This inveterate numerical nerd waded into the Inbox the other day and was delighted to dive into an email that was entitled “2023 CFL Product Review.”
Four pages and one delicious deluge of digits later, I was so taken by the material that there was an insuppressible compulsion to provide an analysis of the analysis.
So here, without further preamble, are the elements of the Product Review that resonated with this stats-obsessed scribbler …
TOTAL POINTS PER GAME
In 2023, CFL games produced an average of 50.8 points, an increase from 2019 (49.5), 2021 (43.1) and 2022 (50.4).
The 2021-2023 comparison is especially eye-opening.
Following the COVID-shortened 2021 campaign, the league and representatives of its nine member teams took note of the reduction in offence and implemented measures that were designed to increase the scoring.
For example, the hashmarks were moved closer together — a change that often gave quarterbacks more passing options on both sides of the field — and the ball was moved to the 40-yard line (from the 35) on changes of possession that followed a single point or unsuccessful field goal attempt.
The data from 2021 included a slightly smaller sample size, because each team played 14 regular-season games instead of the accustomed 18. Nonetheless, the reduced average was the catalyst for changes that were approved in the meeting rooms and ultimately evident on the field.
CFL vs. NFL
Each of the aforementioned single-season averages, with the exception of the data from 2021, puts the CFL roughly a touchdown per game ahead of the NFL.
Please do not interpret this as a slight against the NFL. This submission is brought to you by someone who loves football as it is played on both sides of the border.
(I dutifully remind you that the Denver Broncos are a on a five-game winning streak.)
The NFL, once a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust circuit, has been passer-friendly since rule changes were enacted in 1978 to prevent the virtual mugging of receivers.
But even with the long-standing liberation of the passing game in the NFL, the CFL still enjoys a healthy margin in terms of points per game.
The difference is at least partially attributable, in this assessment, to the comparative timing of the CFL and NFL games.
It is often said that the CFL is two games in one — the first 58 minutes, followed by the final two.
In the NFL, by contrast, there are scenarios such as the one that unfolded on Sunday, where the final 1:58 of a game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers unfolded as follows:
- Kneel-down by Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett (minus-1).
- Pickett kneel-down (minus-1).
- Pickett kneel-down (minus-1).
The third such obligatory play began with 35 seconds remaining on the clock. As soon as Pickett knelt down for the final time, players and coaches began to walk on to (or, depending on the mood, off of) the field.
That brings us back to the Product Review, which included this nugget: 60.5 per cent of the CFL’s games in 2023 were decided in the final three minutes.
FALL CLASSICS
Also notable in the Product Review was the upward trajectory in scoring within the past season.
Over a period that spanned Weeks 1 to 8, CFL games produced an average of 46.2 points.
Thereafter, from Weeks 9 to 21, the average soared to 53.6.
Using the same parameters, touchdowns per game increased by 31 per cent — from 3.8 (Weeks 1-8) to 5.0 (Weeks 9-21).
Big plays were up by nine per cent (5.3 to 5.8).
The average passer rating went from 87.7 (1-8) to 97.9 (9-21), an increase of 12 per cent.
There was an ascent in the latter numbers even though two teams lost their starting quarterbacks to injury within the first eight weeks (see: Trevor Harris, Saskatchewan Roughriders; Bo Levi Mitchell, Hamilton Tiger-Cats).
FAR FEWER FLAGS FLYING
The penalties-per-game figure (15.8) was the lowest since 1983!
The Roughriders contributed to this welcome reduction by reducing their penalties per game from 9.6 (2022) to 7.0 (2023). That is a decrease of 27.1 per cent.
Saskatchewan’s opponents were also flagged with less frequency. There was a 15.1-per-cent reduction (from 159 to 135).
Roughriders games in general included an average of 14.5 penalties, down from 18.4 the previous season. That is a 21.4-per-cent improvement, year over year, unless you happen to be a fancier of flags.
MANY HAPPY RETURNS
The punt-return average (11.5 yards) was the highest in CFL history.
The Roughriders’ Mario Alford, at an even 11 yards per return, was slightly below the league average but nonetheless a huge factor.
He scored a touchdown on three punt returns — tying Willis Jacox (1991) and Curtis Mayfield (1999) for the franchise single-season record.
Alford also tied team and league record for most punt-return TDs in a game (TD). Mayfield is the only other Roughrider to accomplish that feat.
HANG TIME
The punting average (46.6 yards) was the CFL’s best-ever.
Saskatchewan’s Adam Korsak contributed to the standard-setting season by averaging a league-best 47.9 yards per punt.
That is the second-highest average in Roughriders history, behind the 48.8 that Jon Ryan fashioned in 2019.
LIFE IS GRAND
League-wide, 11 receivers reached 1,000 yards in 2023.
That total includes two members of the Roughriders — Shawn Bane Jr. (1,104) and Samuel Emilus (1,097).
Emilus reached 1,000 yards at the earliest juncture, career-wise, of any Canadian-born Roughriders receiver.
Emilus hit the milestone in his second CFL season. The previous pace was set by Ray Elgaard, who was a third-year Roughrider when he eclipsed 1,000 yards for the first of eight times in his illustrious CFL career.
