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<\/p>\n\u201cI understand what people might say about that (lining up a yard back), I get it,\u201d Sankey said. \u201cBut as a defence, we want to defend every blade of grass.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one cares about third-and-one, second-and-short or being on the goal-line because if they score, the only thing people will say is they scored. As a defence, we\u2019re here to do a job and that\u2019s defend every blade of grass.\u201d<\/p>\n
The six-foot, 242-pound Sankey stands third overall in tackles (94, four for loss) and second to Toronto\u2019s Adarius Pickett (129) in total defensive plays with 112. Sankey, 31, is poised to crack the 100-tackle plateau for a third straight year and fourth time in his six CFL seasons.<\/p>\n
Hall of Famer Willie Pless (1997-99) is the only CFL player to register three consecutive 100-tackle seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take pride in being able to stay healthy and be the type of player I need to be for my team,\u201d Sankey said. \u201cAnother 100-tackle season, yeah, that\u2019s great and I\u2019m obviously not going to undermine it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m incredibly blessed but God be the glory, He\u2019s protecting me and has my whole career. But the goal isn\u2019t finished at 100 tackles and if we do our job and win the games we need to win, those personal accolades will come.\u201d<\/p>\n
B.C. (9-6) can clinch a playoff berth Friday night with a victory over the Ottawa Redblacks (0-15). The Lions have won three straight and eight-of-nine overall to stand second in the West Division following a 1-5 start.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat (reason for turnaround) is a tough question because honestly in the eyes of a player on the B.C. Lions, I don\u2019t really feel like we\u2019ve (played differently),\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you start winning and that momentum train starts going, it\u2019s a real thing and you start believing.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, truly believing and having faith that we\u2019re a forced to be reckoned with. When you approach every game like that and you win consistently, you create a new standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sankey and Co. still have designs on first in the West. But the Edmonton Elks (11-4) would clinch top spot with a win over Hamilton on Friday and B.C. loss to Ottawa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here to win every game and our eyes are on first place,\u201d Sankey said. \u201cUntil that\u2019s crossed off and is no longer available, we\u2019re always going to strive to be No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an approach Sankey himself takes, said Kenny Kim of Summit Athletes, Sankey\u2019s Florida-based agent<\/p>\n
\u201cDarnell has proven again he\u2019s the league\u2019s best middle linebacker,\u201d said Kim. \u201cHis leadership skills and the respect he\u2019s earned are both well known within league circles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect Darnell to have another 100-tackle season, which would put him in very elite company with a Hall of Famer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sankey isn\u2019t surprised by his late-season play.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany guys feel toward the end of the season their bodies start breaking down but I feel like my body starts turning up, to be honest,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like towards the end of the season I\u2019m putting the best version of myself on tape.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe that\u2019s why this past month you\u2019ve seen those kind of numbers but I\u2019m never satisfied. I have much to improve upon.\u201d<\/p>\n
After playing Ottawa, B.C. will finish its regular season visiting the Calgary Stampeders (8-8) on Oct. 17 before hosting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-8) on Oct. 23. If the Lions can\u2019t finish first in the West, they\u2019d still secure second by winning out.<\/p>\n
But winning out means something completely different to Sankey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we win out, we win the Grey Cup,\u201d said Sankey, who earned a Grey Cup ring in 2023 with Montreal. \u201cWe have to stay in the driver\u2019s seat and keep our foot on the pedal because in this league anybody can beat anybody.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really can\u2019t afford to lose any football games right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI understand what people might say about that (lining up a yard back), I get it,\u201d Sankey said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-925133","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\/925133","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=925133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}