CFL Week 11 Offensive Line Rankings: Edmonton Elks move off the bottom for the first time this season

Few things are more important to a team’s success than the quality of its offensive line. Disastrous lines, or even disastrous weak-link mismatches, can determine the outcome of games, while strong units give an incredible advantage to an offense.

This CFL season, we will be keeping track of PFF’s offensive line rankings as well as highlighting the biggest weak-link player and their upcoming opponent to identify any obvious matchup advantage one way or the other.

Key:
Red text = weakest link

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1. Montreal Alouettes (No Change)

LT Nick Callender
LG Pier-Olivier Lestage
C Justin Lawrence
RG Kristian Matte
RT Landon Rice

• The Alouettes running backs combined for 18 carries in Week 11, and not a single one of those attempts was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. This is the first time this team has achieved this, and it's happened on only two other occasions across the league this season.

• Pier-Olivier Lestage (78.2), Landon Rice (72.4) and Nick Callender (70.8) finished Week 11 with pass-blocking grades above 70.0.

Upcoming Week: Winnipeg Blue Bombers

• LB Adam Bighill is key to the Bombers' run defense. This past week, he finished with three defensive stops and a 77.0 run-defense grade.

2. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (No Change)

LT Stanley Bryant
LG Geoff Gray
C Chris Kolankowski
RG Patrick Neufeld
RT Jermarcus Hardrick

• The Bombers averaged 2.1 yards before contact in the run game this past week, tied for the best mark in the league. The offensive line earned a 72.4 run-blocking grade for the day.

• This week, Geoff Gray (19.0) and Patrick Neufeld (41.6) were among the three lowest-graded in pass protection. Combined, they allowed a sack and two hurries and lost four more reps.

Upcoming Week: Montreal Alouettes

• The Alouettes were the CFL’s top-graded pass-rush unit last week. They finished with an 82.6 pass-rush grade, a 59.3% pressure rate and a 53.6% pass-rush win rate.

3. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (No Change)

LT Brandon Kemp
LG Brandon Revenberg
C David Beard
RG Coulter Woodmansey
RT Kendrick Sartor

• All five starters earned run-blocking grades above 65.0. David Beard (73.4), Brandon Revenberg (71.8) and Coulter Woodmansey (71.2) all finished with run-blocking grades above 70.0.

• The tackles struggled mightily in pass protection. Brandon Kemp (53.4) and Kendrick Sartor (37.1) finished with pass-blocking grades under 55.0 and combined to surrender two sacks, one hit and 10 hurries.

Upcoming Week: British Columbia Lions

• LB Ben Hladik was terrific against the run in Week 11. He finished with a 79.0 run-defense grade with five tackles and a defensive stop.

4. Toronto Argonauts (No Change)

LT Isiah Cage
LG Ryan Hunter
C Darius Ciraco
RG Peter Nicastro
RT Dejon Allen

• No change for the idle Argonaust this week. On the season, this unit has earned a 64.3 run-blocking grade and a 61.3 pass-blocking grade.

• The top player on this offensive line has been right tackle Dejon Allen. On the season, he has earned a 71.5 overall grade, a 69.6 run-blocking and an 80.2 pass-blocking grade.

Upcoming Week: Calgary Stampeders

• DI Mike Rose is having an All-Star-level season for the Stamps. His 89.0 pass-rush grade ranks first in the entire CFL, and he has nine sacks, four hits and 13 hurries.

5. British Columbia Lions (No Change)

LT Chris Schleuger
LG Andrew Peirson
C Michaek Couture
RG Sukh Chungh
RT Kent Perkins

• A below-average week for the Lions holds them at No. 5 in these rankings. The unit earned a 44.4 pass-blocking grade and 56.6 run-blocking grade in Week 11, seventh and eighth among teams, respectively.

• New left tackle Chris Schleuger had a solid first game despite the poor unit grades. He earned a 67.3 run-blocking grade and a 64.2 pass-blocking grade in his 62 snaps.

• The once-solid right tackle Kent Perkins had another terrible week in pass protection. He earned a 34.3 pass-blocking grade, allowing two sacks and two hits and getting called three times for holding.

Upcoming Week: Hamilton Tiger-Cats

• The Tiger-Cats were the worst pass-rushing unit in the CFL last week. They earned a 52.2 pass-rush grade, with a 21.7% pressure rate and a shocking 0.0% pass-rush win rate.

6. Saskatchewan Roughriders (No Change)

LT Eric Lofton
LG Evan Johnson
C Peter Godber
RG Logan Ferland
RT Colin Kelly

• It was a tough week for the Roughriders offensive line in the running game. Their running backs averaged just 3.9 yards per attempt — and a league-worst 0.9 yards before contact per attempt — and they put up a run-blocking grade of just 61.0, sixth among the eight teams that played.

• Right guard Logan Ferland had a week to forget this past week. His 25.7 pass-blocking grade marked a single-game low. He allowed a sack and two hurries and lost two more reps.

Upcoming Week: BYE

7. Calgary Stampeders (Up 1)

LT Bryce Bell
LG Zack Williams
C Sean McEwen
RG Ryan Sceviour
RT D.J. Coker

• Solid performances from four of the five starters see the Stamps move up one spot in the rankings. D.J. Coker (82.9), Ryan Sceviour (81.3), Zack Williams (69.4) and Byrce Bell (69.8) all earned a pass-blocking grade above 65.0.

• The Stamps' offensive line still lacks the run-blocking prowess that would move them up higher. This past week was another underwhelming week for them as a unit. They earned a grade of 61.8 and allowed their running backs only 0.9 yards before contact per attempt.

Upcoming Week: Toronto Argonauts

• The Argos are a middle-of-the-pack defense in both run defense and pass rush. They rank fourth in run-defense grade (75.2) and sixth in pass-rush grade (73.9).

8. Edmonton Elks (Up 1)

LT Martez Ivey
LG David Foucault
C Mark Korte
RG Tomas Jack-Kurdyla
RT Brett Boyko

• Two straight weeks of elite play from this group moves them up in these rankings for the first time.

• This past week, the Elks offensive line earned a 94.1 pass-blocking grade — the highest grade of any unit this season — and pitched a perfect game in pass protection with 0 pressure and 0 pass-block losses.

Upcoming Week: Ottawa Redblacks

• Ottawa fielded the league's highest-graded run defense last week. As a unit, they earned an 81.0 run-defense grade.

9. Ottawa Redblacks (Down 2)

LT Dino Boyd
LG Drew Desjarlais
C Cyrille Hogan-Saindon
RG Jacob Ruby
RT Dontae Bull

• After climbing out of the bottom two for the first time last week, the Redblacks' offensive line had a terrible week, seeing them fall all the way back down. As a unit, they finished last in second-last in run-blocking grade (59.5) and last in pass-blocking grade (30.4) this week.

• First overall pick in the last CFL draft, Dontae Bull struggled mightily in his first professional start. He earned a 12.2 pass-blocking grade, allowing one hit and three hurries.

Upcoming Week: Edmonton Elks

• The Elks were awful against the run last week. They earned a 41.3 run-defense grade and gave up 7.4 yards per rush.