I may be heading out on vacation in two days’ time, but the CFL never sleeps. I look forward to bringing you further news of Canadian football even as I gallivant across Atlantic Canada once more, as I do each and every summer. Football waits for nobody.

In league news this week:

• The Edmonton Elks released 11 total players last week, including starting receivers Mike Jones (scooped up by Hamilton) and Caleb Holley, RB Jamel Lyles, DB Jaewon Taylor, and K Matt Mengel. They also signed a number of new replacements, including Canadian DB Jamie Harry, who’ll join the active roster. Chris Jones continues to tinker like a mad scientist with this team, so if you can’t keep track of names and numbers, you won’t be alone.
• Following their disappointing loss to BC this week, Saskatchewan released LBs Keishawn Berria and Jared Beeskma, WR Dieuly Aristilde Jr., and DL Alain Cimankanda. While not major names for the Roughriders, I do suspect further changes on the horizon as the team goes through their first bye week of the year.
• Calgary released starting DB Raheem Wilson, who’d been with the club since his rookie season in 2019; meanwhile, HC Dave Dickenson has COVID, and has missed numerous practises this week; it’s unclear if he’ll be able to join the Stampeders in Ottawa for Friday’s game against the REDBLACKS.
• The Montreal Alouettes signed highly-touted Canadian OL Pier-Olivier Lestage, who spent the 2021 season in the NFL as a member of the Seattle Seahawks. As a member of the Université de Montréal Carabins, where he was coached by current Alouettes HC/GM Danny Maciocia, Lestage was named to the RSEQ (Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec)’s first team and second team All-Canadian linemen in the 2019 season. As a national player, he has potential to be a really useful addition for the Alouettes due to freeing up additional roster spots that could field American talent.
• Montreal also moved QB Vernon Adams, Jr. to the six-game injured list; he’s currently dealing with tendinitis in his throwing elbow, which is possibly the main reason that’s prevented him from seeing the field much this year – but certainly not the whole picture.

Onto the games!

WEEK 8 RECAPS

Montreal 17 vs. Hamilton 24: After the Alouettes scored 11 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, they were within striking distance of tying the game up on their final drive; fortunately for the home side, DB Kameron Kelly came up with a massive pick off of Montreal QB Dominique Davis, who was forced to throw due to starter Trevor Harris getting yanked by the league’s concussion spotters before the final play. It was a much-needed win for the home team, who are now tied for second place in the East Division with these same Alouettes; moreover, it was one of Dane Evans’ best games of the year, as he didn’t turn over the ball once. Steven Dunbar paced Hamilton’s receivers with 5 catches for 102 yards and a TD grab, while Montreal’s Geno Lewis had a giant night with 8 catches on 15 targets for 154 yards.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Hamilton

BC 32 vs. Saskatchewan 17: The Lions were down 17-4 midway through the second quarter… and then they woke up. From there on out, BC scored 28 unanswered points to close out the rest of the game in dominant fashion, with Nathan Rourke proving once again why he’s the leading candidate for both Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian in league awards this year. The second-year QB went 27-33 for 336 yards and two TDs through the air, and added 8 rush attempts for 20 yards and a rush score as well. Cody Fajardo, in contrast, was held to just 168 yards passing on the night, with one TD to Tevlin Jones and one interception as well – his knee is in bad shape right now, and the entire league knows it. As the Roughriders drop to just .500 on the year after a hot start, this bye week comes at a really opportune time for the team to make some significant changes.

PICK: BC

RESULT: BC

Winnipeg 35 vs. Calgary 28: If there’s a way to beat the Blue Bombers, we’re not going to find out for a little while longer. The Blue & Gold have won five straight road games for the first time since 1960, and both sides traded offensive blows all game long. Stamps RB Ka’Deem Carey had an excellent night, with 14 carries for 92 yards and two rushing scores, while kicker Rene Paredes was a perfect 5-5. As good as Calgary’s offence looked (or, at least as good as possible with the caveat of no pass TDs), the Bombers were even better. Zach Collaros played the role of Terminator once more, going 22-30 for 270 yards and four TDs, with receivers Dalton Schoen and Nic Demski (recently returned from injury) catching two majors each. Winnipeg’s strong fourth quarter put the game out of reach, with Schoen’s game-winning grab coming with just over four and a half minutes left on the clock.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Ottawa 23 vs. Toronto 13: We officially have no winless teams left in the CFL! The visiting REDBLACKS played a strong road game to take down the Argos – something they haven’t had much success in doing over the last three years, especially at BMO Field. Caleb Evans has looked much, much better as a QB this year – and this game might have been his best yet in the CFL. Evans found Jaelon Acklin seven times for 144 yards and a TD, which was a nice 30-yard grab to tie the game at the end of the first half. The REDBLACKS then completely shut down Toronto in the final two frames – both teams showed numerous strong defensive looks, but the Argos just couldn’t generate anything at all on offence. Ottawa got a final fourth-quarter touchdown, grabbed by Nate Behar, off of an objectionable conduct penalty called on star Argos LB Wynton McManis, which put the REDBLACKS just seven yards out from the goal line and set up the ensuing strike. Toronto drops to 3-3 on the season, but still maintains the East Division lead. For now.

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Ottawa

BYE: Edmonton (2-5)

WEEK 9 PREVIEWS

Winnipeg (8-0) vs. Montreal (2-5), Thursday, August 4th, 7:30 EDT (TSN, ESPN+): Montreal’s offence looked fairly anemic last week – a wildly different showing from their big 40-point effort over Ottawa in Week 7. Even with Winnipeg likely feeling tired, I still don’t like the Als’ chances of a win in this game. Montreal only took three penalties last week against Hamilton – only one, a DPI call, was fairly costly, setting up a Don Jackson rush TD shortly afterwards – but against a team like Winnipeg, who apparently has no weaknesses thus far, discipline is everything. That’s been Danny Maciocia’s messaging since he picked up a headset again – I am not seeing it completely translated on field just yet. Further puzzling to me is what to make of their QB situation; in a matchup where Zach Collaros has proven to be really effective at hitting on those deep balls, why on earth wouldn’t you want a guy like Vernon Adams, Jr., who’s able to improvise much more effectively on the field, out there challenging the Bombers’ D with some unorthodox looks? I continue to feel Montreal is badly mismanaging their QB situation – you don’t let a big-money guy like Adams ride the bench for seemingly no reason. A trade must be coming soon – there’s just no other explanation for it.

PICK: Winnipeg

Calgary (4-2) vs. Ottawa (1-6), Friday, August 5th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN+): The REDBLACKS are finally on the board, but they’ll have a tough test if they want to keep pace with Hamilton and Montreal, despite their division rivals being just a single game up on them. The Stampeders did their best last week to slug it out with Winnipeg, but couldn’t get the job done for the second time this season. This puts them in similar company with Ottawa, who faced a similar experience to launch their 2022 campaign; Ka’Deem Carey is a force to be reckoned with out there, and his performance against the league’s best run D was no doubt impressive, but the REDBLACKS did a good job last week of neutralizing Toronto’s Andrew Harris. I look forward to seeing that matchup – and I’m intrigued to see what they can do with their offence to be a little bit more free-wheeling and a little less conservative than in last week’s game. Seven scoring drives is good – two TDs is not nearly as good.

PICK: Calgary

Hamilton (2-5) vs. Toronto (3-3), Saturday, August 6th, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN2): It’s the first Battle of the Queen Elizabeth Way in 2022, as we set the stage for four meetings in five weeks between these two-arch rivals. Weird scheduling aside, we should be getting excited for the bad blood to flow here – the last time Toronto and Hamilton met, in the 2021 East Final, several Argos were suspended for fighting fans in the stands, and the Argos’ VP of football ops got shitcanned over the incident. It’s true that these two teams have never liked each other, but tensions are at an all-time high right now; I am really excited to see what kind of shenanigans they get up to over the next month. Only in the CFL would you play the same division rival so many times in such short order – I hope both teams bring the thunder.

PICK: Toronto

Edmonton (2-5) vs. BC (5-1), Saturday, August 6th, 10:00 PM EDT (TSN, ESPN2): The Lions are a firewagon. and they might possible get Bryan Burnham back this week to catch balls after several weeks away from a rib injury. The Elks are… a bunch of guys, judging by their recent roster turnover. Despite the losses and personnel turmoil, I do think they’re slowly trending in the right direction. Just about any result this week would be preferable to BC hanging 59 points on them again; I’m not sure we’ll see as lopsided a score as we saw back in Week 1, but I do think BC just needs to keep things steady and flowing as they’ve done over the last few weeks to pull out another win and to pad their lead on second place in the West. Who’s going to start at QB for the Elks? Who’s going to even be on the roster? No idea. But one has to believe Chris Jones has a plan amidst all this chaos.

PICK: BC

BYE: Saskatchewan (4-4)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards 

1. Collaros, WPG – 1994
2. Rourke, BC – 1941
3. Evans, HAM – 1926

Passing TDs

1. Rourke, BC – 16
2. Collaros, WPG – 15
3. Evans, HAM – 9

Rushing Yards

1. Morrow, SSK – 484
2. Carey, CGY – 471
3. Harris, TOR – 424

Receiving Yards

1. Acklin, OTT – 687
2. Lewis, MTL – 619
3. Schoen, WPG – 583

Sacks

1. Robertson, SSK – 7
2. Mauldin, OTT – 7
3. Howsare, HAM – 5

Interceptions

1. Marshall, SSK – 3
2. Peters, BC – 3
3. Taylor, WPG – 3

Field Goals

1. Lauther, SSK – 22
2. Paredes, CGY – 21
3. Ward, OTT – 19

PICK POOL

A great week for Balls. A bad week for WCS. Some more mediocrity for the rest of us. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are somehow meddling in this pool’s outcomes.

Remember to submit your picks here! https://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=205786

Enjoy the games, everyone.