It was a big week for signings and trades in the CFL; with the league’s Oct. 27th trade deadline creeping ever closer, I would imagine we might see a few more transactions shortly after this weekend’s slate of games. More importantly, we’re back to a more regular schedule of four games per weekend… the normalcy is welcomed, at least on my end.

In league news this week:

• The Edmonton Elks traded their franchise QB, Trevor Harris, to the Montreal Alouettes this week. Edmonton will be going through another rebuild during this offseason, and with Harris gone, the stage is set for some significant changes. In return, Edmonton received DE Antonio Simmons, who at age 25 is starting to round into form (52 tackles, 5 sacks and a forced fumble in 23 career CFL games to date). It’s too bad that Harris never completely clicked in Edmonton – he had a really hot start to his 2019 season before injury shelved him for several weeks and kept him out of the MOP conversation; this year, coaching and playcalling has been incredibly dysfunctional and caused the entire team to be a trash fire.
• DB Tre Roberson, who spent 2020 with the NFL’s Chicago Bears, is headed back to Calgary. Roberson was an All-Star in 2019 with the Stampeders, and were it not for a foot injury last season, likely could have made waves with the Bears. His return to Cowtown is a huge boost for the playoff stretch drive as the Stampeders continue to surge up the standings in the West Division.
• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers took a couple big steps this week to fix their kicking problems – their only real weakness as a team. With rookie Ali Mourtada performing inconsistently since mid-September, the team brought in Sergio Castillo, who spent 2020 with the NFL’s New York Jets, and Gabriel Ferraro, a Canadian who last kicked for the Roughriders in 2019. I would expect Castillo to win the job, but some depth is always an asset.
• The Bombers also signed former Lions RB Shaq Cooper, who was released earlier this week, as well as CB Winston Rose. Both of these are smart signings, but Rose, in particular, is a big get for the Bombers; he was a CFL All-Star with Winnipeg in 2019 before spending last season and the first part of 2021 on the Cincinnati Bengals’ practise roster.
• The Ottawa REDBLACKS signed QB Tom Flacco (yes, he’s Joe’s brother), and he’ll join practise once he’s completed his isolation period. Flacco spent the 2021 training camp with Saskatchewan and was one of the last cuts to the team; with Ottawa’s Taryn Christion now on injured reserve with a knee/leg injury, expect Flacco to eventually slot in as the #3 behind Caleb Evans and Devlin Hodges.
• With the playoffs only a few weeks away, the CFL made some revisions to the league’s COVID protocols; one of the biggest changes will be that unvaccinated players will be unable to participate in any playoff or Grey Cup games taking place. This is partly due to the Canadian federal government mandating that all passengers as of November 30th will be required to be fully vaccinated in order to take planes or trains to games, which rules out a small but significant number of most team’s rosters.

Onto the games!

WEEK 11 RECAPS

Winnipeg 26 vs. Edmonton 16: Another week, another win for Winnipeg. The Bombers clinched a playoff spot with the victory over the Elks, though they had to work a little harder to get this one compared to last week’s win. With the score knotted at 16 entering the fourth quarter, the Bombers put up a TD (from Zach Collaros to Rasheed Bailey) and an Ali Mourtada field goal to put them ahead. The Blue Bombers’ D continued an unbelievably hot streak of not giving up a fourth-quarter touchdown in any game this year; they also racked up four more sacks on Edmonton’s QB tandem of Taylor Cornelius and Dakota Prukop, who will split reps for the rest of Edmonton’s season.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Montreal 27 vs. Ottawa 16: The REDBLACKS gave up ten sacks. TEN. Just an absolutely abysmal performance by the O-line, who clearly need to be completely revamped in the offseason. Ottawa was hanging around in this game after the first quarter was done, trailing 12-10, but completely fell apart in the second quarter. Caleb Evans was picked off three times, and the REDBLACKS lost Taryn Christion to a broken fibula as well. Return ace DeVonte Dedmon also had to be helped off the field, and did not play in the second half. Even with the driving wind and rain, the Als’ Matthew Shiltz had a solid performance starting at QB for the first time since Week 16 of 2019; he went 21-34 for 281 yards passing, 1 TD (to Jake Wieneke) and 1 interception; he also rushed 4 times for 22 yards and a major.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Montreal

Calgary 39 vs. BC 10: Watch out, world… the Stamps are back. With their third straight win, Calgary leapfrogged over BC for the third spot in the West, evening their record to .500 on the season. Rene Paredes, Calgary’s star kicker, went 6-6 on field goals, while Bo Levi Mitchell had a touchdown to go along with 270 pass yards on 22-32 attempts. The Stampeders’ kick returner, Roc Thomas, also ran the second-half kickoff back 101 yards for a touchdown in extremely impressive fashion. For BC, who have now lost three straight games, all at home, now might be the time to start panicking. Their offence, save for their second drive of the game that ended in a goal-line TD by backup QB Nathan Rourke, was mostly shut down for the entire night; Michael Reilly was picked off twice, including a fourth-quarter pick-six that Calgary DB Jonathan Moxey ran back 53 yards to run up the score even further.

PICK: BC

RESULT: Calgary

BYE: Toronto (6-3), Saskatchewan (5-4), Hamilton (4-5)

WEEK 12 PREVIEWS

Toronto (6-3) vs. Montreal (5-4), Friday, October 22nd, 7:30 PM EST (TSN, ESPN+): Even with Montreal making a big splash by trading for Trevor Harris, don’t expect to see him starting just yet. There’s going to be a bit of an acclimatization period for him, but regardless, Montreal’s intent is clear… they’re going all-in for this season. The Argos jump into this one rested, coming off a bye week, and with McLeod Bethel-Thompson sporting a 4-1 record as their starter this season, compared to Nick Arbuckle’s 2-2, it appears as though the younger Arbuckle may be on the trade block before the deadline. The only other thing I am hoping for, although it’s unlikely to happen, is a late-season resurgence from Toronto’s veteran pass-rusher Charleston Hughes; that said, he’s clearly been surpassed on the depth chart by both Shawn Oakman and Shane Ray, and as storied a career as he’s had in this league, it appears to be coming to a rather quiet conclusion.

PICK: Toronto

Ottawa (2-8) vs. Hamilton (4-5), Saturday, October 23rd, 4:00 PM EST (TSN, ESPN+): REDBLACKS fans might potentially have the chance to see Devlin “Duck” Hodges in action for the first time this week, as he’ll dress as the backup for this game with Taryn Christion being placed on injured reserve. If Caleb Evans continues to throw interceptions as if handing out holiday greeting cards, Ottawa might try and take a longer look at Hodges very soon. For Hamilton, who have lost two consecutive games on final play field goals, there’s got to be a sense of renewed optimism considering how handily they’ve beaten the REDBLACKS in their two previous matchups this season. The Ti-Cats have been historically good at home; the last few weeks have certainly been an anomaly when looking at their recent results.

PICK: Hamilton

BC (4-5) vs. Winnipeg (9-1), Saturday, October 23rd, 7:00 PM EST (TSN, ESPN+): Losing three in a row at home and then having to go to Winnipeg to face the league’s best team? Ouch. The Lions are going to be in tough for this one. Winnipeg’s ferocious D have abused every quarterback they’ve faced this season, so don’t expect Michael Reilly to get a pass here. The Lions have dealt with some issues on offence, such as top receiver Lucky Whitehead breaking his fingers, but they’ve also made some perplexing roster decisions that haven’t appeared to have helped much either, such as releasing starting RB Shaq Cooper. BC appears to be far too passive as of recent; if they don’t right the ship soon, they’re at risk of missing the playoffs entirely.

PICK: Winnipeg

Saskatchewan (5-4) vs. Calgary (5-5), Saturday, October 23rd, 9:45 PM EST (TSN, ESPN+): I am extremely excited for this game. The Roughriders and Stampeders match up well on paper; winner of this game gets the second seed in the West. Saskatchewan has been inconsistent after a strong start to the season, while Calgary’s won three in a row and looks red hot right now. With some defensive reinforcements soon to be added down the stretch drive, you can never, ever count the Stamps out. I look forward to seeing how the Riders’ O-line will rebound, hopefully, for this game to give Cody Fajardo the time and space he’s spent several weeks complaining about thus far. Getting Duke Williams on the field will be a big boost, as well as getting Shaq Evans back from a broken foot he suffered in mid-August.

PICK: Calgary

BYE: Edmonton (2-7)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Collaros, WPG – 2565
2. Reilly, BC – 2192
3. Fajardo, SSK – 2104

Passing TDs

1. Collaros, WPG – 15
2. Adams, Jr., MTL – 14
3. Reilly, BC – 10

Rushing Yards

1. Stanback, MTL – 677
2. Wilder, EDM – 675
3. Harris, WPG – 623

Receiving Yards

1. Lawler, WPG – 785
2. Wieneke, MTL – 705
3. Whitehead, BC – 665

Sacks

1. Jefferson, WPG – 7
2. Jeffcoat, WPG – 7
3. Woodard, SSK – 7

Interceptions

1. Marshall, SSK – 3
2. Lokombo, BC – 3
3. Gainey, SSK – 3

Field Goals

1. Paredes, CGY – 35
2. Lauther, SSK – 27
3. Ward, OTT – 24

PICK POOL

WCS was the only person to score perfectly this week. I’m launching an investigation.

Remember to submit your picks here! https://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=193216

Enjoy the games, everyone.