It was a busy weekend of drinking for just about everyone last week; a beautiful Labour Day on the eastern part of the continent and some time up at the lake didn’t allow me to watch the games live, but fortunately I had time on Monday to sit down and recap. Scheduling quirks this coming week see three of four games that are the reverse of last week’s matchups, the second halves of home-and-home series. Will we see revenge? Or double the humiliation? Let’s find out!

WEEK 11 RECAPS

BC 16 vs. Toronto 13: After sticking around eastern Canada after their Week 10 win against Ottawa, the Lions were waiting patiently for the chance to improve their road record.  This game was a defensive battle with only two touchdowns scored all night – one by Lions RB Anthony Allen, and the other from Argos QB Ricky Ray, in first game back after being out a month, to WR Kevin Elliott. The score was back and forth constantly, but BC pulled out a hard-fought win with Richie Leone kicking a field goal on the final play of the game with no time left on the clock to seal the deal.

PICK: BC

RESULT: BC

Ottawa 19 vs. Montreal 14: This game ended with Ottawa pulling out a 19-14 win with two field goals from Chris Milo in the 4th to finally pull away for good; it was an ugly, penalty-filled game that no logical person who should’ve been watching the NFL preseason should have taken notice to. Alouettes QB Kevin Glenn had a rough outing, with two picks thrown and getting sacked twice; Ottawa’s defence proved to be the difference maker in this one. REDBLACKS QB Trevor Harris said it was the “ugliest game I’ve ever played [in a REDBLACKS uniform].” Still a win, is a win, and as a biased Ottawa fan, I’ll take it. 

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Ottawa

Winnipeg 28 vs. Saskatchewan 25: I hope litre_cola had fun at his stag party on the weekend. For as shitty a team as Saskatchewan has been all year, this was a surprisingly close game; however, Winnipeg snapped their losing streak in the Labour Day Classic with their first victory in 11 years over the Roughriders. It’s also the final Labour Day game being played at Mosaic Stadium, as the Riders are moving into brand new digs just across the street as of next year. Winnipeg was up 19-3 in the third quarter before Saskatchewan started to bring themselves back into the game; a Darian Durant TD pass, his first in 4 games, made it 19-11 for Winnipeg, before he tied it after calling his own number and faking a handoff, driving into the endzone and earning the 2-point conversion on another QB sneak. Pressing hard in the fourth quarter, the Riders were driving hard until a Durant pass was picked at the 2-yard line by Bombers DB CJ Roberts. As play progressed, the score was knotted at 25 when Justin Medlock kicked his seventh field goal of the game for Winnipeg, right as time expired, winning the game for the first time in a long time for the Blue Bombers.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Edmonton 24 vs. Calgary 45: The Stampeders look unstoppable right now. Calgary won their seventh game of the year in part to every part of their team firing on all cylinders; Bo Levi Mitchell threw for 380 yards and 2 TDs, Jerome Messam rushed for a pair of majors, Roy Finch had a punt return touchdown, and Jamar Wall picked off Eskimos pivot Mike Reilly twice en route to the decisive win. Edmonton was down early, and had some momentum late in the 2nd quarter to go into the half down 24-17. A pick on Mitchell by Edmonton DB Kenny Ladler that followed a TD pass from Reilly to Derel Walker, plus a couple kickoff singles were sorely needed to make the Eskies feel like they were getting back into it. However, Calgary pulled away in the 4th, particularly after Reilly’s 2nd pick of the game, and the Big Red Machine keeps on rolling.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Calgary

Toronto 36 vs. Hamilton 49: Toronto was up 30-16 at the half… and then Zach Collaros led the ridiculous comeback that thrilled the home crowd at Tim Hortons Field. The 85 combined points is also the highest total ever scored in a Labour Day matchup between the Argonauts and Tiger-Cats. It was a quarterback battle all day – Ricky Ray had 386 yards on 31-41 passing along with 3 TDs, but 2 INTs as well. Collaros, however, was even better, with 359 yards on 28-35 passing, for 4 TDs and 1 INT. The Tiger-Cats had an offence greatly aided with WR Luke Tasker going for 122 yards and 1 TD catch, and 135 yards on 12 carries from RB CJ Gable. Toronto blew it, and hard. The Argos will be seeking revenge in a big way this coming week.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Hamilton

BYE: None 

WEEK 12 PREVIEWS

Montreal (3-7) vs. BC (7-3), Friday, September 9th, 10:00 PM EST: The Lions head home after two weeks away on the road, and Montreal makes their annual Pacific swing. BC’s won two in a row, Montreal’s coming off a loss, but they do get Duron Carter back in the receiving corps after his 1-game ban was served last week; it’s going to take much more than one extra weapon for the Als to make a dent in BC’s defence. With a serious run game in place, the Lions should be able to sock it to the Alouettes with the knowledge that their mostly punchless offence won’t be able to go toe-to-toe.

PICK: BC

Saskatchewan (1-9) vs. Winnipeg (6-4), Saturday, September 10th, 4:00 PM EST: The first of three rematch games on the docket this week; Winnipeg needs to do more than rely on kicker Justin Medlock to kick seven field goals like he did in the last game. Despite the picks thrown, Darian Durant remains a dual threat for Saskatchewan and the key to the offence taking the next step forward.  However, considering the fact the Blue Bombers have won five straight games, fans probably don’t have much to complain about right now, quite honestly.

PICK: Winnipeg

Calgary (8-1-1) vs. Edmonton (5-5), Saturday, September 10th, 7:00 PM EST: The Stamps outclassed Edmonton at home, while they now go on the road and hope to repeat it all again. Edmonton’s split their home and road records evenly, going 3-3 away from Commonwealth Stadium and 2-2 at it. Thus, the game location hasn’t been much of a factor into their play at all. With continuing issues with their second-last ranked defence, they’re likely going to lose yet again to the Stamps, who hold first place overall by a huge margin so far.

PICK: Calgary

Hamilton (5-5) vs. Toronto (4-6), Sunday, September 11th, 4:30 PM EST: Hamilton’s beat Toronto twice already this year; once last week and once way back in Week 1 in Toronto. With the season series already clinched, the Ti-Cats are now looking to run up the score. Regardless of who’s playing QB, the Hamilton offence seems to give Toronto’s D absolute fits, and with Zach Collaros just continuing to get better and better as he comes back from ACL surgery and rehab, the Tiger-Cats have a Most Outstanding Player candidate leading their team. Further to the loss last week, Argos fans got some bad news when the team announced Ricky Ray will be out for yet another long stretch; the estimate is 4-6 weeks, currently. Ray’s latest injury is a fractured rib that partially deflated a lung; bad, but better than the initial rumours of a punctured lung that were floating around earlier this week. Logan Kilgore was really, really bad in his stretch as a starter, so you’d have to imagine that Toronto is coming to regret the Mitchell Gale trade from earlier this season. I wouldn’t be shocked if there was a trade coming in the next few weeks to help shore them up at quarterback.

PICK: Hamilton

BYE: Ottawa (5-4-1)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Reilly, EDM – 3315
2. Mitchell, CGY – 3237
3. Jennings, BC – 2689

Passing TDs

1. Rielly, EDM – 17
2. Mitchell, CGY – 17
3. Collaros, HAM – 14

Rushing Yards

1. Harris, WPG – 655
2. Messam, CGY – 652
3. Whitaker, TOR – 517

Receiving Yards

1. Bowman, EDM – 1008
2. Williams, OTT – 991
3. Roosevelt, SSK – 974

Sacks

1.  Bazzie, BC – 9
2. Chick, HAM – 8
3. Lemon, TOR – 8

Interceptions

1. Leggett, WPG – 5
2. Jefferson, TOR – 3
3. Sherritt, EDM – 3

Field Goals

1. Paredes, CGY – 35
2. Medlock, WPG – 34
3. Milo, OTT – 27

Game picks this week: 5-0 (FUCK YEAH WOOOOO)

Game picks this season: 25-20