CFL Beat: Week 15

September may honestly be the perfect month. With the back-to-school routine now established and with football Sundays in session, I can also now fill out my Fridays and Saturdays perfectly. Some people tell me the weekend weather is beautiful, but as all good football fans know, I have no idea if that’s actually true or not. All I know is my TV speakers are finally hooked up after years of collecting dust in the basement, the new pullout couch is in place, and I am ready to rock and roll. Considering how likely I am to be nap-trapped in the near future, I figure I might as well be comfy while it’s going on.

In league news this week:

• The Toronto Argonauts’ parent company, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, announced a joint partnership with the Buffalo Bills in order to better promote the game of football as a whole across the greater Southern Ontario region. While details are thin, this apparently means that the Argos and Bills will collaborate on youth football camp opportunities, will have a Bills-themed home game against Hamilton in October, will sell joint merch, and will also have MLSE properties promoting the Bills as a whole. I don’t really know what this means a whole; it feels strange, weird and vaguely insulting all at the same time. There’s no doubt that Canadians care about the NFL, and that it’s bigger than the CFL in many places across the country; but this feels like something that’s shoving aside the unique history of Canadian football and replacing it with something foreign. The last time Toronto hosted Bills games back in the 2000s at Rogers Centre (when it was still a multipurpose venue, rather than the baseball-specific stadium it’s become), they didn’t even sell out. Colour me skeptical.
• BC is bringing back two-time All-CFL DB TJ Lee, who was released by the team earlier this year. At 34, he’s getting up there in age, but the Lions need solutions in their secondary, and there’s no doubt the current crop was not getting the job done. Hopefully this pans out for them as they fight like mad to stay in the playoff hunt.
• Stampeders DL Folarin Orimolade is out for the season with a torn Achilles, suffered last week against Edmonton; a key piece of the D-line, he won a Grey Cup last year with the Argos and was a CFL East Division all-star nominee in 2023.

Onto the games!

WEEK 14 RECAPS

BC 33 vs. Ottawa 34: Another epic Crumback for the Ottawa REDBLACKS. Down and out once again, the backup QB led the charge for Ottawa to roar back in the fourth quarter and steal a win from the Lions at the gun. Crum had the game of his life, with 301 pass yards, a TD, 69 rushing yards and two majors on the ground. Most importantly, the REDBLACKS outscored the Lions 18-6 in the final frame, walking away with the W after Crum found Eugene Lewis in the end zone for the game-tying score with just 17 seconds left, followed by Lewis Ward kicking the winning XP. This huge victory sets up an excellent rematch this week…

PICK: BC

RESULT: Ottawa

Hamilton 26 vs. Montreal 9: With Montreal’s QBs still all banged up, the Hamilton run game took over and led the way for the Tiger-Cats to pad their lead on the rest of the East Division. Greg Bell had 156 yards on 20 attempts, while QB Bo Levi Mitchell even joined in the party by scoring his first rushing major in a decade. The defence similarly did their part, preventing any TDs by the Alouettes while also forcing three turnovers in the game. The Als really couldn’t get anything going at all; James Morgan had just 55 passing yards going into the fourth quarter, and finished the game with just 138 on the night.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Hamilton

Saskatchewan 21 vs. Winnipeg 13: The Riders swept the home-and-home with their archrivals, and walked away with their first Banjo Bowl victory since 2018. While Winnipeg’s  D limited the high-octane Riders offence to just one TD, a rushing score by AJ Ouellette, they also gave up five field goals, and similarly, the Bomber offence couldn’t get much going again. Zach Collaros was once again injured and forced to leave the game, after getting absolutely rocked on a late hit by CJ Reavis; the concussions have really piled up for him as of recent, and many people, including myself, are worried about his long-term health and wellness. Longtime CFL pundit Milt Stegall, a former Blue Bomber himself, was bold enough to say that he felt Collaros “should never play football again” after this latest concussion.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

Calgary 19 vs. Edmonton 31: The Elks got their revenge after being defeated a week prior in the Labour Day Classic in Calgary. Thanks to Justin Rankin, Edmonton’s offence was in a groove all day; the Elks’ star rusher set a career high with 204 rush yards on 16 carries, to go with two TDs as well. Despite being undermanned, the D did not give up a single passing TD, held Stamps’ QB Vernon Adams, Jr. to a 52% completion percentage, and also racked up four sacks. The score was actually much closer than it looked – Calgary had an early lead before things began to see-saw back and forth; Edmonton would only blow the lead open in the fourth quarter once Cody Fajardo found WR Kaion Julien-Grant for the score that sealed the Stamps’ fate.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Edmonton

BYE: Toronto (4-8)

WEEK 15 PREVIEWS

Winnipeg (6-6) vs. Hamilton (7-5), Friday, September 12th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): Looks like Zach Collaros is out again. If this was going to be the year that someone was going to knock the Bombers off the throne of the West Division, it’s looking more and more likely with each passing week and each subsequent injury to the Winnipeg vets. Winnipeg may yet make the playoffs still, somehow, but I think Father Time has caught up to them at last. The Ti-Cats, meanwhile, continue to surprise; unclear if Bo Levi Mitchell will sign an extension with Hamilton after this final year of his deal is up, but he’s been playing some damn fine football once again this year and will the true X-factor in any Hamilton playoff run this season.

PICK: Hamilton

Ottawa (4-8) vs. BC (5-7), Friday, September 12th, 10:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): After last week’s stunning victory, the REDBLACKS will feel good, but will also be hard-pressed to repeat those same heroics twice in a row. One thing about Ottawa this year: they’re terrible at playing with the lead. It seems like it’s hardly ever happened. Trailing can be a good motivator to push late, but I find it difficult to believe that it’s a solution for sustainable long-term success as a franchise. The Lions, meanwhile, need to do some soul-searching on defence; the addition of some longtime vets will hopefully help matters because right now the secondary is leaking like an Atlantic convoy after a U-boat attack.

PICK: BC

Edmonton (5-7) vs. Toronto (4-8), Saturday, September 14th, 3:00 PM EDT (TSN, CTV, CFL+): The Elks can run the ball – we’ve known this for a while. Justin Rankin is clearly a special player. This is definitely a better team than years past, but the league has so much parity to it that it means they’re still in tough for a playoff spot this year. I was impressed with how Edmonton’s D played last week, even with missing some key guys, and think they do have a chance this week, but I must also give credit to how Nick Arbuckle has focused on cleaning up his game in the last month of the season; the Argos’ passing attack is excellent and may end up being their saving grace. If only they could clean up their special teams in the same manner…

PICK: Toronto

Montreal (5-7) vs. Saskatchewan (10-2), Saturday, September 14th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): McLeod Bethel-Thompson has been activated off the six-game injured list, and while I still think he’s washed as a CFL quarterback, he’s likely still a better option than what James Morgan has shown over the past few weeks. Montreal needs to get back to full strength if they want to turn this season around; it has truly been an injured list from hell from them. Credit to the D for not caving even when they get no points support from the O; but they’re going to be in extremely, extremely tough this week as road dogs in Regina.

PICK: Saskatchewan

BYE: Calgary (8-4)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Arbuckle, TOR – 3828
2. Mitchell, HAM – 3653
3. Rourke, BC – 3296

Passing TDs

1. Mitchell, HAM – 24
2. Arbuckle, TOR – 23
3. Rourke, BC – 19

Rushing Yards

1. Butler, BC – 945
2. Mills, CGY – 882
3. Ouellette, SSK – 852

Receiving Yards

1. Hatcher, BC – 1073
2. Lawler, HAM – 1047
3. Johnson, SSK – 908

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, BC – 94
2. Jones, WPG – 80
3. Roberts, CGY – 74

Sacks

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

Interceptions

1. Campbell, SSK  – 6
2. Greene, CGY – 4
3. McFadden, TOR – 4

Field Goals

1. Maltos, MTL – 37
2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 34
3. Castillo, WPG – 31

PICK POOL

Only two people at .500 or better from last week: myself and Don T. High fives, my friend.

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

Enjoy the games, everyone.