CFL Beat: Week 15

It’s rematch week in the CFL, otherwise known as LaboUr Day Leftovers, at least if you ask me. With the NFL back in full swing, the league has decided to consolidate all four games into a Super Saturday of matchups, all going back-to-back all day long. If only there wasn’t this creature sleeping in the room next to me that was completely dependent on me for absolutely all of his waking needs at all times of day… my Saturday plans would otherwise be set. Nevertheless!

In league news this week:

• The Montreal Alouettes re-signed receiver Charleston Rambo, who was with the team in 2024 and 2025, but was a free agent as of this past off-season; his signing gives the team a great fourth option at wideout behind Tyson Philpot, Tyler Snead, and Cole Spieker.
• The Ottawa REDBLACKS released DL Habakkuk Baldonado earlier this week; hailing from Rome, Italy, he was the highest-paid global player in league history and a key portion of the Saskatchewan Roughriders Grey Cup win last season; sadly, results did not live up to expectations, as his $185,000 CAD netted just eight games played, with eight tackles (two for loss) and two sacks on the year.
• The CFL has a new mobile app available – something that league commissioner Stewart Johnston promised when he became commissioner of the league last year – and it’s available now on the App Store and Google Play Store. If you’re busy like me, but don’t have time to watch the games, it’s nice to have a more app-friendly connection to the league and to the game of Canadian football – I hope it’s better than the app that briefly existed a decade ago which was essentially just a re-skinner website wrapper. This one seems to be more robust overall which is nice to see.

Onto the games!

WEEK 14 RECAPS

BC 30 vs. Montreal 37: The Als improved to a league-best 10-2, taking down one of the hottest teams in the league thanks to a big third quarter where they put up 20 points. Rookie RB Liam Talbot scored his first-ever CFL touchdown to bring Montreal close, and then following a Jose Maltos Diaz field goal, DB Tyrice Beverette had a massive pick-six of Lions QB Nathan Rourke to give Montreal the lead, which they held for the rest of the game. The Lions’ win streak is snapped at five games, and at .500, the fight to make the playoffs is far from over in a tight West Division.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Montreal

Winnipeg 26 vs. Saskatchewan 32 (OT): Of course it took overtime to end yet another thrilling Labour Day Classic matchup between the CFL’s two fiercest rivals. The Bombers gave the Riders everything they could handle, sending the game to OT on a thrilling TD from Zach Collaros to Dorian Singer as time expired in the fourth quarter; in extra, Tommy Stevens scored his second short-yardage rush score of the game, but Saskatchewan couldn’t convert the two-pointer after the score, leaving it up to the defense to close it out, pinning the Bombers on third down and sending the home crowd happy.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Saskatchewan

Toronto 37 vs. Hamilton 22: The Argos took home the Labour Day victory with a strong performance from start to finish – while QB Tre Ford briefly got the lead for Hamilton in the second quarter, Toronto quickly righted the ship and ended up taking over in the second half of the game. With Ford later forced out with an injury, the Tiger-Cats’ offence somewhat sputtered under Harrison Frost, while the Argos made the most with their possessions. Sex Pest Chad Kelly had three passing TDs, while receiver Damonte Coxie hit the thousand yard mark for the first time in his career. The bright spot for Hamilton was Canadian receiver Kurleigh Gittens, Jr., who had two TD catches for his squad, though sadly not enough to turn the tide.

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Toronto

Edmonton 38 vs. Calgary 28: At the 12:15 mark of the fourth quarter, Rene Paredes kicked a 42-yard field goal to give Calgary a 28-14 lead over the Elks. It was all coming together so nicely for the home side… and then Edmonton woke up and took over. The Elks would go on to score three TDs and a field goal in the time remaining in the game and ended up stealing the game away – and it was, once again, star running back Justin Rankin that ended up sealing the deal for Edmonton with a massive 50-yard TD run that would prove to be the game-winning score. Talk about a memorably Labour Day Classic win for Edmonton, who’ve had a ton of trouble winning these rivalry games in the last fifteen years or so.

PICK: Edmonton

RESULT: Edmonton

BYE: Ottawa (0-11)

WEEK 15 PREVIEWS

Ottawa (0-11) vs. Toronto (6-6), Saturday, September 12th, 1:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Ottawa REDBLACKS last won a football game on September 5th, 2025. This means they’ve now gone a full calendar year between victories – something even the Edmonton Elks, at their lowest, couldn’t lay claim to achieving. What Ottawa is doing this year is redefining the definition of the word “suck”. It’s bamboozling. The way this team plays football – particularly in second halves – I see no reason why they shouldn’t chase immortality and go for a perfect 0-18. Believe me, not a single one of their opponents wants to be the team that gets beat by this group of sad-sacks. The Argos may only be .500, but they’re still a hell more of a cohesive group than whatever is going on with the current REDBLACKS.

PICK: Toronto

Saskatchewan (8-4) vs. Winnipeg (6-6), Saturday, September 12th, 4:00 PM EDT (TSN, CTV, Crave, CFL+): The Banjo Bowl has fortunately provided us with much of the same drama that Labour Day has given us over the last few years – this scheduled rematch is a fun way of keeping this fierce rivalry burning even stronger. The Riders will need to learn some lessons – particularly about learning how to play better fourth-quarter defense – if they want to avoid any future scares here; Saskatchewan can continue to leverage short-yardage stuff as they continue to weather the storm of receiver injuries. Winnipeg got lucky that both BC and Calgary also lost last week – while of course it hurts to lose to a rival, it would’ve been an extra blow if they’d lost further ground in the playoff race if the two closest teams in the division standings had leapfrogged them last week.

PICK: Saskatchewan

Calgary (5-7) vs. Edmonton (9-3), Saturday, September 12th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): After getting their souls crushed by the Elks, the name of the game for Calgary is to avoid their defence falling apart like it did last week. Sadly, the D – and specifically, finding ways to neutralize the run game – has been the team’s Achilles heel all season long. Despite the most points scored in the league, Calgary remains at the bottom of the table in the West due to the fact they blow so many key defensive series. Edmonton needs to continue to keep their excellent ground game going to just grind the Stamps into dust and hopefully sweep this home-and-home series.

PICK: Edmonton

Montreal (10-2) vs. BC (6-6), Saturday, September 12th, 10:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): In the final rematch game of the week, the Lions return home to take on the Alouettes once more. The third quarter last week was their undoing – Montreal’s good defensive pressure of Nathan Rourke managed to limit the damage, and as long as you have a pass game like they do, you can just keep slinging it downfield to paper over any other mistakes. Despite last week’s loss, BC was certainly in it, and while Montreal is still clearly the best team in the league here, one wonders if home field advantage might help to make things even closer than they were last week.

PICK: Montreal

BYE: Hamilton (4-9)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Kelly, TOR – 3642
2. Alexander, MTL – 3954
3. Harris, SSK – 3893

Passing TDs

1. Kelly, TOR – 27
2. Alexander, MTL – 25
3. Adams, Jr., CGY – 24

Rushing Yards

1. Oliveira, WPG – 984
2. Mills, CGY – 923
3. Rankin, EDM – 839

Receiving Yards

1. Philpot, MTL – 1414
2. Snead, MTL – 1158
3. Coxie, TOR – 1043

Defensive Tackles

1. Darkangelo, TOR – 80
2. Pickett, TOR – 77
3. Jones, WPG – 69

Sacks

1. Hicks, CGY – 9
2. Lemon, TOR – 8
3. Ossai, HAM – 7

Interceptions

1. Katsantonis, HAM – 5
2. Labrosse, CGY – 5
3. Ford, EDM – 5

Field Goals

1. Castillo, WPG – 40
2. Blanchard, EDM – 33
3. Whyte, BC – 29

PICK POOL

Four perfect weeks last week, making the beauty of a perfect week of picks a little bit more anticlimactic as a result, unfortunately.

Remember to submit your picks here! https://www.officepooljunkie.com/picks-pickem.php?Pool=NFA9D4OXO6C2U0A1

CFL FANTASY

In Week 14 matchups, my cherished Maestrottawa doubled up RoughRougesGTD by a score of 115-56. My thanks to Kurleigh Gittens, Jr. for an unexpectedly massive game. BC Dick’s Dead Horse tripled up Sacre Blew by a score of 100-31; you miiiight wanna check the posted depth charts next week, SB. Finally, O Spamada defeated Superfluous “U”s by a final score of 84-69; Spam’s Argos connection really did him some good in the win.

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Enjoy the games, everyone.