We made it! The playoffs are here! It’s one of my favourite times of year for football; one of the only things that I don’t like about the tweaks to the new CFL playoff scheduling, which was re-introduced last year, is that I can’t keep dual-screening NFL RedZone and the Canadian playoff games like before. As the league is playing Saturday playoff games again, I must now instead dual-screen US JV ball and the CFL. What a burden, truly. Such a trial, my life is.

In league news this week:

• CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie is retiring upon conclusion of the 2024 CFL season. In seven years as CFL commissioner, he did do a few things that I think will benefit the league long-term, specifically in stabilizing the league’s three biggest markets in Toronto, Montreal, and BC, but he has a mixed bag of other accomplishments in his tenure as the league’s top dog. The CFL Global Initiative means well as a way of trying to attract attention for the league on an international scale, and while it’s been cool to see a few international players become quasi-regular players in the CFL, I’m not sure the fan attention has grown accordingly. Similarly, he never got the expansion to Halifax done, though I’m not sure anyone would be able to so long as the Maritime provinces continue to not have tax revenue to support stadium infrastructure projects. Finally, he still hasn’t grown league revenues in any substantial way; the broken stats due to Genius Sports not being able to keep up with data input was brutal, particularly in a league that relies so heavily now on sports betting revenue; and the Chad Kelly sexual harassment situation was handled horrifically. As a whole, COVID caused major disruptions, so I think that was difficult for every sports league both amateur and professional, but one thing I will give him credit for was not agreeing to a merger with the XFL… considering they’re now dead in the water, that seems to me like an especially prudent decision. There’s been no announcement on who will take over the top job, but expect an announcement sometime in the winter of 2025.
• The Edmonton Elks signed rookie RB Justin Rankin to a one-year contract extension that will keep him with the team through the end of 2025. In 11 games, Rankin racked up 765 yards on 98 carries, to go with five TDs as well. The sky’s the limit for this guy, and as part of a trio of great backs in Edmonton, I think they have a chance of continuing to have the league’s best rushing offence moving forward.
• The Calgary Stampeders announced that they’ll retain GM/HC Dave Dickenson for the 2025 season, but also announced some significant changes to the coaching staff; DC Brent Monson, STC Mark Kilam and DL coach Juwan Simpson will not be back for next year. The departure of Monson and Kilam is notable, as both have been with the franchise in numerous coaching capacities for years and years; Kilam joined the team in 2005 as a strength and conditioning coach while Monson was hired in 2010 into that same role. Each worked their way up the ranks; they’ll be snapped up quickly by other teams due to their years of CFL experience.

Onto the games!

WEEK 21 RECAPS

Hamilton 31 vs. Ottawa 38: It took a goal line stand on the final drive of the game to snap their five-game losing streak, but the REDBLACKS got the job done at home and head into the playoffs feeling extremely good about the full-team effort that they put forward to end the 2024 regular season. Both Dru Brown and Bo Levi Mitchell threw for over 400 yards on the night, while Ottawa’s Lewis Ward hit five field goals; despite all the yards and points, the tipping point was that final series, where Hamilton was stuffed three straight times at the goal line to run out the clock and give the REDBLACKS the win. If Ottawa can play a resilient game against the Argos in the manner they did this week against Hamilton, they will have a chance at an upset.

PICK: Ottawa

RESULT: Ottawa

Toronto 30 vs. Edmonton 31 (OT): For the second straight week, Toronto had a sizable lead going into the fourth quarter, and saw that dwindle away with some sloppy play… while they managed to hold previously against the REDBLACKS, they weren’t so lucky this time around. Thanks to a great performance from QB Tre Ford (325 passing yards and three TDs) and RB Javon Leake (208 total yards and a TD), the Elks managed to chip away throughout the fourth quarter and send it to OT. With the Elks getting the final possession in the extra frame, punter Jake Julien won the home side the game on an extremely intentional walk-off rouge, once again sparking controversy about the Canadian rules and its weird quirks about kicking a ball through the back of the end zone. Personally, I’ll never get tired of it. It may be the end of the Tre Ford era in Edmonton now that the season is over… but personally, I think that would be a mistake for the team to let him walk. Guess we’ll see what happens soon enough. The Argos now get set to host the East Semi-Final.

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Edmonton

Winnipeg 28 vs. Montreal 27: The Blue Bombers made the most of an extremely dramatic finish, and locked up the West Division title on a walk-off field goal by Sergio Castillo. That’s their fourth straight division title – an impressive feat, but even more so when considering their disastrous 2-6 start to this current season. It was a windy and rainy one in Montreal and that wind caused a lot of issues for both teams – particularly in the dying moments of the game… but with both teams having played well (even with Montreal electing to rest their starters late) it was an exciting way to wrap up the regular season.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Calgary 27 vs. Saskatchewan 12: With the Bombers wrapping up the division title shortly before kickoff, the Riders pulled an audible and elected to rest most of their starters to stay fresh for their upcoming playoff game. The Stampeders capitalized on playing against backups, and in what is likely to be the final game of Jake Maier’s career in Calgary, the team got the win to at least end a dismal 2024 on a high note. Maier, having sat for the last several weeks, was put in to start again with second-stringer Matt Shiltz injured yet again, and he threw for almost 300 yards, 3 TDs, and no picks in a very tidy outing.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Calgary

BYE: BC (12-6), Edmonton (4-14), Saskatchewan (6-12)

DIVISION SEMIFINAL PREVIEWS

EAST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(3) Ottawa (9-8-1) vs. (2) Toronto (10-8), Saturday, November 2nd, 3:00 PM EDT (CTV, TSN, CFL+): It’s a much higher stakes rematch of the game from a couple of weeks ago- both teams will be ramping it up significantly from what we saw previously. While the REDBLACKS haven’t been very good on the road this season, they still have an outside chance at playing spoiler… the Argos must be concerned about how they’ve had some massive fourth quarter leads in each of the past two weeks, including against Ottawa, and then have essentially just stopped playing each time. Toronto needs to put together a full 60 minutes of football if they want to have a deep postseason run this year; they’ll also need Chad Kelly to be at the top of his game as well. If he’s off, bad things will happen – both on the field and off, if last year’s track record is anything to consider… after all, he threw a boatload of picks and then (allegedly) sexually harassed a team staffer, which earned him his nine-game suspension to start this season. A loss here would put Kelly on thin ice indeed. To that, I say “good”.

PICK: Toronto

WEST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(3) BC (9-9) vs. (2) Saskatchewan (9-8-1), Saturday, November 4th, 6:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Riders are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2021, thanks to a revamped defence led by a defensively-minded head coach in Corey Mace. As a longtime member of the Argos’ coaching staff, Mace had the opportunity to work as a DC on some extremely talented Argos teams, and he’s taken that experience and met fans’ high expectations in his first year as Saskatchewan’s head coach. Even through injury to starting QB Trevor Harris and a mid-season slide, the Roughriders showed some resiliency to their game that’s been notably missing these last few years, and that’s paid off in getting to host a home playoff game. The Lions have been a real mixed bag this year, but have looked especially good with Vernon Adams, Jr. under centre – he had a fantastic game two weeks ago in his first start since his knee injury in early August and it helped to make the Leos look like the deadly team they were in the first half of the year. He’s going to get the start, and if he can continue to find chemistry with his receivers, in particular Justin McInnis and Keon Hatcher, watch out.

PICK: BC

BYE: (1) Montreal (12-5-1), (1) Winnipeg (11-7)

REGULAR SEASON FINAL 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 – 5451
2. Collaros, WPG – 4336
3. Brown, OTT – 3959

Passing TDs

1. Mitchell, HAM – 32
2. Bethel-Thompson, EDM – 24
3. Maier, CGY – 22

Rushing Yards

1. Oliveira, WPG – 1353
2. Stanback, BC – 1175
3. Carey, TOR – 1060

Receiving Yards

1. McInnis, BC – 1469
2. Hardy, OTT – 1343
3. White, HAM – 1164

Defensive Tackles

1. Anderson, EDM – 116
2. Morgan, EDM – 112
3. Beverette, MTL – 112

Sacks

1. Wakefield, OTT – 8
2. Mauldin, OTT – 8
3. Brown, EDM– 8

Interceptions

1. Milligan, SSK – 8
2. Ford, WPG – 7
3. Webb, OTT – 5

Field Goals

1. Ward, OTT – 58
2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 55
3. Lauther, SSK – 53

PICK POOL

Big congrats to our dear compatriot Ballsofsteelandfury on being this year’s winner of the [DFO] CFL Pick’em Pool! Your prize is in the mail. Yes, really. Looking forward to seeing you all back again next season for another shot at glory, bragging rights, and alcohol.

Enjoy the games, everyone.