With classes done and exams in full swing, summer feels closer than ever for me. I live for these in-between days as a music teacher. The concerts are done and the trips are over, and all that’s left to do is yell at children for breaking my gear and let my eyes glaze over from staring at spreadsheets. What a fulfilling life to live! At least there’s football to make everything feel better.

In league news this week:

• The CFL has been trying out chipped footballs in order to get more accurate real-time stats from players – and the verdict is that most kickers absolutely hate these balls. Bombers kicker Sergio Castillo, who was over 90% accurate on field goals last season, went 1-3 against Montreal last week; apparently the balls were consistently awful during training camp too, with Castillo’s accuracy dropping by almost 30% during practise sessions. In the offseason, kickers voted 10-1 to prevent the implementation of chipped balls, but were overruled by the CFL. As the outcry has since grown, the league issued a statement earlier this week that now allows for teams to declare ahead of game time whether they’ll use chipped or unchipped balls for kick plays during games – but they have to be consistent for the entire game and cannot switch back and forth.
• The Toronto Argonauts released DL Shawn Oakman on Tuesday. A former All-Star, Oakman racked up six sacks last season for Toronto, but he’s been crowded out on the line by the acquisition of Jake Ceresna from Edmonton and the emergence of Jared Brinkman.
• Facing potential long-term injury of DB Brandin Dandridge, the Ottawa REDBLACKS signed free agent DB Winston Rose, a former All-Star in Winnipeg who originally broke into the league back with Ottawa in 2017. He’s on the practise roster for the time being, but I wouldn’t be that surprised to see him elevated in the near future considering his pedigree.
• After Elks receiver Kyran Moore went down with a torn ACL in Week 1 against the Roughriders, Edmonton signed veteran receiver Tevin Jones, who was cut at the end of Montreal’s training camp, to be his replacement. Moore has bounced around previously on a number of NFL practise rosters and played five games with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019, but after signing with Saskatchewan and Montreal, this will likely be his first taste of game action north of the border very soon.
• Hamilton signed intriguing QB prospect Taulia Taigovailoa, younger brother of the famous Dolphins quarterback, to their practise roster earlier this week, after he went unpicked in the 2024 NFL Draft and no free agent offers materialized for him. Beyond his family name, he’s also notable for being the Big Ten’s all-time leader in passing yards and completion percentage from his time as a Maryland Terrapin. He shares the Terps record for most passing TDs in a season, 26, with his new head coach Scott Milanovich, himself a former Maryland QB.
• Montreal LB Reggie Stubblefield is out for the season with a torn ACL, having gone down awkwardly late in the third quarter last week against Winnipeg – possibly due to trying to target Bombers QB Chris Streveler just after the whistle. As last year’s Alouettes nominee for Rookie of the Year, his presence will be missed this season.

Onto the games!

WEEK 1 RECAPS

Montreal 27 vs. Winnipeg 12: Boy, the Als looked good last week. Yes, yes, defending Grey Cup champs and all, but it’s still a rare occurrence to walk into Winnipeg and thrash the Bombers on their home turf – but that’s exactly what happened here. Zach Collaros did not find the end zone through the air nor on the ground thanks to Montreal’s stellar defensive effort. Shawn Lemon, whose gambling suspension is currently on appeal to an arbitrator, suited up and finished with five tackles and a sack; Darnell Sankey had five tackles and forced a fumble. While the Als’ offence started slowly, with Cody Fajardo throwing an interception that was turned into a field goal, he and the team rapidly turned it around, and moved the ball at will afterwards. Fajardo finished 20-28 for 254 yards and two TDs to receiver Tyson Philpot, who caught the Grey Cup-winning score at the end of last season. Some soul searching to do for Winnipeg; this was probably their worst game since last season’s 30-6 drubbing at home by the BC Lions almost a year ago.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Montreal

Hamilton 24 vs. Calgary 32: Having been injured last season when the Tiger-Cats made their lone appearance last year against the Stamps, last week was Bo Levi Mitchell’s first time in Calgary as the visiting quarterback rather than the home one. His departure from the Stampeders has so far not paid the dividends that Hamilton hoped it would when they traded for and signed him last season – though to be fair, this loss wasn’t entirely on him. His receivers had several wide-open easy TD drops that could’ve changed the game entirely, and the Tabbies secondary is now banged up after several key members left with injury. Calgary, on the flip side, played what may be an ideal home opener for them – in particular, QB Jake Maier, who faced some criticism last year in his first full season as the unquestioned starter after taking over from Bo Levi Mitchell, showed that the offence has a whole new look to it this year. The Stamps scored on their first five possessions, and eight of 11 in all excluding a kneel-down, making the most of their possessions while also slinging the ball around to all of his receivers with effectiveness.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Calgary

Saskatchewan 29 vs. Edmonton 21: 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of Edmonton’s CFL franchise, and legends were on hand hoping for a home win to kick off the year. Things were initially looking great for the home side, with the Elks sporting a 21-8 lead early in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, it all fell apart shortly afterwards, and the visitors rallied for a big come-from-behind win. The Roughriders needed everything they could get from receiver Shawn Bane, Jr. who hauled in three catches for TD scores in this one – two of those in the fourth quarter – overcoming two earlier interceptions from his QB Trevor Harris. It also took a short AJ Ouellette rush TD – finding the end zone despite being limited to 40 yards on 18 carries – and Boris Bede shanking a field goal for Edmonton – to finally seal the deal, though they certainly didn’t make things easy on themselves, especially with Ouellette fumbling the ball on a drive even later in the game. Edmonton’s run game was nonexistent – a surprising turn from last year, where they had the best ground game in the league – but MBT’s arm was going. Still, a disappointing collapse for home fans.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

BC 27 vs. Toronto 35: The Lions are Grey Cup favourites. The Argos are ranked similarly highly, even without Chad Kelly. Fortunately for them, after a slow start, the home side really figured things out – Cameron Dukes threw for 3 scores and ran for another, and the defence re-schemed in the second half to finish with six sacks on the Lions’ Vernon Adams, Jr. BC had a good first half and finished 25-33 for 363 yards and two touchdowns, but his O-line really let him down. Poor guy was really beat up by the time the game was over, and the Double Blue especially dominated the line of scrimmage in the final two frames. Credit to the Lions for continuing to battle – the D did give up yards and points, but still worked well to contain the Argos’ pass game to short and midrange levels – and DT Tibo Debaille had a nice scoop and score of Dukes to give the Lions a 20-6 lead in the second quarter… but soon afterwards, it all came crashing down. The Lions are going to need to do something about their pass protection if Vernon Adams, Jr. is to make it out of this season still alive.

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Toronto

BYE: Ottawa (0-0)

WEEK 2 PREVIEWS

Winnipeg (0-1) vs. Ottawa (0-0), Thursday, June 13th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): With their top RB and WR on the shelf, the Bombers head east a little bit nicked up to start the year – though they will have defensive signal caller, LB Adam Bighill, back for this one. Ottawa is coming off a Week 1 bye – always a peculiar CFL scheduling quirk – and are eager to see the start of the Dru Brown era as their new starting quarterback. Fitting that his first game after winning himself a starting job comes directly against his old team; while the Bombers looked slow last week, I have no doubt they’ll adjust. While Ottawa did beat Winnipeg at home last year thanks to young quarterback Dustin Crum playing out of his mind and scrambling on all kinds of plays, I think we’ll see a much different game plan overall, particularly due to having a quarterback with more experience and better ability to see his progressions during pass plays. Long term I think it’s going to result in a more improved team – but for this week, I don’t know if it’ll be enough to take home a win.

PICK: Winnipeg

Montreal (1-0) vs. Edmonton (0-1), Friday, June 14th, 9:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): The Elks lost last week – again, yes – but they appear to have a passing game for the first time in a very, very long time. Cool to see Canadian Hergy Mayala appear to be a useful receiver again for Edmonton after last season’s extremely disappointing time in Montreal, where he was released partway through the season. Also chomping at the bit for the ball is former Alouette Eugene Lewis, who led the Elks in receiving yards last year as their premier free agent signing in the 2022 off-season. The Elks are going to have their hands full against the Alouettes; that’s for certain. After the clinic their defence put on against what has been an incredibly resilient and creative Bombers offence, I am concerned about Edmonton’s ability to deal with that fearsome front seven. The Elks need to find a better way to get their run game mobilized this week, too – Kevin Brown was barely noticed last week, and as a guy who had 1141 rushing yards last year, 23 yards on 7 carries just isn’t enough to get the job done. It’s certainly not all on him – and we’re only one game into the season – but this is now put up or shut up time for the Elks. The changes this team made over the offseason need to see some results coming in very soon, or bigger heads will fall.

PICK: Montreal

Calgary (1-0) vs. BC (0-1), Saturday, June 15th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): With 50 Cent setting the stage for the Lions’ home opener – and with both levels of BC Place open and almost completely sold out – the vibes will be excellent for this one. After the Argos figured out how to get pressure on Vernon Adams, Jr. last week, the Lions’ O-line is going to have to make some tactical adjustments in order to give him a bit more time. I can easily see this being another shootout – the Stamps’ offence was similarly rolling last week, and QB Jake Maier looked better last week than he did for all of 2023. One game does not a season make, but I look forward to seeing if this a sign of the Stamps figuring things out on the offensive side of the ball compared to their frustrating prior campaign. BC is favoUred here – just as they were in last year’s West semifinal, where they dealt tidily with the visitors – but hopefully they’ll be able to clean things up after last week’s tough opening loss to Toronto.

PICK: BC

Saskatchewan (1-0) vs. Hamilton (0-1), Sunday, June 16th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): For Saskatchewan, a win’s a win, but they’ll need to work on building some discipline in order to ensure that the dramatic, come-from-behind styles are kept to a minimum. Last week against Edmonton we saw that their zone coverage needs some work – and against a QB like Bo Levi Mitchell, who now lacks the arm strength he had earlier in his career, I see those schemes to defend against screens and slants and whatnot as crucial. For Hamilton, RB James Butler is the truth. He barely played in the pre-season and still cracked over 100 yards last week – he can make stuff happen when the ball is in his hands. The Riders were good against the run last week – but will they be able to replicate that? Also, the Tiger-Cats equipment staff might want to consider cheating and coating all the receiver gloves with stickum to avoid those costly drops for a second straight week.

PICK: Saskatchewan

BYE: Toronto (1-0)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Adams, Jr., BC – 363
2. Bethel-Thompson, EDM – 336
3. Harris, SSK – 305

Passing TDs

1. Dukes, TOR – 3
2. Harris, SSK – 3
3. Fajardo, MTL – 2

Rushing Yards

1. Butler, HAM – 119
2. Mills, CGY – 87
3. Carey, TOR – 65

Receiving Yards

1. Philpot, MTL – 141
2. Bane Jr., SSK – 125
3. McInnis, BC – 103

Defensive Tackles

1. Milligan, SSK – 10
2. Morgan, EDM – 9
3. Hladik, BC – 8

Sacks

1. Brinkman, TOR – 2
2. Wiggan, MTL – 1
3. Hicks, CGY – 1

Interceptions

1. Houston, CGY – 1
2. Cole II, WPG – 1
3. Dequoy, MTL – 1

Field Goals

1. Paredes, CGY – 6
2. Liegghio, HAM – 3
3. Hajrullahu, TOR – 3

PICK POOL

Not exactly sure how this happened, but my results differed from my picks I put in last week’s Beat. I guess I put them in too far ahead of the season, and things shifted rapidly? Was I perhaps on the beer once again? Who’s to say, really. It’s still not too late to join the pool! We have 20 more weeks of action, leaving you plenty of time to get caught up in the race for a coveted Pick Pool Championship.

Remember to submit your picks here! https://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=231808

Enjoy the games, everyone.