CFL Week 1 Rap
VANCOUVER – Snoop Dogg was a B.C. Lions fan on Saturday — if only for one night.
The legendary rapper donned a Lions jersey with the number 20 and his name emblazoned on the back as he took the stage for a concert at B.C. Place before the Lions hosted the Edmonton Elks in their first game of the CFL season.
Over the course of a 35-minute set, Snoop Dogg sang several of his hits, including “P.I.M.P.,” “Gin and Juice,” and “Drop it Like it’s Hot,” plus abbreviated versions of songs he has featured on, such as Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” and the explicit version of Akon’s “I Wanna Love You.”
His dancers and backup singers also donned Lions gear for the show.
B.C. previously announced more than 50,000 fans were expected to take in the show. Several hundred danced and sang in the end zone below the elevated stage, while thousands more stood in their seats. A few Lions players and staff — including kicker Sean Whyte and defensive back Patrice Rene — took in parts of the show from the sidelines.
“You’ve got to promise to grow up to be a B.C. Lion,” he said to one.
Big concerts have become an annual tradition for the Lions. Last year, the team launched its season with a performance by rapper 50 Cent that drew an announced crowd of 53,788.
Once the game kicked off at BC Place, Nathan Rourke reminded football fans why he’s one of the CFL’s top talents on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Canadian quarterback threw for 324 yards with three touchdowns, and rushed for another 54 yards as his B.C. Lions opened the season with a 31-14 win over the Edmonton Elks.
“I think at the end of the day, what was the coolest for me was that, despite not playing our best in the first half at times, we rallied,” said Rourke, who went 27 for 36 on his passing attempts.
“We didn’t point fingers, we didn’t keep our heads down like it felt like we did a lot of time last year. We just rallied and we stuck together.”
At halftime, the Lions were behind 7-3.
Inside the B.C. locker room, head coach Buck Pierce had a simple message for his team.
“Just be us. Continue to finish,” he said. “We were doing some things that were kind of self-inflicted. And the guys understood that we needed to ramp up our details and just focus on finishing plays, finishing drives. But I was proud of the effort.”
Elks quarterback Tre Ford struggled early on Saturday, going 0-for-3 on his first attempts of the game before connecting with Zach Mathias for a six-yard gain on his fourth attempt.
He finished the night with 178 passing yards, making good on 18 of his 27 attempts and throwing one interception. He was sacked twice.
“(Ford’s) still learning. He gets better every time he plays and he has to play to get better,” said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. “You see some of the dynamic things that he can do – he will always have that and defences have to account for that. But we’ve got to iron out the functionality of our offence on the day to day.”
UP NEXT
Elks: Host the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday, June 19.
Lions: Visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday.
CALGARY – Bo Levi Mitchell is 0-2 in return games to the stadium he once called home.
New Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. completed 19 of 28 pass attempts for 284 yards, and rushed for 33 yards on three carries in his highly-anticipated Stampeder debut, a 38-26 victory over Mitchell’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Adams’ backup P.J. Walker contributed a short-yardage touchdown and Rene Paredes kicked field goals from 42, 29 and 38 yards in front of an announced 18,682 on a breezy, hazy evening at McMahon Stadium.
Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Kenny Lawler scored his first touchdown as a Tiger-Cat. Isiah Wooden returned a kickoff to score, while Marc Liegghio booted field goals from 47, 37 and 25 yards.
The Stampeders acquired Adams in a trade with the B.C. Lions a month after their 5-12-1 season ended in 2024. He was intercepted twice in Saturday’s second quarter, but distributed the ball efficiently for 428 yards of net offence.
It was too little, too late when Ticats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell found rhythm in his offence as the Stampeders had built a 15-point lead by the first play of the second half.
Mitchell completed 31 of 50 pass attempts for 304 yards and a touchdown throw in an interception-free start, but Hamilton also turned the ball over on downs three times.
“We have to do better jobs on offence, me put the ball in a catchable spot every time and let’s put two hands on it, locking it up, getting vertical,” Mitchell said.
“We just want to reward the defence when they’re playing that well in the first half. When you’re making Vernon throw two picks … in the first half, you’ve got to take advantage of them and I just think we didn’t do a good enough job of instantly kind of turning those into points.”
The Tiger-Cats haven’t won their first game of the season since 2019, while the Stampeders improved to 3-3 in their last six openers.
UP NEXT
Stampeders: Visit the Toronto Argonauts next Saturday.
Tiger-Cats: Host the Saskatchewan Roughriders next Saturday.
MONTREAL – Davis Alexander is off to a winning start as the face of the Montreal Alouettes.
Alexander threw for one touchdown and 205 yards in a steady outing as Montreal defeated the Toronto Argonauts 28-10 to open its CFL season Friday.
“That’s the start of the DA era right now,” receiver Tyson Philpot said.
The Alouettes chose a younger Alexander over 2023 Grey Cup MVP Cody Fajardo in a bold move this past off-season.
Alexander began last year as a third-stringer but led the Alouettes to five wins — including four as a starter — while Fajardo missed time.
Now Fajardo is in Edmonton, and Alexander is still winning.
The 26-year-old quarterback, who also threw an interception, completed 19 of 26 passing attempts and totalled 50 yards on four rushes to improve to 5-0 as a starter in the CFL.
“There’s no pressure on this,” he said. “We got the best defence in the league. I got playmakers all around me. Offensive line was amazing. Our run game was amazing. There’s no pressure.”
Montreal earned its revenge after the visiting Argonauts defeated the Alouettes 30-28 in last year’s East Division final en route to their 19th Grey Cup title.
Veteran QB Nick Arbuckle, last year’s unexpected Grey Cup MVP, threw for one touchdown, two interceptions and 273 yards on 20-for-32 completions for Toronto (0-1).
The Argonauts lineup featured 13 different starters compared to last year’s championship game.
“It was a sloppy game, felt like a pre-season game,” Argos coach Ryan Dinwiddie said. “We made some decent plays, did some decent things, but we didn’t execute at a high level.”
Toronto also kicked off a second consecutive season without starting QB Chad Kelly, who broke his tibia and fibula late in last year’s East final.
UP NEXT
Alouettes: Visit the Ottawa Redblacks next Friday.
Argonauts: Host the Calgary Stampeders on June 14.
REGINA – The Saskatchewan Roughriders won the CFL’s first game of the 2025 season, but it was a costly 31-26 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks on Thursday.
The Roughriders lost four starters to injury, including three in the first 17 minutes.
Receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker appeared to injure his left ankle, tailback A.J. Ouellette suffered a suspected head injury and defensive back Rolan Milligan left the game with an apparent neck injury.
Offensive lineman Payton Collins was injured in the third quarter of his CFL debut when an Ottawa player rolled up the back of his right leg. None of the four injured ‘Riders returned to the game.
The Roughriders dealt with injury issues last season and focused on a next-man-up mentality. Thursday’s game took that to another level, and one that head coach Corey Mace expects from his players.
“The next-man-up mentality, that certainly that has been our experience in the past, but the expectation is you’ve got to get the job done,” Mace said.
“You’re on this team; you’re a professional athlete. We’re not going to change too much stuff up just because somebody else is in there. If you’re on the active roster, things keep rolling. I’m extremely proud of the guys who had to step up and double duty, because a lot of those guys also are on special teams, having to suck wind in Week 1.”
Saskatchewan took a 31-17 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Redblacks, behind the impressive play of quarterback Dru Brown, cut the deficit to 31-26 with four minutes left in the game.
Brown, who completed 34 of 41 passes for 413 yards with two touchdowns, had the Redblacks on their own 41-yard-line with 1:11 left to play.
After an incompletion, Brown was sacked for a 16-yard loss by Saskatchewan’s Malik Carney. Facing a third-and-26 situation, Brown connected with William Stanback on a 14-yard completion that turned the ball over on downs.
“It sucks to lose,” Brown lamented. “I wish it was different but at the end of the day, it’s one game. It’s a game we felt we could’ve won. Great teams still thrive in this type of environment and there were some encouraging things going on.
“We’re on our way, we’re not there yet but we’ll get there.”
When Ouellette went down, Thomas Bertrand-Hudon stepped into the void and rushed for 57 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries. He also gained 17 yards and one touchdown on two receptions.
Roughriders starting quarterback Trevor Harris also wasn’t concerned about how the victory looked.
“It’s early in the season and we’ve got to understand that these are full 60-minute football games,” Harris said. “It’s tough to win in this league.
“Our defence stepped up, our specials did a great job. We’re going to be all right. We’re going to be a different team when it comes to Week 15 and playoff time and Labour Day.
“We’re going to be improved from where we are right now. But make no mistake, these wins matter at the end of the year, so a win is a win.”
(Canadian Press)
