We’ve made it to Labour Day! It’s officially make-it-or-break-it time in the CFL season, and the annual tradition of fierce divisional rivalry games comes alive once more. With school on the horizon, I will be spending my final weekend of summer vacation at the cabin, drinking for three (me, my pregnant wife, and our upcoming child) and watching all three matchups on TV. Looking forward to it immensely.

In league news this week:

• With so many DBs on the shelf still, the REDBLACKS traded their seventh-round draft pick in the upcoming 2026 draft for American DB Mark Milton from the Argos. Milton’s been a healthy scratch the last few weeks, but has some speed in the backfield, and the team is desperate for pretty much anybody to play at this juncture of the season.
• Toronto is bringing back WR Makai Polk after he was cut by the Atlanta Falcons following the end of their NFL training camp; Polk had 1024 receiving yards and 5 TDs for the Argos in 17 games last season and provides another dynamic presence for their offence.
• Winnipeg signed speedy WR Kyran Moore this week; coming off an ACL injury in 2024 where he didn’t play at all for Edmonton, hopefully he’ll be up to speed in short order and offer some additional help for beleaguered QB Zach Collaros to catch some passes.
• BC is going to retire former LB and CFLPA president Solomon Elimimian’s #56 jersey and induct him to their Wall of Fame on Oct. 4th against Calgary; Elimimian was one of the best defensive players in the history of the CFL and is the franchise all-time leader in defensive tackles, with 745; he also won the 2011 Grey Cup with the Lions and is the only defensive player in the history of the league to win Most Outstanding Player, which he took home in the 2014 season.
• Fresh off getting cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Toronto Argos added DB Shilo Sanders to their negotiation list. Does this mean they’ll have a shot at signing him? Probably not. Most of these CFL negotiation lists, which are now permanently public as of this season, are just a way of creating media intrigue around the game. However, if the younger Sanders offspring does in fact run out of runway and decides to come to Canada to play football, the Argos will have the first opportunity to sign him to a contract.

Onto the games!

WEEK 12 RECAPS

Winnipeg 26 vs. Montreal 13: The Brady Oliveira Show was live on air as the Bombers took down Montreal for their fourth consecutive loss; Winnipeg’s star RB had 210 combined yards on 25 touches as well as a touchdown. Down to their fourth-string QB, Montreal’s James Morgan struggled in his first start of 2025, throwing two picks along with a TD, going 18-33 for 198 yards. Receiver Alex Hollins, signed a few weeks ago by the Als as a free agent, had a strong game with five catches on nine targets for 132 yards, but the passing game simply wasn’t consistent enough to match with Winnipeg’s offensive output. While down significantly from previous years, the Bombers will hopefully get a little bit healthier for the stretch drive soon enough.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Edmonton 30 vs. Ottawa 20: With starter Dru Brown on the shelf, Ottawa had another mostly inept offensive night; the team once again came out flat and unprepared, going down 17-0 to the visiting Elks in the first half. This has been the hallmark of Bob Dyce’s time as head coach: the team comes out absolutely terrible, somehow scratches and claws their way back into making something look reasonably respectable, and then blows it once again at the end of the game. That night was no different. The REDBLACKS had issues stopping the run, giving up rushing scores to RB Justin Rankin and Cody Fajardo; they also gave up a punt return TD to Javon Leake, who continues to be one of the league’s most slippery guys. I have seen enough – in fact, I saw enough last year with the REDBLACKS’ significant fade down the stretch run, despite their making the playoffs; Bob Dyce should not be coaching this Ottawa team any longer. The sooner change happens, the better we are for it.

PICK: Edmonton

RESULT: Edmonton

BC 34 vs. Toronto 52: I have to give credit where credit is due; at the start of the year, Argos QB Nick Arbuckle had a serious issue with turnovers, and it cost the team quite a bit. In the last while, he’s really cleaned it up, and he had a career-high game with 430 passing yards, three TDs, and a rushing major to boot. The Argos’ offensive explosion was unprecedented since their dismantling of the Ottawa REDBLACKS in last year’s East semifinal, and the Lions simply could not keep up. The BC secondary continues to be a weak spot for their roster as they have struggled to keep pace with Winnipeg for third in the East. The Toronto D even chipped in, despite the final score, thanks to a Benjie Franklin pick-six on Nathan Rourke in the second quarter.

PICK: BC

RESULT: Toronto

Saskatchewan 15 vs. Calgary 32: That’s two wins against the league’s top team by record, and for anyone who wasn’t yet taking the Stamps seriously for some reason, this win should put also questions aside that they’re a Grey Cup contending team. Vernon Adams had three TDs and two picks, and opposing QB Trevor Harris had two TDs and two picks, but the difference in this game was the adjustments that Calgary made in the second half of the game to just shut down the Roughriders’ offence completely in the second half of the game. The Stamps sacked Harris four times and completely shut out the Riders through the final 30 minutes while their run game went to work and grounded and pounded away for success; a gutsy, well-executed game plan against a difficult, dangerous opponent.

PICK: Saskatchewan

BYE: Hamilton (6-4)

WEEK 13 PREVIEWS

Winnipeg (6-4) vs. Saskatchewan (8-2), Sunday, August 31st, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): The Labour Day weekend kicks off with the first of three games that will be home-and-home series, as is tradition in the CFL schedule; while Saskatchewan has the better record this season, Winnipeg has historically dominated the Labour Day matchup over the last several years. They’ve taken three of the last four, including last year’s matchup, but Saskatchewan holds the all-time record of the prairie LDC game, with a 38-21 record over the decade. The Riders lost again to the Stamps last week, so while they’re still the best team in the CFL, they clearly have a few weak spots. The run game gave Saskatchewan trouble last week, and the Bombers have the league’s best runner in Brady Oliveira; they would be nuts to not feature him this week in a key rivalry matchup.

PICK: Saskatchewan

Toronto (3-8) vs. Hamilton (6-4), Monday, September 1st, 2:30 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): The Ti-Cats have the all-time series edge at 37-15-1 since the inception of the LDC; I like their chances at home this week. It was a rare power outage on offence for them a couple of weeks ago, but the Riders have a much better defence than what they are poised to go up against in a few days from now. Nick Arbuckle has played much better in the last little while, but if this game turns into a shootout, run and gun style game, the Argos don’t have the receiver depth to match Hamilton. This might be a pretty high-scoring matchup…

PICK: Hamilton

Edmonton (4-6) vs. Calgary (7-3), Monday, September 1st, 6:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): Edmonton’s on a hot streak right now, but the Stamps played some really good football against the league’s best team. The Elks have yet to find success against any of their divisional opponents, so this is going to be a key game for them to try and move out of the West basement. Of the three Labour Day Classic matchups, this is by far the closest one, with both teams sporting identical 34-34-1 records. Calgary did a great job of bottling up the pass game last week against an excellent QB in Trevor Harris, so I would similarly expect Edmonton to lean run for the first little while in this game and rotate two excellent banks in Justin Rankin and Javon Leake.

PICK: Calgary

BYE: BC (5-6), Montreal (5-6), Ottawa (3-8)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Arbuckle, TOR – 3476
2. Mitchell, HAM – 3057
3. Rourke, BC – 3012

Passing TDs

1. Mitchell, HAM – 21
2. Arbuckle, TOR – 20
3. Rourke, BC – 18

Rushing Yards

1. Butler, BC – 868
2. Mills, CGY – 738
3. Ouellette, SSK – 713

Receiving Yards

1. Hatcher, BC – 1009
2. Coxie, TOR – 854
3. Lawler, HAM – 845

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, BC – 86
2. Jones, WPG – 69
3. Pickett, OTT – 67

Sacks

1. Adeyemi-Berglund, MTL  – 8
2. Chatfield, TOR – 7
3. Hutchings, CGY – 6

Interceptions

1. Greene, CGY – 4
2. Holm, WPG  – 4
3. Milligan, SSK – 4

Field Goals

1. Maltos, MTL – 34
2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 30
3. Castillo, WPG – 28

PICK POOL

No perfect weeks, but that gap at the top is starting to get wider and wider… No total shutouts this week either, on the other hand!

Remember to submit your picks here! https://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=243178

Enjoy the games, everyone.