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Ben’s Breakdown: how Cody Fajardo, Vernon Adams Jr. used their legs to win East, West Semi-Finals

In every contact sport, playoff games look just a little bit different from the regular season. Scoring leaders dive in front of slap shots, physically exhausted props and locks refuse to come off the pitch, and injuries that would normally knock a player from the game are simply taped up. In football, this applies to all positional groups, but it’s with quarterbacks that this shift is most notable.

Whenever possible, pass-first quarterbacks are kept out of harm’s way during the regular season. CFL fans know their value perhaps better than anyone, as all six playoff teams had their opening-day starter healthy and available to them. In the regular season, these players are told to slide, go down, or throw the ball away instead of taking a hit, and plays are called with their protection in mind. But in the postseason, the safeties are switched off, and athletic quarterbacks like Montreal’s Cody Fajardo and B.C.’s Vernon Adams Jr. are instructed to win by any means necessary.

With Hamilton dead set on preventing a Montreal aerial attack, they knew William Stanback would get his yards. Similarly, Calgary knew Adams would likely find success through the air while they focused on shutting down Taquan Mizzell. But neither the Tiger-Cats nor the Stampeders expected the opposing quarterback’s rushing ability to be the difference.

In the regular season, Adams averaged 18 rushing yards per game and scored a single touchdown on the ground. Fajardo, meanwhile, gained 18.9 rushing yards per game and ran for three touchdowns. On Saturday, Adams tied his season-high mark of 54 rushing yards and tripled his regular season touchdown total. Fajardo eclipsed his single-game rushing total with 62 yards on the ground.

Let’s take a look at how these two pass-first quarterbacks used their legs to help their teams advance to the division finals.

Cody Fajardo

Two of Cody Fajardo’s runs were planned quarterback draws. Upon reading the pass, Hamilton’s linebackers had been fanning out quickly to help in coverage, leaving a void in the middle of the field. Fajardo’s longest run of the day came early in the second quarter with Montreal leading by a point.

Fajardo emptied out the backfield with four receivers to his left and two to his right. He took the snap and looked immediately to his left where James Letcher Jr. was waiting for a quick screen. As Jameer Thurman and Casey Sayles (an unexpected bonus) took off in that direction and Simoni Lawrence fled to the opposite slot, Fajardo followed his right guard Kristian Matte up the middle for a 27-yard gain.

Fajardo’s second-longest run of the day came midway through the third quarter with Montreal hanging onto an eight-point lead. This time, Fajardo’s stolen yardage was a crime of opportunity, not a planned heist.

The play-call appeared to be a run-pass option (RPO) involving either a run to the right with William Stanback or a quick pass to the left to Tyler Snead on a hook route. Hamilton’s defensive alignment made the read easy, but something unexpected happened. The Tiger-Cats left seven defenders in the box with only Richard Leonard up on Austin Mack and Snead, who were stacked out wide.

As Mack drove Leonard off the line of scrimmage, Snead sat in the open void but Jamal Davis II was standing right in Fajardo’s line of fire. Knowing they’d be called for having linemen illegally downfield if he waited any longer to throw, Fajardo took advantage of Chris Edwards widening towards Snead and took off up the gut for an 18-yard gain.

Vernon Adams Jr.

Quarterback sneaks aside, none of Vernon Adams’ rushes appeared to be designed runs. Adams was looking to pass first, as he has all season, but whenever space opened up in front of him, he took off.

Two of his three rushing touchdowns came on passing plays. The first was a six-yard scramble on the last play of the first quarter that put the Lions up 14-7. Calgary sent a three-man rush, dropping nine into coverage. When Adams couldn’t find an open receiver, he stepped up through the gaping hole in the three-man line and easily evaded linebacker Adarius Taylor on the way to the endzone.

Midway through the third quarter, Calgary showed Adams the exact same defensive look and he punished them the exact same way. Upon finding no one open, he broke the three-man rush and sidestepped Adarius Taylor again on the way to a 24-yard gain.

On Adams’ second rushing touchdown, Calgary sent a four-man rush but went after him more aggressively. Defensive end Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund beat Kent Perkins with an inside move despite having contain responsibility and Adams made him pay, sprinting to the front corner of the end zone for the four-yard touchdown.

Adams also added a third touchdown on a quarterback sneak, and torched the Stampeders for a 14-yard run against a blitz.

Despite the fact that Cody Fajardo and Vernon Adams Jr. served their teams as pass-first quarterbacks all season long, all bets are off in the playoffs. When opposing teams focus their attention on shutting down the pass or bottling up a running back, both quarterbacks are more than capable of using their athleticism to make them pay. Look for Fajardo and Adams to continue this style of play in the division finals, and expect Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly to do the same.

The Toronto Argonauts host the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday afternoon, while the B.C. Lions travel to Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers later that night.

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Ben Grant has been the radio colour analyst for the Toronto Argonauts since 2023 on TSN 1050 (Toronto). He coached high school football at Lorne Park Secondary School 2003-2018 and semi-pro football for the Northern Football Conference's GTA All-Stars 2018-2023.

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