CFL Beat: Week 3

We’ve got just a few days left in the school year, which means that children – and their parents alike! – will soon be able to return to what they care about more than anything else in the world: reading the [Door Flies Open] CFL Beat.

In league news this week:

• The Canadian Football Hall of Fame announced its 2022 class this week, with some famous (for those in the know) names leading the way. Among the deserving inductees:
  • QB Ricky Ray,  2002-18 (4-time Grey Cup winner with Edmonton and Toronto, 2x each; 3-time All-Star; 4x passing yards leader)
  • LB Chip Cox, 2006-18 (2-time Grey Cup winner with Montreal, CFL leader in forced fumbles, forced fumble yardage, and forced fumble TDs; 3-time All-Star)
  • K Paul McCallum, 1993-2016 (2x Grey Cup winner with BC; 2x All-Star; Most Valuable Canadian in the 94th Grey Cup; one of the best kickers in CFL history and fourth-most games played in league history)
• The BC Lions hired Duane Vienneau from the CFL’s league offices to take over as COO later this summer; he’ll become team president at the end of the 2022 season.
• Two Montreal Alouettes players were fined this week; LB Tre Watson for unnecessary roughness against the Toronto Argos’ OL Dejon Allen, and DL Mike Moore for a high hit on QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
• The Edmonton Elks continue to make over their roster with a flurry of early-season roster moves; one notable release is Canadian receiver Shai Ross, who went viral last year for a cool video of him dunking an Oreo in milk while doing a backflip… and then a second video of him doing a full backflip while holding a loaded barbell. Too bad, because those vids are cool as hell.

Anyone who thinks CFL players aren’t insane athletes need to check out this video. @shaiross83 🤯#CFL | #Elks pic.twitter.com/LYYhBHQTtA

— Troy Durrell (@DurrellTroy) April 5, 2022

Onto the games!

WEEK 2 RECAPS

Montreal 19 vs. Toronto 20: Losing because of an iced kicker sucks… but it’s even worse when you do it to your OWN kicker. David Cote missed a 21-yard chip shot field goal and the Alouettes lost in heartbreaking fashion. That said, let’s not get it twisted – Montreal struggled mightily through much of this game, with Vernon Adams, Jr. struggling the most of anyone on the Als’ roster, throwing just four passes on the night. He was replaced midway through the second quarter by Trevor Harris, who fared slightly better though didn’t have any luck with throwing touchdowns. Montreal mounted a furious comeback through the fourth quarter, with success on a field goal and a touchdown, but the last kick was no good. Toronto squeaks out a win despite missing two field goals… at least their major free agent acquisitions in Brandon Banks and Andrew Harris had solid debuts in Double Blue.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Toronto

Winnipeg 19 vs. Ottawa 12: For the second straight week, the REDBLACKS moved the ball well, but made some absolutely confounding errors when it mattered most. Once again, Ottawa couldn’t find the end zone and had to settle exclusively for field goals, despite Jeremiah Masoli throwing for 331 yards on 27-38 pass attempts. In a wet and windy game, Ottawa had a 9-7 lead at halftime, but couldn’t prevent the Bombers’ offence from responding in the second half. Ottawa took several costly penalties that extended Winnipeg’s drives, and a red zone fumble on third down also snuffed the offence out on a promising drive; Zach Collaros would respond to Ottawa’s missed opportunity with a touchdown to Dalton Schoen, which were the final points of the game. Antony Auclair roughed Marc Liegghio on his punt with just over a minute to play, wrecking Ottawa’s final chance to come back and win. Some boneheaded stuff at the end of the game, but Ottawa still has a promising year ahead of them.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Winnipeg

Calgary 33 vs. Hamilton 30 (OT): It was all coming together so nicely for the Ti-Cats. They were up two scores going into the fourth quarter, and things were looking great. Despite being down their top two running backs due to multiple injuries in the contest, the Stampeders pushed hard through the second half; Calgary scored their first TD of the game towards the end of the third quarter when Bo Levi Mitchell found Luther Hakunavanhu in the end zone. In the fourth, after both teams exchanged field goals, Calgary cut the lead again when Reggie Begelton snagged a pass and took it the house for their second major of the night. Two minutes later, the Tabbies’ Dane Evans had a disastrous QB sneak at his own 45 yard line, where he was strip-sacked by Titus Wall who successfully pulled off the pick-six, tying the game. Michael Domagala put the home side up by a field goal once more with a kick from 32 yards out with 1:23 left on the clock, but Bo Levi Mitchell marched the Stamps back down the field where Rene Paredes sent things to overtime with a 39-yard FG of his own. In OT, Calgary won the toss and started on offence, where they kicked a field goal. On Hamilton’s possession, Dane Evans was picked off on third down by Jameer Thurman, icing the game and capping off a wild comeback by the road side.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Calgary

Saskatchewan 26 vs. Edmonton 16: Cody Fajardo went 20-26 for 247 yards and a touchdown, while RB Jamal Morrow had a very productive with 17 carries for 126 yards and a rushing score; the Riders improve to 2-0 on the year while Edmonton falls to 0-2. Despite the loss, the Elks looked better than they did in Week 1 against BC… which is really not saying a whole lot. Nick Arbuckle found Kenny Lawler for their first touchdowns in green and gold, and the home side actually held a narrow 13-12 lead going into the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Elks, after each team kicked a field goal and the lead changed twice, Saskatchewan scored the go-ahead TD with just over four minutes to play, and the Riders’ defence stepped up to stifle Edmonton’s offence on their final two possessions of the night. A more competitive night for the Elks, but there’s still work to be done. One weird footnote: Elks’ OL Mark Korte missed this game… in order to get married. A very strange time to schedule a wedding, don’t you think?

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

BYE: BC (1-0)

WEEK 3 PREVIEWS

Saskatchewan (2-0) vs. Montreal (0-2), Thursday, June 23rd, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): After two straight weeks of some unfortunate mishaps, Montreal needs to respond in kind to try and get their season back on track. They’re lucky that Ottawa and Hamilton have had similar luck to date, so they’re still well in the thick of things. It was curious to me to see how quickly Khari Jones hooked Vernon Adams, Jr. last week after having spent so much time hyping him up as the team’s #1 quarterback – I still think this is definitely true, but it was weird to see him on such a short leash. I would also say it’s hard for any quarterback to work through their mistakes and rise above them when they have to spend so much time looking over their shoulder at a highly capable backup. At any rate, Adams has COVID, so Trevor Harris will get the start this week. It’ll also be a difficult test for the offence as a whole to go up against a strong Saskatchewan D, who have had an excellent start to the year. I look forward to seeing how the Als will fare at home this week – though with two big names in receiver Jake Wieneke and linebacker Chris Ackie on the 1-game injured list, the Als might miss their presence. The Riders get WR Duke Williams back for this one, but lose DE Charleston Hughes to the 1-game IL.

PICK: Saskatchewan

Hamilton (0-2) vs. Winnipeg (2-0), Friday, June 24th, 8:30 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN2): Another Grey Cup rematch. Winnipeg has, in most people’s opinions, squeaked out its first two wins of the season, but then again, good teams are able to do that – and the Bombers have demonstrated that for several years running now. For their long-suffering opponents in the The Hammer, the question is all about quarterback consistency – as we’ve seen for several years running, it feels very much like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moment whenever a Tiger-Cats QB takes the field. As mentioned previously, the East as a division has had a bad start to the year and there’s tons of time to right the ship still – but a division crown for the Ti-Cats starts and ends with Dane Evans not making mental mistakes on the field. I’m also looking forward to seeing how the Bombers can frustrate Hamilton again this year – one piece of intrigue over the next little while is to see which of Johnny Augustine or Brady Oliveira emerges as the #1 running back for Winnipeg.

PICK: Winnipeg

Edmonton (0-2) vs. Calgary (2-0), Saturday, June 25th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): A nice little Battle of Alberta to start the year – and it always means more when both cities’ NHL teams are finally out of the playoffs. The Stamps have pulled off two straight overtime wins to keep pace with Saskatchewan and Winnipeg in the division race, and have clearly benefited from some good luck over the last couple weeks; that said, there’s early signs of this core showing some really solid chemistry thus far. RB Ka’Deem Carey suffered an ankle injury last week against Hamilton, but he appears to be ready to go for this week’s matchup. For the Elks, I still see more roster movement on the way after HC/GM Chris Jones has tinkered extensively over the last few weeks, including cutting/re-signing/starting receiver Caleb Holley all in the span of a few days last week… Week 2 was an improvement, but they have a long ways to go as a team if they want to hang in there in the West.

PICK: Calgary

Toronto (1-0) vs. BC (1-0), Saturday, June 25th, 10:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN2): The Lions will have another street party to help drum up fan interest in Vancouver as they try to replicate the electric Week 1 clinic they put on against Edmonton; Toronto played inconsistently last week, but still pulled off the win. With the Lions able to show off a multi-faceted attack last week with lots of scoring in the air and on the ground, I expect balance to continue. Reasonable to assume that the Argos’ D are really going to need all the pass rushing help they can get, and if DL Shane Ray isn’t available that’ll be a hole in the Toronto depth chart for sure. Probably not fair to expect another 50+ point effort from the Lions for this one, but this team has all the markings that it could be a really, really fun year of football on the West Coast.

PICK: BC

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Masoli, OTT – 711
2. Evans, HAM – 647
3. Arbuckle, EDM – 569

Passing TDs

1. Evans, HAM – 4
2. Mitchell, CGY – 3
3. Collaros, WPG – 3

Rushing Yards

1. Morrow, SSK – 140
2. Antwi, MTL – 127
3. Williams, OTT – 118

Receiving Yards

1. Lewis, MTL – 239
2. Lawler, EDM – 221
3. Acklin, OTT – 220

Sacks

1. Robertson, SSK – 3
2. Teuhema, BC – 3
3. Dean, SSK – 2

Interceptions

1. Lee, BC – 2
2. Moncrief, SSK – 2
3. Thurman, CGY – 2

Field Goals

1. Lauther, SSK – 9
2. Paredes, CGY – 7
3. Ward, OTT – 7

PICK POOL

Well, I had a bad week. Props to the rest of y’all for following the money lines, mostly.

Remember to submit your picks here! https://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=205786

Enjoy the games, everyone.