last-play, 57-yarder to give the Elks a 36-34 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina.<\/p>\n
That capped a gritty, last-minute drive for the Elks, during which quarterback Cody Fajardo twice completed passes on third down to move the sticks.<\/p>\n
As time expired, Blanchard launched a winner that looked like it would\u2019ve been good from even 67 yards.<\/p>\n
In a rock-solid, All-CFL worthy campaign, this stands as Blanchard\u2019s crowning achievement (so far).<\/p>\n
INTERCEPTION | JOSH WOODS | SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS<\/p>\n
Late in their Week 6 game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Saskatchewan Roughriders got a \u2018nighty-night\u2019 pick-six from linebacker Josh Woods.<\/p>\n
With the Ticats threatening a late score to tighten things up, Woods leapt up at the three-yard line to snag a Jake Dolegala pass and then he took it the distance for a 107-yard touchdown to seal the deal.<\/p>\n
One of the things I love about this play is that you can see teammate Antoine Brooks Jr. trying to entice Woods to pitch the ball to him at the Saskatchewan 10. Brooks watches him go by but he doesn\u2019t just say \u2018good luck, bud, bye-bye now.\u2019 Instead, he sprints downfield to block Hamilton\u2019s Kurleigh Gittens Jr., the only man left who could have stopped Woods once he\u2019d gotten past midfield.<\/p>\n
KICK RETURN | KALIL PIMPLETON | OTTAWA REDBLACKS<\/p>\n
Back in Week 4, Ottawa\u2019s Kalil Pimpleton electrified the REDBLACKS faithful, returning five kick-offs for 243 yards, his biggest being a 94-yard house call in the final minute of Ottawa\u2019s game against the Montreal Alouettes.<\/p>\n
Midway through the return \u2014 which highlighted Pimpleton\u2019s speed and quick decision-making \u2014 he gets caught up with teammate Michael Brodrique before a quick recovery has him cutting back and then accelerating through a crowd, off to the races.<\/p>\n
PUNT RETURN | ISAIAH WOODEN SR. | HAMILTON TIGER-CATS<\/p>\n
Holy hash marks, Week 8. Another one?<\/p>\n
Hamilton punt returner Isaiah Wooden Sr. stung Montreal\u2019s cover team with a 100-yard major during the first quarter of this game, dipsy-doodling through defenders and blockers over the first 15 yards, slowed up by a tackle attempt at the 25, then shaking off another tackle attempt at Hamilton\u2019s 35-yard line.<\/p>\n
One hard cut inside at the 40 and Wooden found complete daylight, sprinting the next 70 yards to the end zone.<\/p>\n
Bonus entertainment from this one: Early on, watch Hamilton\u2019s Myron Mitchell on the other side of the field, drawing an Alouettes cover man over by pretending he\u2019s the one who\u2019s fielding the punt.<\/p>\n
MISSED FIELD GOAL RETURN | TREY VAVAL | WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS<\/p>\n
In a Week 6 game against the Toronto Argonauts, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers held an eight-point lead, midway through the fourth quarter. Returner Trey Vaval fielded a missed Lirim Hajrullahu field goal attempt as far back in the end zone as he could possibly get, and then took it back 129 yards for a touchdown to give Winnipeg a two-score lead in a game they would win, 30-21.<\/p>\n
Vaval made good after he\u2019d fumbled on a punt return a few plays prior, setting Toronto up on the Winnipeg 33-yard line.<\/p>\n
Another thing that is so striking about this play is that it wouldn\u2019t have happened at all had Winnipeg coach Mike O\u2019Shea not called a timeout just in the nick of time on Hajrullahu\u2019s first attempt, which actually sailed through the uprights.<\/p>\n
THE OH-SO-CLOSE FUMBLE RECOVERY<\/p>\n
There\u2019ve been two fumble recovery touchdowns scored this season, but neither made it to the minimum 40-yard threshold.<\/p>\n
Coming tantalizingly close to legitimately landing on this list is Edmonton\u2019s 93-yd recovery return in Week 4.<\/p>\n
Elks defensive lineman Jordan Williams knocked the ball loose, linebacker Brock Mogensen scooped it up, and then later pitched it to corner Tyrell Ford near midfield.<\/p>\n
Ford made it all the way to the Winnipeg three-yard line before being knocked out of bounds by Winnipeg receiver Ontaria Wilson.<\/p>\n
Lots to love about this play, but what I like most is Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros hustling all the way back to cut Ford off at the 10-yard line, allowing the also-hustling Wilson to make the touchdown-saving tackle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Forty Creek Quadruple Header is almost here, my friends. I\u2019d like to first point out to you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-892534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}