Boy, we sure seem to have a lot of crappy teams at this point in the season. In a nine-team league, it feels like it shouldn’t be a huge ask to see a bit more parity, but this year it feels like the league is more divided into haves and have-nots than it has in a long time. There’s a ton of runway left this year, but for some (*cough*Edmonton*cough) it still already feels like there’s no hope. Something needs to be done about this in order to ensure some better results early on.

In league news this week:

• Jeremiah Masoli is done for the year after just over one of quarter in his dramatic return from an ACL injury last week; unfortunately, this time it’s a ruptured left Achilles. Considering he’s almost 35, and with so many major injuries at this stage in his career, one now has to wonder if that might actually be the last time we ever see him take the field. Regardless, it’s an absolutely devastating blow for the REDBLACKS, who are looking awfully thin at QB having just lost Tyrie Adams to a torn ACL the week before.
• With their QB woes so profound, the REDBLACKS have apparently reached out to former Argos starter McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who spent five seasons in Toronto, winning two Grey Cups in 2017 and 2022. Bethel-Thompson led the CFL in passing yards last season, but elected to return to the US this year, signing with the XFL’s New Orleans Breakers in the offseason. With that league’s season over, and with Bethel-Thompson’s prior success with the Canadian game, he’s likely to be a hot, hot commodity on the free agent market. Having  just been released by the Breakers, I feel like the NFL may instead be his next destination.
• With MBT’s status uncertain, the REDBLACKS also went ahead and signed two other quarterbacks to try and bolster their depth. Tyrrell Pigrome, who started the year as Winnipeg’s #3 before Dru Brown returned from a stint in the USFL, and Jake Dunniway, who spent training camp with the REDBLACKS before being a late release in camp. Of the two, Pigrome looked particularly strong in preseason play, but it’s going to be a total crapshoot what’s going to happen for the rest of the year.
• The Argos signed head coach Ryan Dinwiddie to a multi-year contract extension; fresh off a Grey Cup win last season, he’s emerged as one of the best coaches in the league over these last few seasons. Toronto’s always finished over .500 and won two straight division titles under his guidance, not to mention that championship. To boot, they’ve also had a tremendous defence the entire time. Attendance woes aside, the coaching staff and football ops team that Toronto has assembled over the last couple of years has really been very impressive.

Onto the games!

WEEK 5 RECAPS

Edmonton 11 vs. Saskatchewan 12: This was the most hilariously Canadian football game you could ever imagine – not just from the score, but from how we even got there in the first place. Edmonton had FOUR rouges in the game, while Saskatchewan could hardly manage to match even that inept offensive showing. The Elks led 11-3 late in the game, when the Riders finally put together a successful touchdown drive and two-point convert to tie the game with just over a minute remaining. And then, following this ridiculous sequence of events, things got even wilder. Rookie return man CJ Sims – who I should note is an American, which is an important detail – elected on the kickoff to let the ball bounce into the end zone, where he took a knee with it to maintain possession. This would be a touchback in the NFL – but NOT in the CFL. Instead, it’s a rouge… and with this ridiculous mistake, Saskatchewan squeaked out a one-point win while being behind for virtually the entire game. A terrible fate for a player who doesn’t know the unique rules of the Canadian game, and an indictment of the coaching staff for not explaining them properly. Edmonton is now 0-5 and pretty much screwed.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

Calgary 11 vs. Winnipeg 24: The Bombers were down 11-1 to the Stamps at the start of the second quarter, but fought back hard to tie the game by halftime and finally take the lead for good by the end of the third quarter. Calgary’s offence, particularly the passing game, continues to be inadequate thus far in the year, though RB Dedrick Mills had a good running game, recording 97 yards and the team’s only TD on the night. Despite the slow start, Winnipeg battled back well, with receiver Greg McCrae leading the team with 73 yards and a fantastic deep TD catch to give them the lead and the win. Winnipeg’s strong D once again made life miserable for Calgary QB Jake Maier, who failed to throw a touchdown and had just 122 passing yards and an interception on the night. Things have not gone according to plan for Calgary this year, although you may remember they had a similarly tough start last season before turning things around and making the playoffs. I suppose time will tell. But they’re definitely in the mud right now.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Ottawa 13 vs. Hamilton 21: As mentioned earlier, this game was truly a worst-case scenario for the REDBLACKS. Already down one QB with a season-ending injury, the team was left reeling after Jeremiah Masoli left on crutches, having suffered a torn Achilles after taking a full year to return from a torn ACL. Perhaps the emotional weight of losing an on-field leader was too much, as the REDBLACKS wilted in the second half of the game. Fourth-stringer Dustin Crum, now thrust into the starter’s role, did everything he could to help his team out in an impossible situation, even scampering 19 yards on the very last play of the game to try and tie things up and set it to OT, before unfortunately being tackled at the 1-yard line by much-vilified LB Chris Edwards. Hamilton gets their first win of the season, which they certainly hope will be a turning point of their year, but nobody left this game feeling especially good, considering Jeremiah Masoli’s long career back in Hamilton and his continued popularity with Ti-Cats fans.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Hamilton

Montreal 19 vs. BC 35: After being dummied by the Argos last week, the Lions responded in convincing fashion and rebounded with another strong win at home. Vernon Adams, Jr. who was the goat of the week having thrown six INTs against Toronto, made much better decisions this time around and didn’t turn over the football once. Pass rusher Mathieu Betts, playing against his old team, padded his league lead in sacks, racking up his eighth and ninth of the year taking down Cody Fajardo, who faced relentless pressure all game long. Even the Lions’ special teams got in on the action, returning a blocked field goal for a dramatic touchdown in the second quarter. Despite the score, the game was actually closer than the score indicates; BC was aided with a few very fortunate flags that helped turn the tide in their favour after the Alouettes played them fairly close to open the game.

PICK: BC

RESULT: BC

BYE: Toronto (3-0)

WEEK 6 PREVIEWS

Hamilton (1-3) vs. Edmonton (0-5), Thursday, July 13th, 9:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): Boy, are the Elks hurting. After such an unbelievably terrible and simultaneously unfortunate ending to last week’s game against the Riders, they’re more desperate than ever to not merely just win a game this year, but also win a game at home. Hamilton similarly hasn’t had a great start, but they do have a win, and much more talent, at least on paper, than the Elks do. It’s hard to say that a team has placed all their offensive eggs in one play-calling basket, but the team, without Geno Lewis, who’s still injured, really has had an absolutely awful time putting points on the board. I’ve felt Chris Jones should probably be fired soon if things don’t turn around. Time, and patience, is running out for fans, and almost certainly for business ops, of this football team. Matt Shiltz will start again for Hamilton in place of Bo Levi Mitchell.

PICK: Hamilton

Toronto (3-0) vs. Montreal (2-2), Friday, July 14th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): Boy, are the Argos humming right now. Strange to have two bye weeks in such short order of the season – Week 1 and Week 5 – so there’s a lot of football ahead, but their position as the best team in the league – not to mention the only undefeated one – seems entirely justified in the regular Power Rankings on CFL.ca. Montreal’s back to .500 on the year, and even with their passing game looking good, there’s a lot that the team needs to do to improve. Their offensive line is on pace to give up 99 sacks on the year – that’s absolutely atrocious. Cody Fajardo faced similarly poor pass protection problems in his time in Saskatchewan – so at least he’s familiar with this predicament – but Montreal may fall out of the second spot in the East if they can’t do a better job protecting the QB. As always, against a complete team like the Argos, that’s going to be a tough order.

PICK: Toronto

Winnipeg (4-1) vs. Ottawa (1-3), Saturday, July 15th, 4:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): It’s Ottawa’s fifth game of the season, and they’ll already be on their fourth different starting quarterback. Dustin Crum gets the nod to start under centre, and he’s up against a tremendously difficult in what has been, over the last several years, an extremely strong Bombers defence. Crum has spent time in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, serving as the #4 guy behind Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne and Shane Buechele in 2022 training camp, and he was the MAC MVP after his 2021 season at Kent State where he threw for 3187 yards, 20 touchdowns and six picks, plus racking up 703 rushing yards and 12 TDs on the ground. He may be new to the Canadian game, but I still feel that just about anyone is a better option than Nick Arbuckle, who still clings to a roster spot largely due to attrition. Winnipeg may have some difficulty running the ball against a very good Ottawa front seven, but their pass game should more than make up for any potential difficulties on the ground – the Bombers are truly spoiled to have a receiving corps where every single man has the ability to be a deep threat, in addition to all their other tools.

PICK: Winnipeg

Calgary (1-3) vs. Saskatchewan (3-1), Saturday, July 15th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): The Roughriders are 3-1 on the year but still sport a negative point differential. Does that make them an extremely lucky team thus far? Probably. Last week was probably the biggest example of extreme good fortune, but a win is a win is a win. The Stamps could very much use a dose of that good luck. Having lost top receiver Malik Henry a few weeks ago, the pass game is still struggling to find its footing. Jake Maier hasn’t looked comfortable in the pocket, and has room to grow to get back to where he was last season. Running the ball, even without star Ka’Deem Carey, seems to have been reasonably effective for them at this point in the year, and I think that they have some potential to open up space against the Riders. This may not necessarily be a super pretty game, but a Saskatchewan win would give them a three-game lead over their West Division rivals in Cowtown. That’s a very nice cushion, even at this early stage in the season.

PICK: Saskatchewan

BYE: BC (4-0)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Adams, Jr., BC – 1540
2. Collaros, WPG – 1246
3. Harris, SSK – 1159

Passing TDs

1. Adams, Jr., BC – 9
2. Collaros, WPG – 9
3. Harris, SSK – 6

Rushing Yards

1. Oliveira, WPG – 400
2. Morrow, SSK – 285
3. Mills, SSK – 273

Receiving Yards

1. Mack, MTL – 388
2. Schoen, WPG – 365
3. Julien-Grant, MTL – 351

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, CGY – 37
2. Dean, SSK – 32
3. Morgan, EDM – 31

Sacks

1. Betts, BC – 9
2. Jefferson, WPG – 6
3. Orimolade, TOR – 3

Interceptions

1. Daniel, TOR – 3
2. Evans, MTL – 3
3. Houston, WPG – 3

Field Goals

1. Whyte, BC – 12
2. Ward, OTT – 12
3. Castillo, WPG – 11

PICK POOL

Lotta perfect scores this work. That’s pain for me, who needs a hell of a lot of help if I’m to make it any higher than the bronze medal position. Have a beer or seventeen before you make your picks this week to give me a chance, please?

Remember to submit your picks here! https://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=221760

Enjoy the games, everyone.