Just over a week until the Grey Cup! It’ll be the latest championship game in CFL history, necessitated due to the delayed start to the season, but even with the cold weather, the playoff action continues to heat up. Hard to believe there’s only three CFL games left in 2021!

In league news this week:

• The nominees for league awards were released this week. Each division puts in one finalist, with the results being revealed on Friday, December 10th, ahead of the Grey Cup. Here they are:
  • Most Outstanding Player: RB William Stanback, Montreal (East), QB Zach Collaros, Winnipeg (West)
  • Most Outstanding Defensive Player: LB Simoni Lawrence, Hamilton (East), LB Adam Bighill, Winnipeg (West)
  • Most Outstanding Canadian: DL David Menard, Montreal (East), LB Bo Lokombo, BC (West)
  • Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman: LG Brandon Revenberg, Hamilton (East), LT Stanley Bryant, Winnipeg (West)
  • Most Outstanding Special Teams Player: KR/PR DeVonte Dedmon, Ottawa (East), K Rene Paredes, Calgary (West)
  • Most Outstanding Rookie: C Peter Nicastro, Toronto (East), LB Jordan Williams, BC (West)
  • Coach of the Year: Ryan Dinwiddie, Toronto (East), Mike O’Shea, Winnipeg (West)
• The Ottawa REDBLACKS social media team found themselves in hot water this week over some embarrassing Tweets; having missed the playoffs, the team ran a poll asking CFL fans which team they should support through the post-season, to which, as always, Riders fans swung in their favour. With longstanding animosity between both teams (sharing the nickname for over 70 years, the Riders refusing to support the Renegades in Ottawa when the team collapsed financially for the second time back in the mid-2000s and then poaching their best players in the dispersal draft to then win a Grey Cup, Saskatchewan’s victory in the 2017 East Semi-Final, just to name a few points of contention), this was a stupid look.
• Riders’ DB Loucheiz Purifoy was involved in a situation at a Regina restaurant on Sunday, November 28th where a group of people were involved in a disturbance that saw police called to the scene; while he was detained overnight, he was not charged with anything, and should play this weekend in the West Final against the Blue Bombers.

Onto the games!

DIVISION SEMIFINAL RECAPS

EAST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(3) Montreal 12 vs. (2) Hamilton 23: In a snowy early afternoon start, the Tiger-Cats did a great job of shutting down Montreal’s offence, and walk away from this game one step closer to the Grey Cup. The Als could not consistently protect the football; Trevor Harris had an interception and two forced fumbles, and Hamilton scored a TD and two field goals off of the three Montreal turnovers. Star RB William Stanback was limited to just  29 rush yards on 12 carries, and while Hamilton didn’t fare a whole lot better on the ground, Don Jackson did score a rush TD to give Hamilton a 14-3 lead in the second quarter. The Alouettes outgained the Tiger-Cats, but at the end of the day, turnovers killed their championship hopes. Montreal started out this year with a roar, but since Vernon Adams, Jr. was injured back in Week 10, their season has turned into more of a whimper. A disappointing year, but a full-strength Adams next year will likely put them right back in the mix next season.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Hamilton

WEST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(3) Calgary 30 vs. (2) Saskatchewan 33 (2OT): What an absolutely wild game. Cody Fajardo threw FOUR picks, and yet Saskatchewan still managed to come away with their first playoff at the new Mosaic Stadium. Stamps kicker Rene Paredes also had an uncharacteristically poor night, missing three of eight field goal attempts to allow Saskatchewan to hang around in the game. Riders returner Jamal Morrow had 124-yard field goal return TD wiped out due to an illegal block (BOOOO), but he hit paydirt later in the first half when he took a punt back 69 yards to the house (NICE) to put Saskatchewan up 10-7. Stamps DE Shawn Lemon was tossed from the game as the teams headed to halftime; he claimed that Saskatchewan receiver Duke Williams spat on him, but nobody’s been able to find any evidence supporting his claim. In the second half, the Riders pulled off a successful onside kick and scored a TD on their opening drive, while Calgary fought back to retake the lead thanks to two field goals and RB Ka’Deem Carey’s second major of the game. In the three-minute warning, the Riders re-took the lead thanks to a Cody Fajardo QB sneak capping off a nine-play, three-minute drive, while Calgary tied things off another Paredes kick to send things to OT. After trading field goals on their first OT possessions, Rene Paredes missed wide left from 44 yards out to give the ball back to Saskatchewan… and on the last play of the game, Brett Lauther connected from 34 yards out to win it for the home side.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Saskatchewan

BYE: (1) Toronto (9-5), (1) Winnipeg (11-3)

DIVISION FINAL PREVIEWS

EAST DIVISION FINAL

(2) Hamilton (9-6) vs. (1) Toronto (9-5), Sunday, December 5th, 12:30 PM EST (TSN, ESPNews): Save for the final game of the regular season when they rested their starters after clinching the division, Toronto’s been unbeatable at home. The Ti-Cats haven’t shown consistency against the Argos all year long; in these two teams’ previous matchup back in Week 15, Toronto won handily by a 31-12 margin. With Eric Rogers returning to the lineup after missing two months with a hamstring injury, the Argos will have a much-needed boost to their passing game. Hamilton has looked much better as a team in the second half of the season compared to the first, and their performance last week against the Als demonstrated them at their best; that said, with Toronto having gone 3-1 in the season series against the Tabbies, and with Hamilton’s only victory over TO coming all the way back in Week 5, is it genuinely fair to say they’ve turned a corner against their rivals in the GTA?

PICK: Toronto

WEST DIVISION FINAL

(2) Saskatchewan (10-5) vs. (1) Winnipeg (11-3), Sunday, December 5th, 4:00 PM EST (TSN, ESPNews): A Banjo Bowl re-match awaits. With two of Winnipeg’s three losses of the season coming in the last two weeks of the the regular season, when they’d elected to rest their starters after clinching the top spot in the West, the Bombers’ record is still somehow probably not indicative of just how good they’ve been this season.  Winnipeg is 2-0 against Saskatchewan this year, winning handily both times (23-8 on the road and 33-9 at home), and the strength of both those victories came from two extremely impressive defensive performances. With starters having had almost a month off at this point, one can only imagine the Bombers will be raring to go, though the typical questions about rust remain. The only real question mark is star RB Andrew Harris; his knee injury continues to linger, and he hasn’t practised since October 15th. Brady Olivera and Johnny Augustine are both good, and Shaq Cooper adds some rushing depth as well… but as good as they are, they also aren’t roster ratio-breaking talents like Harris is. Last week, the Stamps were lucky to survive considering all of the turnovers they gave up… if that happens against the Bombers this week, they’re absolutely toast.

PICK: Winnipeg

Enjoy the games, everyone.