The NFL is back tonight! Yahoo! Very exciting! I’ll be watching all of it, as we all love to do here. I’m just glad the the CFL has mostly come to their senses about game scheduling during the fall season when the big league is back in session; they’re finally well aware that going head to head on a Sunday afternoon in the regular season would get them crushed with viewership. At least I now have two weekend afternoons of non-stop football to look forward to now. Everything’s coming up Maestro!

In league news this week:

• Winnipeg is bringing back WR Ontaria Wilson after he was released by the New York Jets following the conclusion of NFL training camps.
• The Edmonton Elks signed Canadian OL Carter O’Donnell to a three-year contract, following his release by the Arizona Cardinals after five years on NFL practise squads.
• The Ottawa REDBLACKS signed former Eastern Kentucky University QB Matt Morrissey to their practise roster; with four other names ahead of him on the depth chart, I genuinely have no idea what the purpose of this signing is for unless they plan on keeping him around for the future once Matt Shiltz’s contract is up. The team also signed a number of others, including longtime CFL vet OL David Knevel, formerly of the BC Lions.

Onto the games!

WEEK 13 RECAPS

Winnipeg 30 vs. Saskatchewan 34: Boy howdy, did the Labour Day Classic ever deliver once again. This game was a complete role reversal of last year’s long weekend matchup; Saskatchewan and Winnipeg were tied at 17 in the third before the Riders jumped ahead and looked like they were poised to win. However, with the Bombers scoring a TD on their possession courtesy of an untimely Mario Alford fumble, and then another with just 30 seconds of time left to play, Winnipeg was just a two-point conversion away from tying the game and likely sending it overtime. Enter DB Tevaughn Campbell, who played hero on the conversion attempt, jumping the route, snagging the ball, and running it back the other way untouched to the far end zone to snag the game-clinching two points for Saskatchewan.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

Toronto 35 vs. Hamilton 33: If the Winnipeg-Saskatchewan game the night before was dramatic, this game was even more so. Dejon Brissett was one of the two heroes for the Argos as they fought back late to try and win, even with a stellar 405-yard, 3-TD effort from Tiger-Cat pivot Bo Levi Mitchell. The Tabbies were up 27-18 going into the fourth quarter, but Toronto had a monster scoring frame thanks to the Hamilton secondary pretty much collapsing. Thanks to some great chemistry with QB Nick Arbuckle, who had a three-TD afternoon of his own, Brissett made an absolutely fantastic catch-and-run for 62 yards to get Lirim Hajrullahu into chip-shot field goal territory just as time was about to expire in the fourth quarter. The Argos’ kicker delivered, and sent the visitors home happy after snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Toronto

Edmonton 7 vs. Calgary 28: Despite a relative quiet offensive showing, the Stamps still dominated their Alberta rivals all over the field in this year’s LDC matchup. Edmonton failed to score a touchdown, while Calgary had a pass TD from Vernon Adams, Jr., a rushing TD from Quincy Vaughn, and a punt return TD from Erik Brooks to help power them through to the win. Edmonton could really only move the ball with Justin Rankin; everything else seemed mostly pointless from the team. It was a statement game from the Stamps’ D, in particular, who kept the Elks out of the red zone and also racked up four sacks on the evening.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Calgary

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

WEEK 14 PREVIEWS

BC (5-6) vs. Ottawa (3-8), Friday, September 5th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): Dru Brown’s injury was “not supposed to be long-term”, according to the REDBLACKS, and yet here we are feeling it’s unlikely he’ll play this week, three weeks after getting injured. This team is rudderless, but even more so without steady QB play. The Lions have similarly struggled again this year without an effective pass defence, but with the way that things are going in the East, their playoff hopes, courtesy of a potential crossover bid, are still looking fairly good at this point. Nathan Rourke remains a pretty good QB as well, you know…

PICK: BC

Hamilton (6-5) vs. Montreal (5-6), Saturday, September 6th, 1:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): Montreal is getting a whole whack of injured players back for this week against the Ti-Cats, but not QB Davis Alexander, so it appears like James Morgan, the fourth-stringer, will go again under centre. Hamilton’s stunning collapse last week shows that they’re a decidely human football team; in particular that defence has looked pretty porous as of recent. That will need to change in a hurry if they want to maintain that top spot in the East in the stretch drive of the season.

PICK: Hamilton

Saskatchewan (9-2) vs. Winnipeg (6-5), Saturday, September 6th, 4:00 PM EDT (TSN, CTV, CFL+): Despite the gap in the standings, Winnipeg threw pretty well everything they could at Saskatchewan last week. Had it not been for that dramatic two-point convert pickoff by Tevaughn Campbell, this week’s rematch would be looking quite different right now. Beyond just being fierce rivals and the Bombers obviously thinking intently about revenge, these are similarly two teams that have others breathing down their necks; the Riders really don’t want to surrender first in the West to the Stamps, while the Bombers really don’t want to surrender third in the West to the Lions. Playoff seeding alone should be enough to give these guys another jump besides the usual Banjo Bowl hatred.

PICK: Saskatchewan

Calgary (8-3) vs. Edmonton (4-7), Saturday, September 7th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): In another rematch game, something’s going to need to give on offence for these Elks. They’ve looked out of it. Mark Kilam already pulled Tre Ford in favour of Cody Fajardo earlier this year… might he be willing to do it the other way now that the passing game no longer seems to be working well? The Stamps do need to focus on this game, but they are now, according to a number of oddsmakers, the team with the best probability to win the Grey Cup this year. That’s cool for a team pretty much all were writing off at the start of the season. That said, the job’s not done yet, though the Riders remain in their sights and leapfrogging them for a division title and first-round bye is now a realistic result for them if they continue to stay healthy.

PICK: Calgary

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Arbuckle, TOR – 3828
2. Mitchell, HAM – 3462
3. Rourke, BC – 3012

Passing TDs

1. Mitchell, HAM – 24
2. Arbuckle, TOR – 23
3. Harris, SSK – 19

Rushing Yards

1. Butler, BC – 868
2. Mills, CGY – 844
3. Ouellette, SSK – 802

Receiving Yards

1. Hatcher, BC – 1009
2. Lawler, HAM – 968
3. Coxie, TOR – 854

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, BC – 86
2. Jones, WPG – 73
3. Roberts, CGY – 71

Sacks

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

Interceptions

1. Greene, CGY – 4
2. Campbell, SSK  – 4
3. Milligan, SSK – 4

Field Goals

1. Maltos, MTL – 34
2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 34
3. Castillo, WPG – 29

PICK POOL

No perfect weeks once again… the Argos are especially responsible for this spoilage. The beauty of Labour Day, I suppose.

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

Enjoy the games, everyone.