Zach Collaros was the most dominant quarterback in week 9 with many deep passes completed against the BC Lions. QB rankings heading into week 10, 3 Stars of the Week for week 9.
Stars of the Week:
1st Star: Zach Collaros (WPG)
27 attempts, 19 completions (70%), 369 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception.
2nd Star: Cody Fajardo (MTL)
25 attempts, 19 completions (76%), 318 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions, and 2 rushes for 15 yards.
3rd Star: Mason Fine (SSK)
37 attempts, 23 completions (62%), 296 yards, 1 touchdown, and 5 rushes for 17 yards.
Other Articles:
Mike Mitchell’s Week 10 Power Rankings
Week 9 QB Rankings, Week 9 RB Rankings, Week 9 WR Weekly
CFL First Period All-Star Team (Weeks 1-7)
Previous Editions of QB Weekly:
Week 7 QB, Week 6 QB, Week 5 QB
Week 4 QB, Week 3 QB, Week 2 QB
Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings
1. Zach Collaros, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Previous Ranking #QB1
Chef Zach Collaros cooked up a banquet against the Lions who have had a great season defensively and have only allowed 2 offensive touchdowns over their 6 wins.
On his very first pass play on a 1st and 15, he connected with Kenny Lawler who got open down the sideline for 34 yards. The very next play he dropped a deep pass into the hands of Dalton Schoen on a deep route for a 71-yard touchdown.
On Winnipeg’s next drive, he connected with Kenny Lawler for a 57-yard touchdown on another deep route on the first play of the drive. Collaros had another great pass to Nic Demski who caught it over his shoulder for a 30-yard touchdown on a throw placed well into tight coverage.
Collaros completed 19 of his 27 passes (70%) for 369 yards, 3 touchdowns, and an interception in the win over BC.
Collaros did have an interception late in the third quarter on a pass that was batted down at the line and caught by Marcus Moore.
2. Chad Kelly, Toronto Argonauts, Previous Ranking #QB2
Chad Kelly completed 4 of his 6 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. He left the game early in the 2nd quarter with an apparent ankle injury. It was said after halftime by his coach that Kelly said he could play on it but they were not going to put him back in with the injury. His big play was a completion deep down the left side of the field hitting Cam Phillips who was wide open for a 76-yard touchdown.
Cameron Dukes played in his absence completing 8 of his 15 passes (53%) for 63 yards and an interception. Toronto also has Bryan Scott as an option should Kelly need to miss time. Scott completed 22 of his 27 passes (81.5%) for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns this past preseason.
3. Vernon Adams Jr., BC Lions, Previous Ranking #QB3
Missed the last 2 games due to a knee injury sustained in the win against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Is expected to start in week 10 against Calgary.
4. Cody Fajardo, Montreal Alouettes, Previous Ranking #QB4
Fajardo made a lot of good plays such as a nice pass to Austin Mack when rolling to his right deep in his own side of the field in the face of pressure from Tunde Adeleke for 19 yards. The play was played directly after he targeted Hergy Mayala and overthrew him to the point it was not catchable and it was picked off. Fajardo’s other interception was earlier in the first quarter on a play targeting Hergy Mayala in which Mayala slipped and the ball was intercepted after it sailed over Mayala who had fallen to the ground. Fajardo also had a fumble caused by a blitzing Simoni Lawrence early in the third quarter that he saw coming but did not seem to have good ball security leading to a turnover.
Fajardo was playing through pain as he appeared to sustain an injury to his left arm in the first half but remained in the game.
Fajardo’s touchdown he tossed it in the face of pressure while rolling to his right to Regis Cibasu who found some space for a 37-yard touchdown. Fajardo played one of his best games of the season and did a good job going through his progressions. Fajardo completed 19 of his 25 passes for 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
Fajardo passed the ball very efficiently in week 9 and did a good job going through his progressions. There were games early in the season as well as week 8 in which he seemed to be locking on receivers too often and not reading all his options. This week he did an excellent job spreading the ball around to many different receivers as they got open. I would say week 9 was his best passing game so far this season.
5. Mason Fine, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Previous Ranking #QB8
Mason Fine had some nice plays and showed good composure in the face of pass rushers such as a play in the 2nd quarter in which Douglas Coleman II was closing in and Fine threw it over him finding Jake Wieneke in space for a 17-yard gain. His longest play was the 42-yard touchdown to Shawn Bane Jr. down the left sideline. Fine had a great pass to Emilus for 37 yards down the left side putting it where only the receiver could get it in pretty decent coverage.
Mason fine also had one of the coolest plays of the week catching his own pass after it was knocked down, bounced off a lineman, and came back to him. He caught and ran it 8 yards setting up a 2nd and 2.
Fine completed 23 of his 37 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown. It was a game in which both teams’ defensive lines were playing well pressuring the quarterbacks often of both teams. Saskatchewan’s Jamal Morrow was held to 3.6 yards per carry on 13 rushes for 47 yards so there was more pressure for the passing game to be successful. Fine also added 5 rushes for 17 yards.
Fine did not have an interception in the game but did have a turnover on a fumbled a fake handoff that Ottawa recovered. It wasn’t a perfect day there were some inaccurate throws such as one thrown pretty far behind Tevin Jones in the 4th quarter as an Ottawa blitz was coming
6. Dustin Crum, Ottawa RedBlacks, Previous Ranking #5
Crum did not have a lot of plays that constituted a big play but had a good game overall. He threw a good pass 17 yards to Jaelon Acklin when rolling to his right in the 4th quarter. He made another nice pass to Acklin inside the final 4 minutes of the game in pressure through traffic for a 12-yard gain. There were some mistakes such as the next play in which it was thrown very far behind Nate Behar to the point that Behar had to play defensive back to make sure it was not intercepted.
Crum completed 16 of his 20 passes for 174 yards. It was not a lot of yards but also not a lot of passing plays. Crum was efficient in the face of a Saskatchewan pass rush that pressured him quite often. Ottawa’s offense struggled to provide run support against Saskatchewan as Devonte Williams averaged only 2.8 yards per carry on his 12 carries.
Crum had some nice runs as well although such as an 8-yard run after being flushed to his right by pass rush in the 4th quarter. He had 4 rushes for 21 yards.
7. Jake Maier, Calgary Stampeders, Previous Ranking #QB6
Calgary really simplified things for Jake Maier in their win over Toronto. After a couple of weeks of running very few run plays, Calgary made major changes in their play-calling strategy. Jake Maier passed the ball 24 times and Dedrick Mills ran the ball 27 times.
Jake Maier completed 22 of his 24 passes for an impressive 92% completion rate. He only had 149 passing yards for 6.2 yards per attempt throwing almost exclusively short passes but it was a good game to get some confidence back after struggling with interceptions often this season and Calgary got the win against Toronto who were previously undefeated.
8. Dane Evans, BC Lions, Previous Ranking QB7
Dane Evans played just under a half of football before leaving the game due to a rib injury sustained late in the first half in the loss to Winnipeg. Evans completed 12 of his 21 passes for 113 yards with 2 interceptions. There were a couple of deep throws in which receivers were unable to bring in a difficult catch as he was trying to keep up with Winnipeg’s flurry of offense. It was not a great stat line in week 9 for Evans. Winnipeg’s pass rush was extremely effective against BC in week 9 so it is hard to fault a quarterback too much but 2 interceptions in 1 half is never great..
9. Taylor Powell, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Previous Ranking QB#9
Taylor Powell had a really nice throw to Terry Godwin for 28 yards dropping it in past double coverage on the right sideline. Powell did a good job running for a first down on a 2nd and 9 early in the 2nd half after being pressured. Overthrew Tim White down the sideline who got some separation in the 4th quarter.
Powell completed 20 of his 31 passes (65%) for 202 yards and 2 interceptions. Considering it was his 2nd CFL start he played very well against a Montreal defense that has been playing very well. Powell did have a fumble on the first drive as he rolled out seemingly to run he was tackled by Shawn Lemon and did not have good ball security leading to a turnover.
His coaching staff could have helped him more by providing more run support. Butler only had 9 carries averaging 5.7 per carry and they gave Butler the ball less and less as the game went on and had 0 carries in the 4th quarter.
10. Taylor Cornelius, Edmonton Elks, Previous Ranking #QB10
The Edmonton Elks are on the bye this week. Cornelius is now going to be used in short yardage. Tre Ford will get the start against Winnipeg in week 10 at home.
With how the pass protection has been for Edmonton it will no matter who is starting whether it be Taylor Cornelius, Tre Ford, or Jarrett Doege. I don’t want Elks fans to feel hopeless but thinking things will be better at the quarterback position by putting someone else in is probably false hope. Taylor Cornelius has been running for his life, especially in the 2 shutouts to the BC Lions. I don’t expect a much different outcome for the Elks when they play Winnipeg with Tre Ford under center. The pass protection needs to be better.
