Accuracy Grades - Week 3

The twist and turns in CFL quarterback play continue to dazzle as we exit week three and look towards the first full week in July. Week three saw a total of ten quarterbacks take meaningful snaps, the most of any CFL week so far in 2019.

Vernon Adams Jr. battled through an arm injury and halftime IV in a 41-10 loss to Hamilton while posting the lowest grade of week three but he was surprisingly just ahead of Bombers QB Matt Nichols who posted the lowest grade of any winning quarterback in week three.

The downfall of Nichols week three was the limited number of pass attempts which could have helped raise his number and misses - despite making completions - high and away several times making receivers lives more difficult.

Toronto’s Macleod Bethel-Thompson tied Nichols’ grade in relief duty for the Argos in Regina while Trevor Harris posted his lowest accuracy grade of 2019 in the Eskimos first loss of the season.

Despite the perception that he had an off week and could be in trouble holding onto his starting job heading home for a date with BC, James Franklin was nipping at the heels of Bo Levi Mitchell for 5th before Bo left Saturday’s comeback Stampeders win with an upper body tweak.

Coming in fourth was Jeremiah Masoli who despite going 25/31 for 417 yards couldn’t crack the top three due to three interceptions which all received a “0” grade. Without those three throws Masoli’s accuracy grade would have been 73.4. Good enough for second place in week three and his best performance of the year.

3. Saskatchewan Roughriders QB Cody Fajardo

After posting a season low grade - for any 2019 CFL QB - of 53.6 in week one at Hamilton, Fajardo has bounced back in ways I couldn’t have imagined after seeing him thrown into relief duty. This is Fajardo’s second straight top three performance and falls just behind his season best 69.4 mark from week two.

2. BC Lions QB Mike Reilly

Somehow, some way, the BC Lions found a way to lose.

That doesn’t change the fact that the run game played a much larger role for BC in Calgary and the balanced attack had a positive impact on Reilly’s rhythm which led to his second podium of the year and a season high grade of 71.0. A full ten points higher from his seven sack suffering in Edmonton week two.

1. Calgary Stampeders QB Nick Arbuckle

Wild.

That’s the best way to describe the end of the Stamps-Lions game and it came in large part thanks to Nick Arbuckle’s accuracy while springing off the bench to replace Bo Levi Mitchell.

While he only had 10 pass attempts which can skew the results the fact is Arbuckle simply didn’t miss AND he qualified for the top three after attempting the minimum 20% of team passes (9 of Calgary’s 43 - 20.6%)

We have a change at the top for season long accuracy champion with Jeremiah Masoli replacing Trevor Harris. Those two unfortunately don’t play until week 15 but with Edmonton on a bye in week four and Masoli ready to roll in Montreal against a struggling Alouettes defence the lead could be extended unless Dominique Davis has something to say about that to his old mates from Winnipeg or Mike Reilly can post a big number on the road in Toronto.

Back next Tuesday with the full update!