I didn’t get to watch a lot of football last weekend due to a crazy 14-hour roundtrip to go pick up my car at a dealership five hours away from home… between almost being late for a long train ride, a gnarly hill walk, and a key fob with a failing battery in it, I was lucky to get home all in one piece, but it was a large day – just glad the internet radio broadcasts of the games powered me through. By the way – if you ever find yourself in Quebec City, do yourself a favoUr and stop in at Chez Ashton – a local chain fast food place – and get yourself a Hot Dog du Lac. Thinly shredded cabbage, mayo, and fries topping the hot dog in the bun. A clear-cut winner. They do a series of killer poutines, too… just be prepared to nap afterwards.

In league news this week:

• Saskatchewan signed former REDBLACKS RB Ryquell “Rock” Armstead; after being released following Ottawa’s Labour Day Weekend defeat at Touchdown Pacific in Victoria, BC, some media folks accused Armstead a talented player with a problem of running his mouth. He’s definitely been a productive rusher this year but I’m not sure that a player with purported personality issues is what the Riders need to turn their season around right now. The run game hasn’t been especially good… but I don’t know if this signing is the answer.
• Fans started a GoFundMe for Saskatchewan Roughriders DT Miles Brown, who’s been fined twice in recent weeks for hits on Winnipeg QBs Zach Collaros (who was concussed on the play) and Chris Streveler (who is out for the season after tearing three knee ligaments on the play). I am not sure this is the most noble use of internet fundraising, but one must at least give credit to Riders faithful for being diehards about their team.
• Montreal re-signed their 2023 first-round draft pick, DT Luwal Uguak, after his release from the NFL by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Uguak was a key player in their playoff run and Grey Cup victory last year and his re-signing definitely helps the D-line out for this final push on the year.

Onto the games!

WEEK 15 RECAPS

Toronto 33 vs. BC 17: Kudos to the Argos for coming out and playing some really quality road football. Toronto’s D forced seven punts from the home side Lions, and even chased Canadian star QB Nathan Rourke, forcing BC to replace him with Vernon Adams, Jr. in the second half. The offence also handled things extremely effectively, with the Double Blue heating up especially in the second half to extend their lead over the Lions; a late TD pass from BC third-stringer Chase Brice made the score look closer than it actually was. Toronto’s an enigma; they certainly have the talent to win a Grey Cup once again, but the consistency just hasn’t quite been there this year.

PICK: BC

RESULT: Toronto

Ottawa 21 vs. Hamilton 37: The Ti-Cats’ D, one of the league’s worst this season, has, to its credit, improved significantly since Chris Jones took over as DC a few weeks ago. That defence kept the REDBLACKS from clinching a playoff spot, giving QB Dru Brown a lot of trouble and preventing him from throwing a touchdown. Jeremiah Masoli entered the game in the fourth quarter and threw two TDs to cut the Ti-Cats’ lead to one score, but RB Greg Bell scored late again to stop the comeback attempt, while the secondary forced five turnovers on the afternoon. Credit as well to return man Lawrence Woods for ripping off an 83-yard return score late in the first half to give the Tiger-Cats a big lead going to the locker room. Not a great game by Ottawa’s standards; these things happen.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Hamilton

Montreal 19 vs. Calgary 19: The league’s best team against the league’s worst team… and the CFL is always full of surprises. It was the league’s second tie game of the season, and the low-scoring affair saw the Stampeders actually poised to take home a surprise victory… but the defence couldn’t hang on, and the Als managed to kick a late field goal to send it to overtime with the score tied at 13. Four possessions later, with each team scoring a field goal on their possessions, there was no further development, and the score remained in a deadlock. Kudos to the Stamps for coming out and playing hard against a very strong Als D; things could’ve gone differently if the usually-accurate Rene Paredes connected on a couple of his kicks for Calgary.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Tie

BYE: Edmonton (5-8); Saskatchewan (5-7-1); Winnipeg (7-6)

WEEK 16 PREVIEWS

Hamilton (4-9) vs. Toronto (7-6), Friday, September 20th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Argos played well on the road last week, washing away memories of two recent poor road games in Hamilton and in Ottawa. The Ti-Cats did beat these Argos on Labour Day in a surprise turn of events, but I am not sure how they’re going to hold up on the road this week… even if the “road” game in question is only about 75 kilometres away. As I said before, the Tabbies’ D has improved significantly recently, and if they’re at least able to play a close one, if not outright win, there’s a faint, faint glimmer of hope still for the playoffs… but a lot of things are going to need to go right, and they may well even need some help in the form of a crossover bid to the West to make that playoff run happen. Whatever happens, the defence is ultimately the difference-maker here. Toronto surprised last week… if disgraced sex pest Chad Kelly has finally managed to dust off the remaining cobwebs (and evidence of his crimes) and find his game on the field once again, that could see the return of a horse race for an East Division title.

PICK: Toronto

Saskatchewan (5-7-1) vs. Calgary (4-8-1), Friday, September 20th, 9:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): Riders fans have to be sweating right now. After a promising start to the year, 2024 has since gone on to resemble each of the last two seasons, where a good start collapsed quickly into a complete quagmire of a year. A win this week would be a chance to turn things around for the final push of the season, and with both Calgary and Edmonton nipping at their heels in the divisional points race, the Roughriders are desperate to hang onto that third and final playoff spot in the West. The Stamps were the team that knocked them out of the playoff race last year… despite also underperforming once again, they may yet still have it in them. While last week’s tie was not a pretty game by any stretch of imagination, credit to the team for going up against the league’s best and walking away with a point out of it. That’s the beauty of this league – on any given Saturday… you know the rest of where I’m going with this phrase.

PICK: Saskatchewan

Montreal (10-2-1) vs. Ottawa (8-4-1), Saturday, September 21st, 3:00 PM EDT (CTV, CFL+): The REDBLACKS have been a dramatically improved team this year compared to 2023, but one of the few times they’ve been absolutely obliterated this season was in the first half of these two teams’ first meeting of the season, where the Alouettes had a 30-1 halftime lead. Ottawa goes into this game with a 6-0-1 record at home… the league’s best… and will have to put it on the line against the team still billed as the league’s best despite an underwhelming game last week against the Stampeders. With defensive star and signal-caller Adarius Pickett lost for the season due to a non-contact injury on the first play of last week’s game, the REDBLACKS will have to dig deep to find the depth in their linebacking corps and to find a guy who can rally the troops in the same way that Pickett has done for the team this season.

PICK: Ottawa

Winnipeg (7-6) vs. Edmonton (5-8), Saturday, September 21st, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Elks’ offence has come to life recently; even with McLeod Bethel-Thompson at the helm the team has been able to pile up points, particularly due to their deep running game featuring Javon Leake, Kevin Brown and Justin Rankin. The team announced before the break that they’d be switching back to Tre Ford at QB despite the recent good results; his mobility is going to be an asset this week against a strong Winnipeg D that eats pocket passers like MBT for lunch. The Bombers are probably going to need to play a more conservative offensive game and protect QB Zach Collaros like crazy – their lack of quarterback depth after Chris Streveler’s injury may force them to go run-heavy in order to keep pass-rushers as far away from Collaros as possible. I don’t know if long-term it’s an effective plan, but it might at least work in the interim.

BYE: BC (7-7)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

x – clinched playoff spot
y – clinched division
e – eliminated from playoff contention

Passing Yards

1. Mitchell, HAM – 3682
2. Maier, CGY – 3152
3. Bethel-Thompson, EDM – 3098

Passing TDs

1. Mitchell, HAM – 23
2. Bethel-Thompson, EDM – 19
3. Maier, CGY – 16

Rushing Yards

1. Stanback, BC – 959
2. Oliveira, WPG – 894
3. Carey, TOR – 811

Receiving Yards

1. McInnis, BC – 1169
2. Hardy, OTT – 1013
3. Hollins, BC – 881

Defensive Tackles

1. Morgan, EDM – 85
2. Sankey, MTL – 83
3. Beverette, MTL – 82

Sacks

1. Teuhema, BC – 7
2. Holley, TOR– 7
3. Jefferson, WPG – 6

Interceptions

1. Ford, WPG – 6
2. Milligan, SSK – 6
3. Bynum, EDM – 5

Field Goals

1. Ward, OTT – 41
2. Castillo, WPG – 40
3. Whyte, BC – 36

PICK POOL

Well honestly, thank God for that tie… we were literally just a couple of plays away from that last game of the week leaving the entire field to go 0-3. What a weird thing it is to be on sports.

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Enjoy the games, everyone.