With so much other football on right now, one might almost be forgiven for not remembering to tune into this week’s slate of CFL matchups. Not me, though. I never forgive. That said, read this week’s column and you’ll have done your penance. I guess. A light week on the schedule, with just three games scheduled – kind for the computer overlords to allow us to juggle more events and more leagues this week, I suppose.

In league news this week:

• Edmonton announced QB Taylor Cornelius signed a two-year contract extension with the team, which will keep him around through the end of 2024; after a tumultuous start to the season where the Elks’ QB room was awfully crowded, Cornelius, while not perfect, has certainly taken steps forward since his fist CFL action last season. If he can continue to progress like he’s shown through this season, I think he’ll have a real chance to be a useful starting QB in this league – and certainly Elks management feels similarly. This is a positive step in the Elks’ long, and often painful, rebuilding process – hopefully fans will have something to look forward to soon in Alberta’s provincial capital.
• Saskatchewan Roughriders QB Cody Fajardo became a father for the first time on Wednesday, with his son Luca born in the wee hours of the morning. Congrats to the Riders’ QB and his wife Laura – and even amongst all the early days of parenting, Fajardo is still on track to start on Friday.

Onto the games!

WEEK 14 RECAPS

BC 10 vs. Montreal 31: Not a great night for the Lions, who turned once again to Antonio Pipkin to lead the offence while new trade acquisition Vernon Adams, Jr. takes his time to learn the playbook. The Als’ D forced four turnovers – including a dramatic 52-yard pick-six by DB Nafees Lyon, another recent Montreal acquisition. Pipkin and the Leos amassed just 251 total yards on offense, with their lone touchdown score coming off a goal-line sneak by the quarterback; Montreal didn’t fare a lot better, so they were fortunate to have such a strong defensive effort to bail them out in this one.

PICK: BC

RESULT: Montreal

Toronto 24 vs. Ottawa 19: Looks like a 2022 home win will have to wait longer still for the REDBLACKS – after two weeks of notable improvement, they came out with a very flat start to this game. Full credit to the home side for battling back to put themselves in a position to win this game late in the fourth quarter, but even further credit to the Argos’ D, who came up with two absolutely massive stops in the final minutes of the game to force Ottawa to turn the ball over on downs twice. McLeod Bethel-Thompson continues to pile up passing yards, finishing 2-39 for 365 yards, a score, and a pick, including some excellent chemistry with Kurleigh Gittens Jr., who torched the Ottawa secondary with eight catches for 161 yards and a TD.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Toronto

Saskatchewan 20 vs. Winnipeg 54: Riders fans continue to cope and seethe with yet another defeat by their arch-rivals; and despite the lopsided score, it didn’t really completely fall apart until the fourth quarter. The Blue Bombers did an impressive job of shutting down Cody Fajardo, who failed to throw a TD and amassed just 124 passing yards on 15 of 18 attempts; Saskatchewan’s D apparently forgot that the fourth quarter existed. Dalton Schoen tied a Bombers franchise with his 10th TD of the season – the most a Winnipeg rookie’s ever managed – and Zach Collaros had an absolutely immaculate night, finishing 21-25 for 273 yards and four scores before sitting the fourth quarter with the game already well out of hand. It’s Winnipeg’s league – we’re all just watching the rest of it.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Calgary 56 vs. Edmonton 28: Another 50-burger and another decisive thumping of a divisional arch-rival. Jake Maier and Tommy Stevens teamed up for QB duties for the Stamps, with Maier going 20-26 for 287 yards and a TD to Malik Henry, while Stevens had four rushing touchdowns off of QB sneaks. Taylor Cornelius had three total touchdowns for the Elks (two passing and one rushing), but once again, was let down by a poor defensive outing. Edmonton couldn’t get any sustained pressure on Jake Maier, and were only able to force a single fumble all game. Rebuilding a team takes time, but it’s certainly fair to reason that Elks fans are just as desperate as REDBLACKS fan for a home victory this year, particularly after not witnessing any in 2021.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Calgary

BYE: Hamilton (3-9)

WEEK 15 PREVIEWS

Edmonton (3-10) vs. Saskatchewan (6-7), Friday, September 16th, 9:30 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): Hard to believe that a 3-10 team has more hope on the horizon than a 6-7 team. True, the Riders are likely to sneak into a crossover playoff berth courtesy of a weak East Division, but let’s not mistake this team for a well-run one. There’s tremendous dysfunction from top to bottom; most notably, the coaching staff just can’t seem to control players effectively. Ditching Garrett Marino should’ve happened weeks ago – immediately after his hit that took Jeremiah Masoli essentially out for the season, not to mention the subsequent racist taunting – but beyond just fostering an overall negative team culture, they can’t seem to motivate key guys when the going gets tough. The defence was nowhere to be found in Q4 last week, and Cody Fajardo is floundering – hardly able to get the passing game engaged. To contrast – the Elks are certainly bad, but at least some of the offence has found stability, most notably with Taylor Cornelius’ aforementioned extension. If Chris Jones can fix the D in the offseason, Edmonton could well return to contention very soon. Unless coaching and management changes in Saskatchewan, I don’t see this team amount to much of anything in the near future.

PICK: Saskatchewan

Winnipeg (12-1) vs. Hamilton (3-8), Saturday, September 17th, 4:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): The Tiger-Cats are so, so boned at quarterback. Jamie Newman was not the answer a couple of weeks ago, and Dane Evans is almost certainly not the answer either considering the rash of interceptions and fumbles he’s committed this year. Matthew Shiltz, the one reliable guy they’ve had this year, is still not ready to go from a wrist injury a few weeks ago. So the question, really, is how large Winnipeg’s margin of victory is going to be. The Bombers are truly one impressive organization from top to bottom.

PICK: Winnipeg

BC (8-3) vs. Calgary (8-4), Saturday, November 13th, 1:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): The Stamps are humming right now. Jake Maier has brought new life into this offence, and hanging 54 on Edmonton last week was impressive, even as their provincial rivals occupy the West Division basement once more. The Lions are going to have Vernon Adams, Jr. start this one – he took all the first-team reps in practise this week – and they’ll need him to be at top form right away if they want to hold off Calgary from snatching away second place in the West. There’s a home playoff game on the line here – I would expect to see these two teams in the West semifinal in a couple of months from now – but there’s still lots of season yet to play.

PICK: Calgary

BYE: Montreal (5-7), Ottawa (3-9), Toronto (7-5)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards 

1. Bethel-Thompson, TOR – 3427
2. Rourke, BC – 3281
3. Collaros, WPG – 3236

Passing TDs

1. Collaros, WPG – 26
2. Rourke, BC – 25
3. Bethel-Thompson, TOR – 16

Rushing Yards

1. Carey, CGY – 712
2. Oliveira, WPG – 697
3. Morrow, SSK – 564

Receiving Yards

1. Acklin, OTT – 1025
2. Lewis, MTL – 954
3. Rhymes, BC – 925

Sacks

1. Mauldin, OTT – 12
2. Lemon, CGY – 10
3. Robertson, SSK – 9

Interceptions

1. Peters, TOR – 6
2. Peters, BC – 4
3. Moncrief, SSK – 4

Field Goals

1. Paredes, CGY – 36
2. Bede, TOR – 33
3. Lauther, SSK – 33

PICK POOL

YUGEly impressive week from WCS, who went from second-last to fourth with the only perfect slate of picks recorded this past week. Well done.

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

Enjoy the games, everyone.