CFL Beat: Week 11

We’re officially halfway through the CFL regular season! With the back half of the year loaded up with divisional games, especially in the East Division, I expect we’ll see a little more parity in final records across the league – but after ten weeks of games, there’s little doubt in my mind that there’s a wide delta of talent when comparing such impressive teams as Winnipeg and BC against such sad-sacks as Ottawa and Edmonton. I’m really curious to see if these trends will continue for another two and a half months…

In league news this week:

• Toronto Argonauts RB Andrew Harris’ season is done; he needs surgery on a torn pectoral muscle. That’s an unfortunate loss for the Double Blue backfield.
• Montreal released DB Jarnor Jones; he’s played only a single game thus far with the team this season.
• Saskatchewan released RT Na’Ty Rodgers, who’s had a very poor season the Roughriders’ O-Line; last week he was flagged twice for holding and once for objectionable conduct against Edmonton.
• Calgary brought back American RB Aca’Cedric Ware to their practise roster, who I mention only because he has an incredible name.
• The CFL’s 2021 Most Outstanding special teams player, DeVonte Dedmon, was released this week by the Miami Dolphins in their NFL training camp; an explosive returner in the Canadian game, if he chooses to return the CFL, he’ll immediately re-join the Ottawa REDBLACKS. That said, it’s unclear right now what his future plans might be for playing opportunities.

Onto the games!

WEEK 10 RECAPS:

Montreal 20 vs. Winnipeg 17 (OT): Only one team in the history of professional Canadian football – the 1948 Calgary Stampeders – has had an unbeaten season; even back then, they finished with a 12-0 record. The odds of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers pulling off the feat, as accomplished a team as they are, were slim to none – and facing a bye week, thoroughly exhausted having played ten consecutive games without a break, it’s thus understandable that they would eventually lose. It took overtime for the Alouettes to win – and a missed field goal by Bombers K Marc Liegghio that bounced off the upright – but win they did. In a defensive battle, the visitors came out with some really strong pressure, sacking QB Zach Collaros five times and forcing a fumble as well.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Montreal

Toronto 27 vs. Hamilton 34: With the Tiger-Cats dealing with an injury to starter Dane Evans, Matthew Shiltz took the reins at QB and started in black & gold for the first time in his career. He ended up having to team up with Jamie Newman, who played the third quarter while Shiltz was down with an injury, but Shiltz returned in the fourth to lead the Tabbie from a seven-point deficit and rebound for the big home win. Toronto had one pass TD from McLeod Bethel-Thompson and a rushing score from backup QB Chad “Mr. Irrelevant” Kelly, but got most of their points off of Boris Bede’s leg. For Hamilton, Matthew Shiltz had a limited but efficient night, going 14-19 for 176, a TD and a pick, but the home side did a good job getting the run game going – Jamie Newman had 55 yards on 7 carries, Don Jackson 46 on 7, and Sean Thomas-Erlington 28 on two, including the game-winning TD in the fourth quarter.

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Hamilton

BC 41 vs. Calgary 40: It seems all but inevitable that young phenom Nathan Rourke is going to make the jump to the NFL soon. For the second straight week, the Lions superstar shattered his own passing yards record, setting a new all-time high for a Canadian QB with 488 yards on 39-52 attempts; even with two interceptions (including a pick-six by Stamps DL Folarin Orimolade), Rourke still threw for two touchdowns and rushed for two more as well. With Calgary sporting a 30-18 halftime lead, it took an incredible fourth quarter for the Lions to come back and snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat; after Rourke’s second rush score made it a two-point game, the Leos’ D forced a crucial two-and-out, giving BC just enough for Sean Whyte to kick the game-winning field goal from 25 yards out to seal the deal. A disappointing loss for the Stampeders, who squandered a good night from Bo Levi Mitchell (who set Calgary’s new franchise record in career passing yards), and from return man Peyton Logan, who had an awesome 99-yard punt return TD in the fourth quarter.

PICK: BC

RESULT: BC

Saskatchewan 34 vs. Edmonton 23: Coming off a much-needed bye week, the Roughriders walked away from Alberta’s provincial capital with a much-needed victory – though this game was exceptionally chaotic at times. The final minute of the first half saw both teams score a field goal, while the Edmonton Elks then put together a drive that saw QB Taylor Cornelius call his own number and score a 26-yard rushing TD. On the final play of the half, Riders’ KR Mario Alford then scored a massive 97-yard kickoff return TD that put the visitors back in the lead with a 21-17 score after 30 minutes. In the second half, the Elks re-took the lead early in the fourth quarter thanks to Sergio Castillo’s fifth field goal of the night, but Saskatchewan finished the game strong, with Duke Williams catching one TD from Cody Fajardo to win the game, while Fajardo himself scored again in the final minute of play to truly ice it for the visitors. It was not the prettiest of games by any means, but a win is a win, and Gang Green needs those desperately right now.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

BYE: Ottawa (1-7)

WEEK 11 PREVIEWS

Edmonton (2-7) vs. Ottawa (1-7), Friday, August 19th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): This is the first time our two division basement dwellers have faced off this season; last year, with both squads looking similarly inept, the REDBLACKS came away looking like world-beaters – something they could never hope to do otherwise. It’ll be curious to see if recent history repeats itself – but all in all, this is not a position the REDBLACKS expected to be in at the halfway mark of the season. With so much money thrown at free agents and a roster that looked so good on paper, nobody predicted this week’s home team would be sitting further back in the standings compared to a team featuring a new front office, coaching staff, and a roster game plan that specifically focused on rebuilding from the ground up. If Ottawa loses another home game – and especially one against such a hapless opponent as Edmonton – further changes must happen. They should happen anyway, but it might be time to hurry them along if things continue to slide as they have.

PICK: Ottawa

BC (7-1) vs. Saskatchewan (5-4), Friday, August 19th, 10:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): What will the Nathan Rourke Show do this week? The sky is truly the limit – and in a road game in the heart of the Prairies, the sky stretches overheard on and on forever. Saskatchewan is back above .500 on the year and has a two-game lead for a crossover playoff spot, but last week’s game against the Elks was sloppy. It was promising to see Cody Fajardo more mobile than we’ve seen him in a while last week against the Elks, but with just 130 passing yards last week, he needs to find his receivers more. Without a sustained passing attack, the Riders are showing up with a knife to a gunfight against these red-hot Lions.

PICK: BC

Hamilton (3-6) vs. Montreal (3-6), Saturday, August 20th, 4:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): Last week’s win over Winnipeg was massive for Alouettes, especially as they continue to fight for playoff positioning in the East. The winner of this game will take hold of second place in the East Division – a key spot to be in especially with a crossover playoff slot from the West looking like a really likely result after the first half of the regular season. Montreal’s D showed fantastic pressure last week against Winnipeg – if they can figure out a way to dial that in over the second half of the year, they can turn into a legitimate playoff contender and probably challenge Toronto for the division title. Hamilton played a really solid team game last week – simplifying things and leaning on the run game seemed to be very effective overall, and it’ll be interesting to see the kind of play-calling they’ll get this week, particularly against a big front seven at Molson Stadium.

PICK: Montreal

Calgary (5-3) vs. Toronto (4-4), Saturday, August 20th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): The Stampeders’ collapse against the Lions last week was no doubt disappointing for players, coaches and fans of the team alike, but you don’t become the CFL’s model franchise of consistency over these past two decades without taking experiences like these and learning from them. Hopefully Ka’Deem Carey is back for Calgary – Dedrick Mills has been decent for them in his absence, but Carey is such a dynamic presence in the backfield that it requires opponents to specifically game plan for him. Toronto just hasn’t found their next level yet either as a team – McLeod Bethel-Thompson did a good job last week of spreading the ball around to receivers, as nine different guys caught at least one ball last week – but they continue to have red zone struggles and just can’t seem to find the end zone as much as needed to consistently grind opponents down to win. Field goals just aren’t going to cut it in this league.

PICK: Calgary

BYE: Winnipeg (9-1)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards 

1. Rourke, BC – 2906
2. Collaros, WPG – 2455
3. Bethel-Thompson, TOR – 2230

Passing TDs

1. Rourke, BC – 23
2. Collaros, WPG – 18
3. Evans, HAM – 10

Rushing Yards

1. Oliveira, WPG – 544
2. Morrow, SSK – 530
3. Harris, TOR – 490

Receiving Yards

1. Lewis, MTL – 750
2. Acklin, OTT – 715
3. Schoen, WPG – 698

Sacks

1. Lanier, SSK – 5
2. Robertson, SSK – 7
3. Mauldin, OTT – 7

Interceptions

1. Marshall, SSK – 3
2. Peters, BC – 3
3. Taylor, WPG – 3

Field Goals

1. Paredes, CGY – 28
2. Lauther, SSK – 24
3. Cote, MTL – 22

PICK POOL

No perfect weeks to display today. Looks like that Bombers-Als game just ruined a lot of people’s betting weeks. The beauty, and the agony, of Canadian football, or some such poetic line here – I dunno.

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

Enjoy the games, everyone.