We’re officially through the first third of the CFL season, and since my complaint recently about the lack of parity in the league, we’ve had some steps to return to a bit more equilibrium. We’ve been fortunate to have some really good ball through these first seven weeks, even as injuries – especially to quarterbacks – abound. Who saw Dustin Crum as a playmaker? Who saw the REDBLACKS being this fun? Who saw Edmonton reaching previously-undiscovered levels of suck? Lots of good storylines to discuss, and many more still yet to emerge.

In league news this week:

• The Calgary Stampeders traded a sixth-round draft pick for DE Ja’Gared Davis out of Hamilton; Davis is an elite player with significant success in his seven-year CFL career. He’s won two Grey Cups – the first with Calgary in 2018 and the second with Toronto in 2022 – and has been to Grey Cup games three additional times as well, including two with Calgary and one with Hamilton. Davis spent the first three seasons of his time in Canada with Calgary and is still familiar with much of the coaching staff – I think that this is a great move for Calgary to bring in such a skilled vet for such a reasonable price.
• Veteran pass-rusher Shawn Lemon signed with Montreal this week and is expected to play soon; he was a training camp cut in Calgary due to roster ratio requirements needing to ensure a sufficient number of Canadian starters on both sides of the ball. He may be 34, but if last season was any indication, he can definitely still play.
• Saskatchewan signed veteran DB Trumaine Washington, who led the CFL with 5 interceptions in the shortened 2021 season. Washington was most recently with the XFL’s Orlando Guardians, but was released on July 20th, clearing the way for his return to Canada.
• The Edmonton Elks have partnered with My Radio 580 AM, a local station providing content in multiple languages to the city’s diverse communities, to provide the first-ever Punjabi language radio broadcast of this Saturday’s game against BC. With about a million Punjabi speakers in Canada – and the vast majority living in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland – this is a really cool project and I hope it continues to grow interest in the game. The two announcers, Harpreet Pandher and Taqdeer Thindal, both have years of experience both in broadcasting sports, and in doing so in Punjabi – both men have been a part of the Punjabi-language broadcast team of Hockey Night In Canada for many years.

Onto the games!

WEEK 7 RECAPS

Edmonton 14 vs. Winnipeg 28: This game started slow, and we entered halftime with the score knotted at six points apiece. Fortunately for the home crowd, the Blue Bombers offence came alive in the second half, outscoring the visiting Elks 22-6 and keeping out of the win column once again. Zach Collaros had two TDs to go along with 308 yards and a pick, while Nick Demski had 115 yards and a receiving TD. Kenny Lawler, making his season debut, had seven catches for 93 yards and looked right at home with the team. The Elks… man, I just don’t know. Taylor Cornelius really is not that guy, having another not great night despite 17-29 for 220 yards and a score… two more interceptions don’t help his cause for remaining the #1 QB for this Edmonton team. Still, the problems run way, way deeper than merely just the guy who’s throwing the ball.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Toronto 31 vs. Hamilton 15: Another week, another win – some tidy business for the Argos, although they did somewhat take their foot off the gas in the second half of this one. Facing a rookie QB in Taylor Powell, the defence absolutely punished the Ti-Cats in the first half, holding them to just a single field goal as Toronto left for the locker room with a 20-3 lead. RB James Butler was similarly stopped up, keeping him to just 14 rushing yards on the night. Powell did finish the night 27-41 for 282 yards, a rushing TD, and an interception, but it was too little, too late for Hamilton. Toronto’s offence continues to cook, with Chad Kelly racking up his second straight 300+ yard game. The Argos also had a strong rushing game, with AJ Ouellette gaining 84 yards on 10 carries, while backup QB Cameron Dukes scored on a QB sneak in the first quarter. Who’s going to beat the Double Blue this year?

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Toronto

Saskatchewan 9 vs. BC 19: It’s another win for the Lions, but it came at the cost of Vernon Adams, Jr., who went down with a knee injury in the first quarter and did not return to the game. Dane Evans took over under centre, and despite not being especially flashy, got things done at home for BC. The Lions’ D also stepped up significantly and kept the Roughriders out of the end zone for the entire game. Mason Fine, starting his first game since Trevor Harris’ awful knee injury last week, couldn’t get much going for Saskatchewan; in the fourth quarter, he forced a number of throws and tried to look for some deep shots, but couldn’t connect and instead turned them into two interceptions which ultimately crushed all hope for the visitors. It’s true that the BC defence is very good – but the Roughriders are in trouble for the rest of the year if they can’t find a way to re-establish offensive rhythm.

PICK: BC

RESULT: BC

Ottawa 43 vs. Calgary 41 (OT): Oh my God, they did it AGAIN. Down very late, this time on the road, Dustin cued another Crumback for the REDBLACKS, and Ottawa now finds themselves at .500 for the first time in an absolute eternity – since Week 2 of the 2021 season, in fact. Without a doubt, these REDBLACKS are the most fun team in the league right now. They’re the first team in CFL history to win back-to-back overtime games. Crum was once again sensational, throwing for 257 yards and two TDs while adding 63 yards rushing on nine carries. Most notable is Crum’s connection with Canadian receiver Nate Behar, who’s become his go-to man over the last few weeks – Behar scored a huge fourth-quarter TD and also snagged the game-winning two-point conversion in overtime to seal the deal. In a back-and-forth offensive slugfest, Calgary’s Jake Maier also hit a career high with 450 passing yards on the afternoon, and threw four touchdowns and two picks in the loss.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Ottawa

BYE: Montreal (2-3)

WEEK 8 PREVIEWS

Hamilton (2-4) vs. Ottawa (3-3), Friday, July 28th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): I plan in being in attendance for this one. The Elks game a few weeks back was fun, albeit against a vastly inferior opponent – with this team now playing some of the most clutch ball I’ve seen since the glory days of 2016, I’m really excited for what they can do for the rest of the year. Hamilton won the first matchup of the season three weeks ago – the same game where Jeremiah Masoli tore his Achilles and we got our first luck at Dustin Crum, who almost won that one for Ottawa as well – but the REDBLACKS are playing with swagger. Coming off two huge wins, I’d be thrilled to see the momentum keep going. Taylor Powell got punished last week – the REDBLACKS’ D isn’t the Argos, but it’s still pretty good – especially the pass rush. More misery is likely on the way for whoever starts, be it Powell or Bo Levi Mitchell, who returned to practise this week for the first time since Week 2.

PICK: Ottawa

Saskatchewan (3-3) vs. Toronto (5-0), Saturday, July 29th, 4:00 PM EDT, Huskies Stadium, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): Touchdown Atlantic arrives once again in the beautiful Maritime province of Nova Scotia, but there’s a pall cast over this game due to the absolutely torrential flooding that much of the province is still cleaning up right now. The city of Halifax and the South Shore received three months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours this past weekend, critically damaging major infrastructure and tragically costing four people their lives. If this year’s game isn’t the roaring success that last year’s was, it’s important to note that it will certainly not be the game’s fault whatsoever. The Argos are coming in red hot as the league’s best team, and Roughriders fans always travel well – expect to see plenty of tourists, but probably not as many locals in attendance. They’re still working on pumping water out of their houses and fixing the roads and railways. That could take months of work. Like every other fan of this league, I always want this game to do well, but football is clearly not the biggest priority for the fine citizens of this province.

PICK: Toronto

BC (5-1) vs. Edmonton (0-7), Saturday, July 29th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL): With Vernon Adams, Jr. down with a knee injury – which the team has said they don’t expect to be season-ending – Dane Evans gets his first start in black and orange. Some of you might remember that he was an absolute turnover machine last year in Hamilton, for a variety of reasons, but I hope that he won’t find himself needing to force the ball as much as he did last year, particularly with such a deep group of receivers to work with. He looked overall fine last week coming off the bench against Saskatchewan – and I would also add that if you’re mentally trying to prep yourself for your first start with your new team, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more suitable opponent than Edmonton. Apparently their Grey Cup odds just hit +25000 if any of you want to lean in hard into that money line. Edmonton needs… a miracle, mostly. I just honestly don’t know what it’s going to take for them to win anything at all this year.

PICK: BC

Calgary (2-4) vs. Montreal (2-3), Sunday, July 30th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Stamps must be kicking themselves after last week’s Crumback… despite the loss, Jake Maier finally looks like he’s woken up and found his offensive groove as a QB. This game has plenty of potential to turn into another shootout if Maier is focused and sharp again; the Alouettes, despite having let so many players walk from last year’s team, have been fortunate to have two fantastic receivers just fall into their lap, with Austin Mack and Kaion Julien-Grant each over 400+ yards thus far this year. Before their most recent bye week, Montreal played Toronto very hard at home before a last-minute Argos score won them the game… despite their record, I think the Alouettes remain a much better team than Hamilton. With two-thirds of the season still left to play, there’s lots of time yet to confirm my hypothesis.

PICK: Montreal

BYE: Winnipeg (5-2)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Collaros, WPG – 1923
2. Maier, CGY – 1672
3. Adams, Jr., BC – 1548

Passing TDs

1. Collaros, WPG – 13
2. Adams, Jr., BC – 9
3. Maier, CGY – 8

Rushing Yards

1. Oliveira, WPG – 526
2. Ouellette, TOR – 393
3. Butler, HAM – 343

Receiving Yards

1. Schoen, WPG – 473
2. Mack, MTL – 458
3. Demski, WPG – 435

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, CGY – 50
2. Dean, SSK – 43
3. Thurman, HAM – 39

Sacks

1. Betts, BC – 10
2. Jefferson, WPG – 8
3. Vaughters, CGY – 5

Interceptions

1. Houston, WPG – 5
2. Evans, MTL – 3
3. Daniel, TOR – 3

Field Goals

1. Ward, OTT – 17
2. Whyte, BC – 16
3. Paredes, CGY – 16

PICK POOL

Congrats to GumbyGirl, who had the week’s only perfect score! Unfortunately, we’re all still significantly back of BC Dick.

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

Enjoy the games, everyone.