Week 2 of the CFL season is officially in the books, which means it’s time to take a look at how a number of key statistics changed as a result of the action.
Points dropped by 16.6 percent from Week 1 to Week 2 with relatively low-scoring games between Montreal and Toronto (39 points) and Winnipeg and Ottawa (31 points) bringing the average down. This was a surprise considering yardage actually increased by a fair amount (more on that in a moment).
The number of punts dropped by 36.2 percent from Week 1 to Week 2, plummeting to just 8.3 per game. There was a total of 22 third-down gambles this past week, which contributed to the drop in punts.
Teams might be wise to continue rolling the dice on third downs as teams successfully gambled 68.2 percent of the time. The success rate would have been even higher had quarterbacks Jeremiah Masoli and Dane Evans not fumbled on short yardage in their respective games.
Scoring was down in Week 2 but yardage actually increased from 737 to 792 per game, an increase of 6.9 percent. This was due to a relatively even increase in passing yards (6.6 percent) and rushing yards (7.9 percent).
Rushing yardage remains relatively low this season compared to past years, though Saskatchewan’s Jamal Morrow set a new single-game season-high when he rushed 26 times for 140 yards and a touchdown against Edmonton.
We’re only two weeks into the CFL’s regular season but there are some positive trends starting to emerge. Scoring is up by 10.6 percent from last year and punting is at its lowest point since before the 2010 season.
Offensive yards per game is up 11.9 percent from last year and is the second-highest it’s been since 2010. As the chart above indicates, this is solely due to a spike in passing as rushing this season remains well below the CFL’s recent average.
If you’re a fan of offence, the 2022 CFL regular season is off to a good start. Let’s see if these trends continue as the league’s first full schedule since 2019 continues in the weeks and months to come.
The CFL offensive output report was created by 3DownNation’s John Hodge to track how a number of critical statistics change throughout the year following the league’s rule changes designed to make the game more entertaining. It will run semi-weekly through the regular season on Tuesday mornings.
