CFL Beat: Week 5

Boy howdy, is Canada ever a big country. I was reminded of this once again as we took the boy – now aged seven months – on his first cross-country road trip from southwestern Ontario for a wedding all the way to Nova Scotia for two months of family time. The Ottawa-NS drive is normally a one-day affair where my wife and I get up at 2:30 AM and crush it all in a day, arriving at suppertime… not so with a young child. The boy’s fine motor control and reflexes are not yet refined enough for him to take a shift at the wheel, which is incredibly disappointing. That said, he did extremely well. No vomits, little crying, and all poop was contained to mostly within the diaper and did not make it to the car seat. I believe that if we keep on this rigorous travel schedule he’ll be geared up for a career in sports media before he turns 10.

In league news this week:

• The CFL is reinstating receiver Ajou Ajou after he allegedly violated the league’s gender-based violence and discrimination policy; he was released by Saskatchewan last offseason not long after they won the Grey Cup. Apparently he made a lot of unwanted contact with a large number of women at a Grey Cup party, leading to the Riders to release him. While still required to serve a six-game suspension in addition to all the counselling and therapy sessions he’s been mandated as well, he will have to serve a six-game suspension before he can return to the field with the Calgary Stampeders, who signed him late Tuesday night.
• The BC Lions fired special teams coordinator Cory McDiarmid after a poor performance against the Calgary Stampeders last week, including conceding a large TD run on a missed field goal; no successor has been immediately named to the role just yet.

Onto the games!

WEEK 4 RECAPS

Edmonton 23 vs. Winnipeg 18: The Elks almost blew it, but recovered late after surrendering what had once been a 17-point lead to the Blue Bombers in the fourth quarter; star RB Brady Oliveira caught a TD pass from Zach Collaros to give Winnipeg its first lead of the game with time winding down. However, Edmonton managed to put together the winning score on the final drive of the game, with Cody Fajardo finding Austin Mack for two big completions and then hitting TJ Luther in the end zone with the TD catch. Edmonton starts 3-0 for the first time since 2017, while the Bombers fall to 1-2.

PICK: Edmonton

RESULT: Edmonton

Toronto 40 vs. Saskatchewan 34: Well, Sex Pest Chad Kelly may be of questionable moral character, but no doubt he’s been the upgrade at QB that the Argos were missing from his absence all last season. With 321 passing yards, a rushing score, and two TDs to rookie receiver Tyler Kahmann, the Argos walked out of Mosaic with a road win – no easy feat to muster against the defending Grey Cup champs. Saskatchewan had a slow start, including conceding a punt return TD to talented Toronto return man Janarion Grant, but battled back to make it a close game from the second quarter onwards. Toronto was up late, though Saskatchewan scored to make it 33-31 Argos with less than ten to play; ultimately, the Argos forced a fumble and Kahmann scored his second TD of the game on the ensuing possession, icing it for the visitors.

PICK: Saskatchewan

RESULT: Toronto

Calgary 41 vs. BC 33: The Lions fall to 0-3 and are looking in freefall early in the season. In a game staged at Kelowna, BC’s Apple Bowl due to the World Cup impacting BC Place’s availability in Vancouver, the Stampeders picked up their first win of the year in a back-and-forth contest. BC had a 14-10 lead at one point in the first half, but thanks to a strong Calgary defence that racked up four sacks on Nathan Rourke and a great game from QB Vernon Adams and RB Dedrick Mills, the Stamps were able to weather the storm and the pass-heavy Lions offence. In the loss, Nathan Rourke still threw for 462 yards and three scores, but the Stamps just had more going on, including a huge 90-yard return TD from Tyreik McAllister that blew the game open in the fourth quarter.

PICK: BC

RESULT: Calgary

Ottawa 35 vs. Montreal 37: The REDBLACKS had another loss and another bad first half, but the second half of the game gave fans hope that perhaps maybe there might finally be some light coming at the end of the tunnel. The Alouettes led 21-6 at halftime and Davis Alexander threw for over 300 yards for the fourth straight game this season, but Ottawa and Jake Maier ended up showing some offensive life and making a game of it down the stretch. Jake Maier had three TD passes to Alexander’s two, though backup Dustin Crum added two short-yardage scores for the Als as well. Kalil Pimpleton made it interesting late with an explosive 94-yard kick return TD late in the game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit. Two missed converts by Brett Lauther loom large from this one… who knows what happens if he’d made them…

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Montreal

BYE: Hamilton (2-1)

WEEK 5 PREVIEWS

Toronto (2-1) vs. Calgary (1-2), Thursday, July 2nd, 9:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): The Argos’ offence has really been very good – if a bit pass-heavy thus far. But you can’t really fault it working at this point. Sex Pest Chad Kelly is going up against a really strong Stamps’ pass rush that mustered four sacks last week – and while he can certainly move the ball down the field well, it has also meant a pretty darn high turnover rate thus far as well – shades of another fellow sex pest in BRITTFARR. It will be curious to see how the Double Blue can weather the storm while out on the road once again this week.

PICK: Calgary

Saskatchewan (2-1) vs. Ottawa (0-3), Friday, July 3rd, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Roughriders come into the nation’s capital licking their wounds, having suffered their first loss since October 2025 last week against the Argos. The REDBLACKS are still looking for their first win of the season, and despite their improved offensive play in the second half of last week’s game against Montreal, I still don’t like their odds against the defending Grey Cup champs – even as the home team. Saskatchewan had a few receivers miss practise earlier in the week which could potentially effect things, but overall I like the Green & White’s odds. Head coach Corey Mace is a former Ryan Dinwiddie coordinator and knows his schemes and tricks well, which always matters.

PICK: Saskatchewan

Edmonton (3-0) vs. BC (0-3), Saturday, July 4th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Elks are absolutely red-hot right now. Even on the road, I like what this team has put together – the defence hasn’t been perfect but has definitely been good enough, and Justin Rankin is the first RB since Korey Sheets to put together three straight 100+ rush yard games – which Sheets managed in 2013. I don’t know if the Leos have the horses on defence to stop the Edmonton run game – so they may call on Nathan Rourke to engage in a gunfight. Hopefully he has more receivers back to make his life easier this week, and hopefully get BC into the win column for the first time since 2026.

PICK: Edmonton

Winnipeg (1-2) vs. Hamilton (2-1), Sunday, July 5th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CBSSN, CFL+):  A rested team coming off a bye week, at home against an aging and underwhelming side on a regular week of prep? Yes, I like the Ti-Cats’ odds here. Bo Levi Mitchell remains the heartbeat of this Hamilton team – and he has really made me eat my words after some underwhelming 2023 and 2024 seasons. The Bombers need to figure out how to get the pass game going more – it’s not just a case of Zach Collaros not getting good blocking – a number of receivers need to focus more on getting open as well.

PICK: Hamilton

BYE: Montreal (3-1)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Alexander, MTL – 1478
2. Kelly, TOR – 1190
3. Harris, TOR – 1175

Passing TDs

1. Kelly, TOR – 9
2. Mitchell, HAM – 8
3. Harris, SSK – 8

Rushing Yards

1. Rankin, EDM – 387
2. Mills, CGY – 273
3. Oliveira, WPG– 222

Receiving Yards

1. Philpot, MTL – 587
2. Schaffer-Baker, SSK – 384
3. Snead, MTL – 384

Defensive Tackles

1. Morgan, OTT – 26
2. Cantin-Arku, MTL – 23
3. Brooks, Jr., SSK – 22

Sacks

1. Ceresna, WPG – 3
2. Hicks, CGY – 3
3. Johnson, MTL – 2

Interceptions

1. Katsantonis, HAM – 2
2. Hutter, OTT – 2
3. Sutton, MTL – 1

Field Goals

1. Maltos Diaz, MTL – 12
2. Lauther, OTT – 10
3. Hajrullahu, TOR – 10

PICK POOL

No perfect weeks this past week. This is good. Lots of time to see leapfrogging happen and also to see if any future trends start to settle in…

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

CFL FANTASY

In Week 4 matchups, my elite Maestrottawa side defeated RoughrougesGTD by a score of  68-47. Apparently both of us forgot to tweak our lineups heading into last week…

In the week’s second head-to-head, BC Dick’s Dead Horse took down Sacre Blew by a score of 98-34 to give themselves some breathing room atop the lead standings. Getting pretty crowded in that fight for second place…

Finally, in the third matchup of the week, Superfluous “U”s took a tight matchup against O Spamada by a final score of 112-104. With three teams in the mushy middle and so much season left to play, the time is nigh for someone to make the next big jump…

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Enjoy the games, everyone.