Minas Panagiotakis/CFL.ca
Welcome to Thanksgiving Weekend presented by Purolator, everyone! There is nothing I give thanks for in the CFL more than an exquisite quarterback performance. One that makes your jaw drop both from numbers and quality of throws completed. The type of performance that has you buzzing on the drive home and proudly telling your co-workers about it the next day.
“I was there and saw him go CRAZY.”
A decade-long question for me while evaluating CFL quarterback play has been what truly makes a great performance? You can have a passer only attempt a couple dozen passes, but if they complete most of them and get the win it’s a fantastic night at the office. You could have a quarterback with average passing numbers but maybe they influence the game in an unseen way according to the boxscore with timely runs and smart decision making to keep the ball out of harm’s way.
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The beautiful part of this inexact scientific equation is just that, it can be split a variety of different ways and seen through a variety of prisms.
What really drives home a great performance in my eyes is a heavy workload of more than 25 pass attempts (which is right around the CFL average and not an arbitrary number), a high completion percentage, a clean touchdown-to-interception ratio and a decent amount of yards.
Again, there are endless ways to evaluate state lines, but over time spent tracking and looking through passing performances, these are typically the basic guidelines which lead to success so I use them as my guidance. These also happen to be the kind of stat lines that typically lead to playoff success and as we near the confirmation of six teams who will make the 2024 post-season, I’ve chosen the best performances on Thanksgiving weekend from the past six turkey weekends. Enjoy!
2023
There were a variety of solid quarterback performances last season, but I had to go with Fajardo based on the heater both he and the Alouettes went on all the way to their memorable 110th Grey Cup championship. On Thanksgiving Weekend last year Fajardo went 23-29 for 258 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 35-21 win over Edmonton. Tre Ford went 21-30 for 216 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Ford also added five carries for 47 yards, but it just wasn’t enough to overcome Fajardo’s efforts.
2022
The winding journey of Nick Arbuckle as a CFL quarterback has been well documented, but this is a genuine highlight, especially of his time in Ottawa! Just two short seasons ago Arbuckle was 28-36 for 271 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, but LOST 34-30 against Montreal as Trevor Harris went 19-7 for 241 yards one major and no picks.
2021
After a year away from Thanksgiving Weekend games, the CFL returned with a five-game slate, which featured the Toronto Argonauts twice about a week apart.
In those two games then Double Blue leading man McLeod Bethel-Thompson first went 15-21 for 181 yards, two touchdowns and an interception before following it up with a 29-42 performance for 388 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. It was a heck of a week for MBT, but nothing that could match then-Ticats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who put together a 24-33 game with 361 yards passing, a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions.
2019
Back in 2019 Vernon Adams Jr.‘s journey through the CFL had brought him to Montreal (again) and he put together an epic Thanksgiving Weekend game to the tune of going 16-23 for 249 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in a 27-24 win over Toronto. Bethel-Thompson on the other side was 35-45 for 342 yards and a pair of touchdowns with no interceptions.
2018
Can we call a tie in this one? Let’s at least celebrate both quarterbacks in this REDBLACKS-Blue Bombers clash for a pair of huge outings. The duo of Trevor Harris and Matt Nichols combined for a 60-81 passing day for six touchdowns and 614 yards with neither QB throwing an interception.
The Bombers came out on top in this OT thriller. If the turkey didn’t tire you out that weekend, this game might have had you recuperating on the couch after it was done.
2017
Apparently Masoli loves Thanksgiving Weekend the way that Bo Levi Mitchell loves OK Tire Labour Day Weekend. Masoli was on point in the Ticats’ 30-13 win over Winnipeg. He made 27-33 passes for 338 yards, a pair of touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Ticats missed the playoffs that year but turned the corner as a franchise, going 6-4 in their final 10 games after burying themselves in the East cellar with a 0-8 start.
