We’re headed into the Canada Day long weekend, and while I won’t be watching most of these games, I will instead be doing my patriotic duty by getting drunk at the cottage and lighting off fireworks that were bought on the internet. All the same, I think if we see a couple wins from Toronto and Saskatchewan this week, the whole character of this season will be vastly different than last year, and hopefully the CFL, just like my experiences with day-drinking in summer weather, will be just as zany as ever.

On to the games!

WEEK 1 RECAPS

Saskatchewan 16 vs. Montreal 17: Darian Durant got his first win as a Montreal Alouette, and fitting that it came against his old team… the 34-year-old quarterback had 233 passing yards on 20-31 attempts, with two touchdowns to BJ Cunningham and new offseason signing Ernest Jackson. Both teams took a while to get the offense rolling, with the first points on the board only arriving with 5 minutes remaining in the first half. The Riders took a 10-7 lead into the second half, and the lead went back and forth a number of times; with the score ticking down and Montreal up by 1, Saskatchewan brought out kicker Tyler Crapigna, who was 3-3 on field goals in the game, to kick for the win from 45 yards out… unfortunately, he pulled a Scott Norwood and went wide right, sealing the victory for Montreal.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Montreal

Calgary 31 vs. Ottawa 31: Ties should honestly be illegal in football. For the second time in four total matchups since last June, the REDBLACKS and Stampeders ended up even after two overtime sequences. It was an offensive showdown of high calibre as two of the league’s top quarterbacks, Trevor Harris and Bo Levi Mitchell, went at it chucking bombs downfield all game long. Harris finished the game 33-45 for 300 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, while his Calgary counterpart went 31-48 for 376 yards and 2 TDs of his own. Ottawa had a strong run game going all night – starter William Powell, seeing his first action since 2015, looked very shifty to start the game, but when he rolled an ankle, he was replaced by Brendan Gillanders, who had 80 yards on 12 carries. Unfortunately for Gillanders, a fourth-quarter fumble put the Stamps right back in the game, cutting what was then a 28-14 Ottawa lead to 28-21 with just over seven minutes to play. Also controversial from this game was a Calgary goal-line fumble that looked like it was successfully run back 111 yards for an Ottawa touchdown; unfortunately for the REDBLACKS, the Command Centre ruled that the ball had crossed the plane of the goal line before it came loose, and thus the long return was negated.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Tie

Edmonton 30 vs. B.C. 27: A weird game for sure. It took quite a while for both teams to get rolling, with Edmonton taking a 13-5 lead into the half. Offenses heated up in the second half, though; at one point, Edmonton was up by two scores, but BC managed to battle back to tie it at 27 with three minutes to go. Fortunately for the Eskimos, Mike Reilly managed to connect with receiver Brandon Zylstra for a 76-yard bomb, which put them in field goal range just as time expired on the clock; Sean Whyte made the nine-yard chip shot to win it for Edmonton. Reilly had another strong night once again, going 20-28 for 315 yards and two touchdowns, and receivers Zylstra and rookie D’haquille Williams paced Edmonton with 152 and 110 yards each, respectively; running back John White had another 104 yards on the ground as well as a touchdown of his own. For BC, they did what they set out to do, particularly in not turning the ball over; while QB Jonathon Jennings didn’t throw a TD pass, he still went 22-34 for 264 yards and had some good ground support as well, particularly from Jeremiah Johnson, who finished with 92 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown of his own. Unfortunately for Edmonton, the win cost them star linebacker JC Sherritt, who went down in the second quarter with a ruptured Achilles, and he’ll miss the remainder of the 2017 season.

PICK: B.C.

RESULT: Edmonton

Hamilton 15 vs. Toronto 32: Well, looks like my season prediction for the Argos is going to come in massively wrong if they continue to play the way they did last Sunday. Ricky Ray had a career game for Toronto, finishing 32-41 for 506 yards and a touchdown to rookie receiver DeVier Posey. Argos kicker Lirim Hajrullahu also made 5 of 8 field goals to add on to the total. Despite the score being close at the end of the first half, with Toronto sporting a 15-12 lead over the Ti-Cats, the Argos took over in the second half, moving the ball almost at will against Hamilton. A lot of pressure from an aggressive Toronto line also made Zach Collaros look rather pedestrian; he finished the night with no touchdowns, a pick, and just 242 passing yards on 26-39 attempts. Also interesting – after getting down early, Hamilton almost entirely abandoned the run game, with CJ Gable leading the team with just 9 yards on 5 carries total. Marc Trestman got his first win as Argos head coach, and if he can prove to be the quarterback-whisperer he was for Anthony Calvillo during his time in Montreal, then Toronto might actually not be completely dogshit this year. But it’s really early yet. Let’s see what happens.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Toronto

BYE: Winnipeg

WEEK 2 PREVIEWS

Ottawa (0-0-1) vs. Calgary (0-0-1), Thursday, June 29th, 9:00 PM EST: With no decision last time around, the REDBLACKS and Stamps will take another crack at it to see who can come out victorious in this one. Calgary went 9-0 last year at home (the best record in the CFL) and historically have put on some of their strongest performances at McMahon Stadium. A big question will be on who Ottawa starts at running back – will William Powell be healthy and good to go, and if he’s not, will Brendan Gillanders get the nod in his place, or will his costly fumble from late last game mean that Mossis Madu, last year’s starter, will be the guy who gets called upon? The other big note for this game will be about Calgary kick returner Roy Finch – he’ll be serving the first of a two-game suspension for a failed PED test; he averaged 17.7 yards per return last week, so Tunde Adeleke, who managed just 5 yards on the one runback he got last game, will likely serve in his place.

PICK: Calgary

BC (0-1) vs. Toronto (1-0), Friday, June 30th, 7:00 PM EST: The Lions want to bounce back from a late-game collapse, while the Argos want to keep the momentum rolling after a very strong full-team performance last week. I, for one, hope that the crowd is better at BMO Field than it was last week; total paid attendance was announced at 13,583, less than 50% capacity of the stadium. With season ticket holders cut in roughly half from last year’s estimated 7,000 total, the Argos will be reliant on a walkup crowd in order to build attention for the team – but with the Blue Jays faltering this summer, if they can play as well as they did last week, then there may well be blue skies on the horizon yet. For the Lions, a varied offense proved key to success against the Eskimos, but their secondary needs to avoid giving up big plays, like the 76-yard one to Edmonton’s Brandon Zylstra. If they can play with more discipline, then expect a better result for the Lions

PICK: BC

Montreal (1-0) vs. Edmonton (1-0), Friday, June 30th, 10:00 PM EST: It took Montreal a while to get rolling, offense-wise, last week; hopefully more time with Darian Durant to work with his receivers will improve moving the ball. In order for the Als to stick with Esks drive-for-drive, they’ll also need to look for a way to better integrate RB Tyrell Sutton into the playcalling; he had 68 yards last week on 13 carries, but when you compare that to Edmonton, who had two 100-yard receivers to go along with their own 100-yard back in John White, diversity is an absolute essential. The loss of LB JC Sherritt will definitely hurt Edmonton moving forward, but DE Odell Willis is extremely versatile and is quite used to dropping back into pass coverage and may be used more in that role if Montreal’s O-line looks to be holding up early on.

PICK: Edmonton

Winnipeg (0-0) vs. Saskatchewan (0-1), Saturday, July 1st, 9:00 PM EST: It’s the Bombers’ first game of the season against their biggest rivals. With a roster that has almost all of the key players from last year’s surprisingly successful squad returning for another crack at things, it’ll be interesting to see if this year’s team can build on the momentum that Winnipeg saw in 2016. For the Roughriders, who were a missed field goal from winning last week, there’s not a lot more that needs to be changed; Kevin Glenn needs to ensure he doesn’t force his throws this week, especially against a defence that led the CFL in interceptions last season. It’ll be interesting to see if Saskatchewan’s renewed receiving corps can bring some pressure on Winnipeg’s secondary that was sorely lacking last season.

PICK: Winnipeg

BYE: Hamilton (0-1)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Ray, EDM – 506
2. Mitchell, CGY – 376
3. Reilly, EDM – 315

Passing TDs

1. Harris, OTT – 3
2. Mitchell, CGY – 2
3. Reilly, EDM – 2

Rushing Yards

1. White, EDM – 104
2. Johnson, BC – 92
3. Marshall, SSK – 84

Receiving Yards

1. Zylstra, EDM – 152
2. Posey, TOR – 147
3. Green, TOR – 124

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