Holy shit, August is almost over. And I guess we can all still see after the eclipse this week… for now… at least until today’s scandal drops. There’s one literally every day these days. Maybe firing the nukes will blind us instead of the sun. Who’s to say, really? At least that would mean I don’t have to see the collapse of society. I suppose it would, however, put a real dent in my football-watching abilities, although, with the collapse of society, hard to say if they’d still play the games. Actually, they probably would – I’m sure NFL owners would put themselves and their teams into a giant underground bunker and just play games there, and then televise them all in order to hold up their end of those sweet, sweet, multibillion-dollar contracts. CFL owners? Not so lucky. Maybe we build a neutral field in, say, Yellowknife, Northwest Territory, and do that? Might make for a hell of a Grey Cup game, assuming that your target audience is irradiated caribou.

Anyways, enough negativity. Onto the games!

WEEK 9 RECAPS

Edmonton 26 vs. Winnipeg 33: The streak is over! We no longer have any unbeaten teams remaining in the CFL. What’s more remarkable is that Edmonton lasted as long as they did without losing, considering their vast, vast injury list that’s piled up over the first half of the season. Winnipeg continues to stay hot, having won four games in a row now, and consistently find different ways to win; this week, while Matt Nichols had a very strong game with 390 yards passing, a TD, and a rushing score, it was RB Andrew Harris who ended up as the player of the game for the Blue Bombers. Harris ended the night with 120 receiving yards and 105 rushing yards, and was a force with every touch of the ball. Mike Reilly had 356 yards on 20-33 attempts 2 TD passes and a rush TD to go along with a pick, and pushed hard in the fourth quarter to help try and bring the Eskimos back into the game, but unfortunately couldn’t get them back all the way. With top receivers Adarius Bowman and Brandon Zylstra still out, Edmonton has moved to a receiver-by-committee scheme on offence, and fortunately for them, they have a lot of depth in that position; this week, D’haquille Williams led the team in receiving yards, with 4 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown as well.

PICK: Edmonton

RESULT: Winnipeg

Ottawa 37 vs. Hamilton 18: REDBLACKS kicker Brett Maher led the way over the first 2.5 quarters of this game, kicking six field goals before Trevor Harris managed to connect with Greg Ellingson and get Ottawa’s first touchdown on the board. While the REDBLACKS had somewhat of a slow start, the impact of this was, fortunately, lessened a fair bit by playing the league’s worst team by a wide margin. In the third quarter, Hamilton’s Brandon Banks got open and looked like he’d hauled in a huge catch that would have led him go to the house, but he bobbled the pass and dropped it. Ottawa responded to this drop by strip-sacking QB Zach Collaros and running it back for a defensive TD, blowing the game wide open. REDBLACKS QB Trevor Harris continues his touchdown streak, average 2 TDs per game so far this season to lead the entire CFL, while for Hamilton, Zach Collaros is riding an ugly streak of his own, having lost twelve consecutive games now as the starting quarterback in black and yellow. Collaros was benched for Jeremiah Masoli in the third, partly due to wanting to preserve him, and partly just wanting to give the offence a different look and maybe spark something; unfortunately, in a reflection of their season as a whole, it didn’t end up working, and the Ti-Cats remain winless still. Expect some changes coming as they head into their bye week.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Ottawa

Calgary 21 vs. BC 17: This game was a defensive struggle, featuring a lot of ground-and-pound action and interceptions on both teams’ quarterbacks. Bo Levi Mitchell had a career low completion of 48% in this one, going just 15-31 for 237 yards and a pick, with no TD passes thrown. Fortunately for the passing game, RB Jerome Messam was there to save the day, grinding out 69 yards on 15 carries plus a touchdown, while kicker Rene Paredes added five field goals. For the Lions, the QB situation wasn’t a ton better, as Jonathon Jennings had two picks on his night to go along with a touchdown and a one-yard rush major on 26-38 completions for 240 yards. On the defensive side of the ball, LB Alex Singleton once again led the way for the Stamps, racking up 8 tackles and an interception, while for the Lions, LB Solomon Elimimian, consistently one of the league’s best, had ten tackles on the night. Over the first 25 minutes of action, the Lions managed only one first down, but managed to wake up towards the end of the second when Jennings punched the ball in from the one, making Calgary’s lead just a single point, 9-8, with a successful two-point conversion immediately afterwards. Messam’s fourth-quarter TD was a big slog, though it put Calgary up 18-14… Messam cracked the 5,000 yards rushing mark on his career in this game, but had to leave shortly afterwards with a knee injury.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Calgary

Montreal 6 vs. Toronto 38: The Argos definitely got their revenge after last week’s drubbing in Montreal. With Ricky Ray back in the lineup under centre, this Toronto team looks entirely different than the one that couldn’t find an offensive rhythm at all last week. Ray went 35-43 for 377 yards, 4 touchdowns, and an interception, while on the defensive side of the ball, the Als were limited to 145 total yards of offence by a staunch Argo D. Ricky Ray’s chemistry with former Alouettes receiver SJ Green continues to impress, with Green racking up 145 yards and 2 TDs in the first half of the game alone. With the score showing 35-0 at the half, this one was already well in the books – Montreal’s only points came on Ray’s one mistake of the game, when a pass was picked off by LB Dominique Tovell and returned 61 yards for a touchdown; they even missed the two-point attempt afterwards. All in all, this was certainly a game to forget for Montreal – and with Darian Durant continuing to have issues with consistency, the offence really needs to figure things out as we move into the second half of the season shortly.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Toronto

BYE: Saskatchewan (3-4)

WEEK 10 PREVIEWS

Winnipeg (6-2) vs. Montreal (3-5), Thursday, August 24th, 7:30 PM EST: These are not your dad’s Blue Bombers. Despite having the longest Grey Cup drought of all the teams in the league, Winnipeg are legit contenders this year, though they’re in tough considering they share a division with other serious threats in Edmonton and Calgary. Even with being on the road, they continue to impress; this week against Montreal, against a defense strong against the run, they’ll be able to put their passing game to good use, and with Andrew Harris as an option to both pass and run out of the backfield, it’ll keep the Alouettes on their toes. For Montreal, Darian Durant needs to figure things out – I can’t imagine that the front office thinks he’s been playing up to the standards they expected when they traded for him and signed him to an extension. Limit turnovers, and just make the basic throws.

PICK: Winnipeg

Saskatchewan (3-4) vs. Edmonton (7-1), Friday, August 25th, 9:30 PM EST: The Riders are coming off their bye week hopefully feeling rested, but they’re facing the league’s top team on the road – and one with a new weapon on their defensive line. The Eskimos acquired All-Star Canadian DE John Chick from the Ti-Cats plus a 2018 5th-round pick in exchange for their 2nd-rounder, and he’ll help to shore up their national depth as well be a force on pass-rushing duties. Saskatchewan is a greatly improved team from last year, but they’ll still be tough, even against a very depleted Edmonton lineup; if they want to win, they’ll need to have Kevin Glenn firing on all cylinders, as well as get their D-line to collapse quickly on the pocket; not an easy feat against Mike Reilly, who’s so adept at rolling out and making throws off to the side.

PICK: Edmonton

BC (5-3) vs. Ottawa (2-6-1), Saturday, August 26th, 3:30 PM EST: If Ottawa can win this game, their season will start to turn around in a big way, I think. While Hamilton is, of course, the biggest basement dweller in the CFL by a long shot, coming home after a victory like that still is an uplifting feeling. For BC, having lost consecutive games now, largely in part to turnovers and substandard QB play, a win is crucial in order to stay neck-and-neck with the big dogs of the West in Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg. Ottawa is at least as good as the Roughriders are, and with Saskatchewan having destroyed the Lions a couple weeks ago, there’s a very chance that Ottawa could do the same, especially at home in front of a raucous crowd.

PICK: Ottawa

Toronto (4-5) vs. Calgary (6-1-1), Saturday, August 26th, 9:00 PM EST: While last week was a big win for the Argos, they’ve already been soundly bested once by the Stampeders this year, and that was at home at BMO Field; having to go on the road and play them in McMahon Stadium, well, that’s a tough job for any team to go do and be successful at it. Calgary won as well last week, but that was with Bo Levi Mitchell having an uncharacteristically poor game; expect a bounce-back from him and a more engaged passing game, which, with Jerome Messam’s status possibly questionable as I write this article, could prove to be an essential part of the offence. It’s far more likely for this game to be gunslinger battle than the defensive struggle we saw in Calgary’s previous matchup against BC.

PICK: Calgary

BYE: Hamilton (0-8)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Haris, OTT – 2862
2. Ray, TOR – 2798
3. Reilly, EDM – 2685

Passing TDs

1. Harris, OTT – 18
2. Reilly, EDM – 15
3. Ray, TOR – 14

Rushing Yards

1. Messam, CGY – 559
2. Harris, WPG – 495
3. Johnson, BC – 487

Receiving Yards

1. Ellingson, OTT – 904
2. Green, TOR – 850
3. Sinopoli, OTT – 667

Sacks

1. Butler, TOR – 7
2. Hughes, CGY – 6
3. Westerman,  WPG – 6

Interceptions

1. Gainey, BC – 4
2. Heath, WPG – 4
3. Ladler, EDM – 3

Field Goals

1. Medlock, WPG – 28
2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 28
3. Paredes, CGY – 22

PICK POOL

it me, a idiot whomst forgot to hit “submit” button whence picking games on line… i are a dumb this week.

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