As life on the East Coast moves slowly while on vacation once more, football continues to march forward unabated. We have been working through a very long to-do list of all the usual haunts to hit every time we come home to visit; my personal donair guy Wally, at Pronto’s Pizza in Wolfville, is doing very well. If you’re ever up this way, stop in to say hi. A great dude and quality food.

In league news this week:

• Montreal signed two veteran CFL DBs in Ciante Evans and Brandin Dandridge this week; Evans won the 2023 Grey Cup with Montreal and was also a two-time West Division All-Star and one-time CFL All-Star with Calgary. Dandridge has 40 career games with the Ottawa REDBLACKS and was a 2023 East Division All-Star. Both are Americans, but could help shore up their secondary even at this stage of their careers.
• Hamilton signed RB Kevin Brown; he’d been bouncing around the Argos roster a little bit this year, but after his second release, it looked like his time in Toronto had finally come to an end. He’ll be some useful depth behind workhorse back Greg Bell for the next little while.
• Toronto traded a conditional 8th-round pick in the 2026 CFL Draft for RB Spencer Brown, from Edmonton; he has yet to play a CFL game, but spent three years in the NFL as a UDFA, with Carolina. This is predominantly a depth move but his NFL experience ideally makes him versatile.

Onto the games!

WEEK 9 RECAPS

Calgary 11 vs. Ottawa 31: In what was as close as possible to being a must-win game for the REDBLACKS in the hopes of saving their season, they finally showed up in full force for this one. PJ Walker got his first career CFL start in place of injured Vernon Adams, Jr…. and he stunk, unfortunately, throwing three interceptions. Ottawa’s front seven also provided a ton of pressure, capping star rusher Dedrick Mills at just 11 yards on the game. Back healthy after a wicked headshot two weeks ago, Dru Brown looked sharp, throwing two TDs to Justin Hardy and hitting Geno Lewis five times for 110 yards. Alijah McGhee’s fourth-quarter pick-six of Walker added some insult to injury. The REDBLACKS have now swept the season series with the Stampeders.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Ottawa

Toronto 31 vs. Winnipeg 40: The Bombers got revenge for last week’s defeat on the road against Toronto; special teamer Trey Vaval had a monster game, with a touchdown off a kickoff return and another off a punt return. Winnipeg needed all the help they could get from their special teams unit, as Chris Streveler, starting in place of the injured Zach Collaros, did his team no favours by throwing three interceptions on the night, including a pick-six by Argos LB Cameron Judge. Toronto pushed back hard all game; Nick Arbuckle cracked 10,000 career passing yards and threw two TDs to Damonte Coxie, who had a career-best 187 yards on nine catches… but despite a concerted second-half push, the Argos couldn’t complete the comeback.

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Winnipeg

Hamilton 28 vs. Edmonton 24: That’s now six wins in a row for the Tiger-Cats – what an impressive feat. Bo Levi Mitchell continued his MOP-calibre season, with three more TD passes and 350 passing yards; for the Elks, RB Justin Rankin had 133 total yards, while QB Cody Fajardo had an overall effective game that featured him making 16 straight completions – a career high. This game had a lengthy lightning delay, throwing off the rhythm of both teams – but Edmonton, to their credit, stayed with the Tabbies for the entire game; they had a late 24-21 lead before Mitchell marched the Tiger-Cats one last time to find Tim White in the end zone for his second TD catch of the game to win it. Edmonton almost scored again to win it in the dying seconds, but WR Kaion Julien-Grant couldn’t hold onto the ball in the end zone on third down, sealing the deal for the visitors.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Hamilton

Saskatchewan 34 vs. Montreal 6: In another game with a lengthy lightning delay, the Als got their asses absolutely whooped at home. McLeod Bethel-Thompson had absolutely nothing going on all game long – Montreal’s offence looked entirely out of sync. Saskatchewan once again dominated all three phases of the game, with particular laurels to Dohnte Meyers, who had 136 receiving yards on the night, and Tommy Nield & KeeSean Johnson, who each caught a TD from Trevor Harris. That Riders’ receiver corps has been really, reallly good this year – great to see from a group that went into the season overall much less lauded than many other teams’ pass-catchers.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

BYE: BC (3-5)

WEEK 10 PREVIEWS

BC (3-5) vs. Hamilton (6-2), Thursday, August 7th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): The Lions are coming off their first bye of the season; before that bye, they lost a close one at home to the Ti-Cats. What continues to kill this team is their lack of ability to manage vertical routes effectively; the Tiger-Cats have so many receivers who just excel at those one-on-one matchups and it was a really effectively first-half game plan to jump out to a lead. The Lions can put up points, but they seem to often to do it from behind – better structure and strategy needed for first halves, in particular.

PICK: Hamilton

Edmonton (1-6) vs. Montreal (5-3), Friday, August 8th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): It hasn’t really mattered who’s started at QB thus far this year; the Elks just keep on losing. That to me suggests that quarterback play isn’t really this team’s issue; of note is that the run game hasn’t been as good as it was last year, and the defense has continued to massively underperform despite a huge amount of roster turnover, high-profile free agent signings, and coaching changes. What’s left? They’ve changed ownership, management, coaching, and the roster all in one offseason. What’s left to change? Montreal has looked quite rough without Davis Alexander. McLeod Bethel-Thompson clearly ain’t it. That’s a huge amount of scratch to pay for a backup with no foreseeable upside left.

PICK: Montreal

Ottawa (2-6) vs. Toronto (2-6), Saturday, August 9th, 3:00 PM EDT (TSN, CTV, CBSSN, CFL+): It’s a battle of the East’s basement. Ottawa played one of their best games of the season last week, while Toronto did look good at times in the second half but couldn’t be consistent, once again… The Argos beat the REDBLACKS 29-16 back in Week 4, when Dru Brown was sidelined for Ottawa; having their #1 QB back for this game is probably going to be really helpful. It also made a difference having starting centre Peter Godber back for Ottawa as well. Nick Arbuckle will continue to soldier on as QB with Chad Kelly’s return pushed back until after Labour Day.

PICK: Toronto

Winnipeg (4-3) vs. Calgary (5-3), Sunday, August 10th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): We’ve seen a Winnipeg team that might have its competitive window closing, due to age, injuries, and inconsistency, but last week’s win was a gutsy and much-needed one – the kind of win that can turn seasons around. Calgary may have Vernon Adams, Jr. back for this game, as well as Canadian receivers Jalen Philpot and Clark Barnes which would be a big plus for their offence; we might also get to see long-time Bomber LB Adam Bighill, a two-time Most Outstanding Defensive Player award winner, finally make his debut in red and white this week.

PICK: Calgary

BYE: Saskatchewan (7-1)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Mitchell, HAM – 2551
2. Arbuckle, TOR – 2334
3. Harris, SSK – 2183

Passing TDs

1. Mitchell, HAM – 18
2. Arbuckle, TOR – 13
3. Harris, SSK – 13

Rushing Yards

1. Butler, BC – 619
2. Ouellette, SSK – 564
3. Mills, CGY – 555

Receiving Yards

1. Coxie, TOR – 774
2. Lawler, HAM – 701
3. Hatcher, BC – 691

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, BC – 64
2. Judge, TOR – 51
3. Pickett, OTT – 49

Sacks

1. Chatfield, TOR – 6
2. Hutchings, CGY – 4
3. Casey, TOR  – 4

Interceptions

1. Greene, CGY – 4
2. Ento, MTL  – 3
3. McFadden, TOR – 3

Field Goals

1. Maltos, MTL – 25
2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 21
3. Ward, OTT – 20

PICK POOL

Cheers for BC Dick! Boos for Balls! A strange stratification of picks from this past week. Might we possibly see a gap starting to close??

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

Enjoy the games, everyone.