Sports are nowhere near as much of a shitshow as the Republican National Convention is this week. Thank you, Cleveland, for containing almost all of the backwards dipshittery of this continent to a few square miles on the banks of the Cuyahoga. On that note, I still feel like the Browns might have a rough go if they played in the CFL. I really, honestly do. Considering that their quarterback question is nowhere even close to being solved, that puts them behind a number of teams here.

Onto the #content!

WEEK 4 RECAPS

Ottawa 30 vs. Toronto 20: No passing touchdowns for the first time this season from Trevor Harris, but he did set a new CFL single-game record with a 90.3% completion percentage, going 28-31 for 392 yards and also running in a 1-yard touchdown to boot in his first game against his former team. Greg Ellingson was Ottawa’s best receiver by far, setting a franchise record with 9 catches for 218 yards; Ottawa also scored their first rushing touchdown of the season from Nic Grigsby, as well as their very first special teams touchdown in three seasons (40 games) as a franchise, courtesy of Tristan Jackson. The Argos’ Ricky Ray also hit a milestone this game, passing Danny McManus to reach 4th all-time on the CFL’s career passing yards list, behind only Henry Burris (still active, though out injured), Damon Allen, and Anthony Calvillo. Toronto led 13-0 partway through the second and took a 20-17 lead into the 4th quarter, but Ottawa’s league-best offence was simply too much, and came back courtesy of two field goals from Chris Milo and Tristan Jackson’s 75-yard return touchdown. A disappointing game for the Argos in a number of ways – not only was it a loss, but only about 12,000 fans were in attendance for the matchup. The team is attributing this to several things, including a midweek scheduling, a questionable weather forecast, and the presence of IndyCar in Toronto last week, but it’s still got to be concerning for management, who absolutely need to see the team succeed in its new home at BMO Field in order for the entire league to remain a successful one.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Ottawa

Edmonton 20 vs. Winnipeg 16: The Mike Reilly Show took to the air once again, with the Eskimos’ QB throwing for 465 yards and 2 touchdowns, and receivers Adarius Bowman (185 yards) and Derel Walker (154 yards and a TD) were his favourite targets as the Edmonton offence shredded Winnipeg’s patchy defence once again. Winnipeg’s offence had a decent day themselves, but Drew Willy threw two picks and their D came up short in the end to help them climb back into the game. Andrew Harris and Weston Dressler remain the most valuable weapons Willy has in his arsenal, and the trio are Winnipeg’s only hope at a playoff berth this year. A 1-3 start to the year already has them in a fairly significant hole in what is proving to be a very balanced West Division this year.

PICK: Edmonton

RESULT: Edmonton

Hamilton 31 vs. Montreal 7: Kevin Glenn was injured during practise earlier and Rakeem Cato ended up getting the start in his place, and it was a stinker for the Alouettes. No touchdowns scored – a pair of field goals and a rouge were all that Montreal mustered against a ferocious Hamilton defence. Jeremiah Masoli was ineffective once again at quarterback for the Ti-Cats, who draw ever closer to seeing Zack Collaros returning to game action; fortunately, the passing game was bailed out by five field goals from Brett Maher, a rushing TD from CJ Gable, and an 86-yard punt return TD from Brandon Banks. On defense, Hamilton also notched seven sacks in all, a huge showing that equalled their Week 1 victory over Toronto. Receiver Duron Carter, who was suspended one game for his actions in Week 2 against Ottawa, ended up playing, due to his suspension being under appeal (he will see arbitration on August 17th, which seems comically late when compared to NFL suspension appeals). In the end, without a bonafide starter in place to throw the ball, none of Montreal’s receivers had a stellar night, with BJ Cunningham pacing the Als with 6 catches for a total of 63 yards.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Hamilton

BC 40 vs. Saskatchewan 27: Another loss for Saskatchewan, but the bigger hurt is that Darian Durant is out again with a sprained ankle. Fortunately, it’s not a season-ending injury unlike last year but his departure from the field changed the game. Saskatchewan was leading 10-7 when Durant went down and took a 23-10 lead into the half, but Jonathan Jennings ended up having a career-best game, going 25/40 for 429 yards and 3 touchdowns, which helped the Lions pull away in the second half. Shawn Gore and Nick Moore had excellent games for BC as well, with 109 and 88 yards respectively, and a touchdown catch each. Mitchell Gale, the former Toronto Argonaut, who was traded two weeks ago for DE Shawn Lemon, came in to replace the injured Durant, and played OK in relief, going 17-30 for 247 yards and 1 TD, but there’s no doubt that the Roughriders will be hurting without Durant starting under centre going forward.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: BC

WEEK 5 PREVIEWS

Calgary (1-1-1) vs. Winnipeg (1-3), Thursday, July 21st, 8:30 PM EST: The Stampeders come off the bye rested and raring to go; the Blue Bombers had a tough loss to an Edmonton team with a less than stellar defence; they’ll be in even tougher against Calgary, who are a much more balanced team than their Alberta rivals. Regardless of their home field advantage, the Bombers will once again be in tough to pull out a win against Calgary, who won the first matchup of the year at McMahon Stadium 36-22. Another interesting start, courtesy of the CFL website: coming off the bye, Calgary has a 13-game win streak, dating back to 2005.

PICK: Calgary

Ottawa (3-0-1) vs. Saskatchewan (0-3), Friday, July 22nd, 9:00 PM EST: Darian Durant has been ruled out with a sprained ankle, so QB Mitchell Gale is getting his first-ever start in the CFL for the Roughriders. Ottawa has the deadliest offence in the league by a wide margin, averaging 503.8 net yards of offence per game, and without their star quarterback to keep them in an offensive dogfight, Saskatchewan faces an uphill battle to stop Trevor Harris and the red-hot REDBLACKS.

PICK: Ottawa

Hamilton (2-2) vs. Edmonton (2-1), Saturday, July 23rd, 7:00 PM EST: A great offence versus a great defence. Who ya got? Despite the Eskimos’ flaws on D, the offence has the ability to pick apart even the stingiest of defences, and if the OL can limit the pressure on Reilly, that will give them their best shot to win. In Hamilton, each victory this year has seen the Ti-Cats record seven sacks, while the two losses have averaged just 1.5. Get to Mike Reilly, and you can stop Edmonton – if not, the offence doesn’t have enough structure with Jeremiah Masoli at centre to keep it potentially close.

PICK: Edmonton

Montreal (1-2) vs. Toronto (2-2), Monday, July 25th, 7:30 PM EST: Toronto has lost both its home games so far this season, which has been rather unusual in seeing visitors go 12-3-1 over the first four weeks of the season thus far. At some point, though, this trend is likely to reverse itself – whether it’s this week or later though remains to be seen. Montreal will have Kevin Glenn back under centre after missing last week’s matchup against Hamilton, which should help the passing game quite about for the Alouettes – they’ll need him to throw a lot with RB Tyrell Sutton currently on the 6-game DL. Still, despite a loss last week, Ricky Ray looked sharp – Toronto has enough weapons to spread the ball around nicely against Montreal and can hopefully keep enough variance in the game plan to just chip away, bit by bit.

PICK: Toronto

BYE: BC (3-1)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Harris, OTT – 1475
2. Willy, WPG – 1239
3. Reilly, EDM – 1226

Passing TDs

1. Harris, OTT – 9
2. Reilly, EDM – 7
3. Durant, SSK – 6

Rushing Yards

1. Gable, HAM – 187
2. Messam, CGY – 185
3. Harris, WPG – 178

Receiving Yards

1. Williams, OTT – 556
2. Ellingson, OTT – 439
3. Bowman, EDM – 432

Game picks this week: 2-2

Game picks this season: 5-11