CFL action at BMO Field in Toronto on Saturday, October 15, 2016. (CFL PHOTO - Geoff Robins)
Tuesday, October 18, 2016 — TORONTO (October 18, 2016) – Henry Burris, Taylor Loffler and Joe McKnight were named the CFL Top Performers of the Week for Week 17 of the CFL’s 2016 season.
The three players were chosen by a panel of judges who independently send their selections to the CFL head office. The panel includes former Canadian Football League players Matt Dunigan and Duane Forde of TSN, and Pierre Vercheval of RDS.
QB | HENRY BURRIS | OTTAWA REDBLACKS
In his first start since Week 9, Burris led the REDBLACKS to a close win over rivals the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a tight race for the East and has been named a Shaw CFL Top Performer.
Burris connected on 27-of-39 passes for 393 yards and one touchdown pass, in addition to running in two majors of his own.
Burris’ first touchdown came in the beginning of the second quarter on an 11-play drive to give Ottawa the lead. Later in the second quarter, Burris tapped Brad Sinopoli, Ernest Jackson, Greg Ellingson and Mossis Madu to push the REDBLACKS 53 yards and dive one final yard over the line for his second rushing touchdown of the game.
Towards the end of the third quarter, Burris tossed the ball 62 yards to Jackson for another touchdown to once again gain a narrow lead on Hamilton.
Last season’s Most Outstanding Player led Ottawa to their third four-quarter game-winning drive of the season and helped the REDBLACKS clinch a home playoff date.
Burris has 1525 yards and seven touchdowns in five games.
DB | TAYLOR LOFFLER | WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS
Winnipeg’s rookie defensive back Taylor Loffler had three takeaways in the 35-32 victory at BC Place on Friday night to help the Blue Bombers sweep the home-and-home series with the BC Lions.
On his first game in his home province, Loffler notched two interceptions to bring his season total to four, and added a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
The Kelowna, BC native and UBC product notched his first interception of the game midway through the first quarter when Lions’ running back Jeremiah Johnson took the toss from Jonathon Jennings and attempted to throw the ball downfield to Terrell Sinkfield. However, Sinkfield fell and Loffler capitalized with an interception.
Loffler then forced a fumble late in the second quarter after delivering a big hit on Bryan Burnham that jarred the ball out to be recovered by his teammate Khalil Bass. The takeaway resulted in a Justin Medlock 35-yard field goal to give the Bombers a 12-11 lead.
On BC’s next possession, Jennings tried to find Burnham over the middle of the field, but Loffler jumped in front of the receiver and was able to intercept the ball.
This season Loffler has 44 tackles, four interceptions and sack for the Blue Bombers. Loffler was selected in the third round at 19th overall in the 2016 CFL Draft.
RB | JOE MCKNIGHT | SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS
Running back Joe McKnight had a memorable first game as a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
On Saturday at BMO Field, McKnight rushed for 150 yards on 17 carries (an average of 8.8 yards per rush) to help the Roughriders extend their winning streak to four games after defeating the Toronto Argonauts 29-11.
The former USC Trojan had two runs of 20+ yards. His largest rush came in the first quarter when he ran for 29 yards; the run was capped off by a 41-yard field goal to give the Roughriders a 3-0 lead.
The Kenner, Louisiana native had six rushes of 10+ yards and added a reception for three yards.
The 150 rushing yards was the second most rushing yards in a single game by a player this season, trailing only Jeremiah Johnson’s 159-yard performance in Week 12.
