CFL Beat: Week 2

It’s a strange week for football scheduling up here, as Friday marks Canada Day and the start of a long weekend; all games for Week 2 are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, necessitating a need to push up this week’s roundup! Honestly, it’s probably just as well, as I’ll be drunk on a lake come this Friday anyhow which really cuts into the whole research and writing process, you know…

Anyhow, what a start to this season! I went 0-4 on predictions for Week 1 and honestly, I’m not even upset about it. Let’s do a few more recaps on why things were so nuts and we’ll get to this week’s games soon enough.

WEEK 1 RECAPS

Hamilton 42 vs. Toronto 20: see last week’s CFL Beat for the recap!

Montreal 22 vs. Winnipeg 14: So far, Montreal has guessed right on their QB situation. Kevin Glenn threw for 332 yards and a TD on 30-42 passing, while leading receiver Duron Carter (son of NFL HOF WR Cris!) grabbed 8 passes for 96 yards. Winnipeg had some good stuff going from RB Andrew Harris, who had 80 yards on 13 carries and six catches for an additional 40 yards. The Bombers, however, saw top receiver Weston Dressler leave the game after a helmet-to-helmet hit in the first quarter (he is still hoping to play this Friday, however). In the end, Winnipeg didn’t have enough to counter the Alouettes’ stymying defense, which sacked Drew Willy five times and picked him off once as well.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Montreal

Ottawa 45 vs. Edmonton 37 (OT): Holy shitballs, what an absolutely bonkers game. The REDBLACKS had 543 passing yards against a much-lauded Eskimos defence. Starting QB Henry Burris threw for 251 yards and a touchdown before going down with an injury to his right hand after hitting it on a lineman’s helmet on a snap in the third quarter. Backup Trevor Harris came in and went 17-19 for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns in little over a quarter’s worth of action. Harris completed his first nine passes in a row, which included two touchdowns to Chris Williams, who torched the Eskies for 176 yards, including a 71-yard catch-and-run TD. The action was still back-and-forth all game long, with a general fieldgoalkkake summarizing first half action between the teams, as well as blocked punt returned for a touchdown by the Eskimos. Edmonton, who trailed most of the game, finally took a 37-34 lead off a field goal by Sean Whyte in the last minute of the game. However, Ottawa drove hard for Chris Milo to hit a 55-yard field goal, the longest of his career, to send it to OT as time expired. That field goal was the subject of much controversy due a miscommunication between on-field officials and the timing crew, who messed up the sync of the game clock and play clock and thus the proper subs to get the field goal team onto the field; after an Eskimos timeout, there was enough time added back on for the kick to be taken, much to Edmonton’s chagrin. A 19-yard run by Travon Van in OT set up a Harris pass to Brad Sinopoli for the winning TD, a 2-point conversion by WR Greg Ellingson, and the subsequent stuffing of Eskies QB Mike Reilly finally sealed the win for Ottawa, who beat Edmonton for the very first time in 3 seasons in the CFL.

PICK: Edmonton

RESULT: Ottawa

Calgary 18 vs. BC 20: BC scored a come-from-behind win courtesy of Chris Rainey, who scored two touchdowns in the game, the second, which turned out to be the difference-maker, on a 73-yard kick return with just over 13 minutes left in the 4th quarter. All in all, it’s got to be a disappointing result for Calgary, particularly for kicker Rene Paredes, who missed two field goals and a convert – in a dome nonetheless! – and for the defense, who despite blocking three punts on the night, failed to capitalize on any of them. Throw in a goal-line stuff by the Lions in the second, and it’s a likely bet the Stampeders will head back to the drawing board so they can figure out how to capitalize on those golden opportunities moving ahead in the season.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: BC

WEEK 2 PREVIEWS

Ottawa (1-0) vs. Montreal (1-0), Thursday, June 30th, 7:00 PM EST: Henry Burris has been added to the 1-game Disabled List, so Trevor Harris will get his first start under centre as a REDBLACK, and after last week’s masterful performance, it’s hard to not feel confident about what’s to come for him. Ottawa will also have to do a little shuffling of their offensive line, as a few key contributors are banged up and may not be at their best. Ottawa also signed K Zach Medeiros this week, so that #1 Chris Milo won’t have to handle dual duties in kicking and punting while Ronnie Pfeffer recovers from a high-ankle sprain on the 6-game DL. Out of Montreal, the Alouettes will be able to stay in this thing if they can pressure the QB like they did against Winnipeg last week, where they recorded 5 sacks. However, Ottawa does have a much stronger OL than Winnipeg, so the other way they’ll be able to keep in it is if they can limit the run game and force incompletions when Trevor Harris inevitably has to air it out overtop. Still, that’s a tall order, and the Als may be in trouble this week.

PICK: Ottawa

Toronto (0-1) vs. Saskatchewan (0-0), Thursday, June 30th, 10:00 PM EST: It’s our first look at the freshly-overhauled Roughriders this season, who had the bye last week. So much of the team has changed, from football operations and front office all the way down to the field, but with last year’s Grey Cup winner Chris Jones now in charge as GM and head coach, as well as a healthy starting QB in Darian Durant, Riders fans hopefully feel more confident at the onset of their season. Toronto looked out of sorts last week, and I almost wonder if Ricky Ray saw enough preseason action, because despite throwing two TDs last week, he also threw a pick-six and fumbled away another ball as well. If Toronto can do a better job with holding onto the ball, they’ll be in far better position to turn the corner and win this one. Still, I think the Riders will come hard out of the gate and take this one as they begin their final season at the ancient Mosaic Stadium in Regina.

PICK: Saskatchewan

BC (1-0) vs. Hamilton (1-0), Friday, July 1st, 7:00 PM EST: Who to talk about first for the TiCats… Jeremiah Masoli? Simoni Lawrence? Chad Owens? Andy Fantuz? Hamilton was firing on all cylinders last week when they beat Toronto, with all four of the above names serving as key contributors in the 22-point victory. It’s Masoli and Lawrence who stick out the most to me, however, with the backup QB throwing for 318 yards and 3 TDs as starter Zach Collaros recovers from ACL surgery, and Lawrence was the defensive catalyst as he recovered a fumble and scored a pick-six against the Argos. As the TiCats head home, where they’ve enjoyed a ton of success over the last two seasons, BC embarks on their first road game of the year, where they were… not good last year (3-6). Despite a win, QB Jon Jennings looked pretty pedestrian, and he’ll be in tough against a ferocious Hamilton defence. You can’t rely on special teams to win you two games in a row, so Jennings will need to be the focal point for the Lions if they want to win this one.

PICK: Hamilton

Winnipeg (0-1) vs. Calgary (0-1), Friday, July 1st, 10:00 PM EST: Calgary blew some golden opportunities to put the game away for good against BC, but don’t expect it to happen again. No doubt the Stamps will be working on their red-zone offense, which saw them blow four consecutive chances on the goal line (as BC was called offsides in one play during the drive) and turn the ball over on downs. For Winnipeg, they’ll very much want leading receiver Weston Dressler back to help spark the offense; as I’m writing this, things apparently look good for him to play, but no final decision has been made yet. Without Dressler, the Bombers will no doubt lean more on Andrew Harris to shoulder the load, and they’ll need to do a better job protecting QB Drew Willy, who was sacked five times last week, if they want to win this one. The Stamps, who remain a far stronger team than the Als, won’t make that easy one bit for Winnipeg.

PICK: Calgary

BYE: Edmonton (0-1)

Game picks this week: 0-4

Game picks this season: 0-4