School is finally out for me, and we’re heading into a long weekend with a short ticket of CFL action this week. Just three games coming up on this weekend’s calendar, but no shortage of drama to recap from a few days prior. Let’s go!

In league news this week:

• Calgary WR Malik Henry is done for the year after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in last week’s game against the Roughriders – that’s a significant loss for the team, as he’s emerged through last year as their true #1 guy.
• REDBLACKS’ star return man DeVonte Dedmon is also done for the year, having injured his shoulder in practise during Ottawa’s bye week last week. That’s another unfortunate loss for the team, though they’re lucky to have DB Brandon Dandridge, who’s gradually emerging as another very solid returner.
• Winnipeg is bringing back QB Dakota Prukop and releasing Tyrrell Pigrome; Prukop spent time with Winnipeg last year, rushing for six majors and throwing for two more, plus scoring an additional 3 TDs in the playoffs, before departing to play in the USFL with the New Jersey Generals earlier this spring. That’s a nice little upgrade in their backup slot, in my personal opinion.
• Edmonton is releasing QB Kai Locksley and bringing back Khalil Tate – apparently Locksley was upset at being passed over for rookie Jarret Doege last week when starter Taylor Cornelius got yanked, so he was cut quickly after the game. Tate had a cup of coffee in Edmonton last year and spent training camp with the team before being cut – he’s not likely to start, considering the crowded QB room with Cornelius, Doege, and Canadian Tre Ford – but depth is an asset.
• Edmonton is adding one of their all-time great receivers, Terry Vaughn, to the team’s Wall of HonoUr; Vaughn spent six years in Edmonton during his 12-season CFL career; he was the first player in league history to record 1000 receptions in a career, recorded 11 1000-yard seasons (including six straight between 1999-2004, and he won the Grey Cup twice – once with Calgary in 1998 and again with Edmonton in 2004. He was named to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2011 – and he becomes the 42nd player honoured by the Edmonton franchise with a place on the wall at Commonwealth Stadium.
• Winnipeg is adding longtime kicker Justin Medlock to the Bombers Hall of Fame; he’s one of the best kickers the league has ever seen. In four seasons in Winnipeg as part of a nine-year career, he was the team’s Most Outstanding special teams player three straight years running between 2016-18, holds the best field goal percentage of all time at 85.5%, and is Winnipeg’s fourth-highest all-time point scorer with 890 total points.

Onto the games!

WEEK 3 RECAPS

BC 30 vs. Winnipeg 6: It’s been years since the Blue Bombers got blown out. What makes it all the more surprising is that this beatdown happened at home, where Winnipeg have been so good over the last few years. It was a truly impressive defensive performance from the Lions, keeping Zach Collaros from any TDs, and sacking him seven times (three from Matthieu Betts), thoroughly neutralizing the league’s best offense. The Lions also had an excellent offensive night even missing two elite receivers in Dominique Rhymes and Keon Hatcher; Alex Hollins had eight grabs for 84 yards and a TD while Lucky Whitehead had 5 for 75. To put how impressive this was: the Lions are the first West Division team to win at IG Field since 2018. To do it in such dominant fashion is absolutely amazing.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: BC

Montreal 38 vs. Hamilton 12: Boy, has it been a bad star to the year for Hamilton. They got booed off the field in their home opener, havnig been thoroughly bested by the visiting Alouettes. Matt Shiltz, starting in place of Bo Levi Mitchell (who’s now on the six-game injured list), threw for 345 yards but two interceptions and no scores, including a backbreaking pick-six by Als DB Wes Sutton in the fourth quarter. This was a complete team win for Montreal – on offence, Cody Fajardo threw two TDs to excellent rookie receiver Austin Mack and ran for another, while return man Chandler Worthy also scored a major on a 77-yard punt return. Tim White and Duke Williams were the only real bright spots for Hamilton, with each finishing with 100+ yards receiving – but man, the Ti-Cats are in tough this year. Something’s going to need to change, and fast.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Montreal

Saskatchewan 29 vs. Calgary 26 (OT): The Riders had to grind out another win, but they got the job at the end of the day. Calgary was down 10 late in the game and fought back to tie it up, even stoppping Saskatchewan on a key third and short before Rene Paredes kicked a field goal to send the game to extra time. Alas, the comeback wasn’t to be for the Stamps, who fall to 1-2 on the year. Saskatchewan figured out how to get the run game going for the first time in quite some time, with Jamal Morrow getting a heavy workload with 22 carries for 133 yards on the night. Calgary was fortunate to claw their way back into the game despite Jake Maier having another tough night under centre – the Stamps new QB threw three picks on the night, including one in overtime to the Riders’ Larry Dean, who snagged it in the endzone to close out the game following a Brett Lauther field goal on their earlier possession. A tough break for the home side indeed.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Saskatchewan

Toronto 43 vs. Edmonton 31: The home losing streak now stands at 19 consecutive games for the Elks. They were always going to be in tough against this excellent Toronto D, but some other cracks are showing now. Turns out that HC/GM Chris Jones is actually on a series of consecuive one-year contracts, rather than a continuous four-year deal, and his reputation as a defensive guru might be very fairly called into question, considering last year’s tough rebuilding year and the difficult start to this season… If the team is going to make changes, they at least have some flexibility with their football ops salary cap in the years to come. They might have to soon. Fans are absolutely fed up with the organization. The Argos had another excellent defensive outing, racking up six sacks and two interceptions, including a pick-six, while RB AJ Ouellette scored three TDs on the ground. The Elks had a great game from return man CJ Sims, who had 285 combined yards, and backup QB Jarrett Doege had two TDs in garbage time to make the final score appear a little more respectable for the home side.

PICK: Toronto

RESULT: Toronto

BYE: Ottawa (0-2)

WEEK 4 PREVIEWS

Edmonton (0-3) vs. Ottawa (0-2), Friday, June 30th, 7:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): QB controversies abound. With Jeremiah Masoli still not ready to go, Tyrie Adams will get his first start with the Ottawa REDBLACKS – which I am totally on board with, as Nick Arbuckle is clearly not the answer for this team’s difficult start to the year. It’s not exactly clear who the Elks will start under centre, though – after yanking Taylor Cornelius last week and after Jarrett Doege getting some notable practise snaps with first-team offense this week, Chris Jones remains noncommital. The league’s two worst home teams need something to change their fortunes… because both have had a terrible beginning. Truly hard to get much worse than what we’ve seen thus far from them.

PICK: Ottawa

Winnipeg (2-1) vs. Montreal (2-0), Saturday, July 1st, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): Winnipeg will lick their wounds after last week’s mauling and will likely be very well prepared to deal with Montreal this week. While the Als did hand them a surprising home loss last year, the Bombers have assumed the mantle as one of the league’s premier teams over the past few years due to their ability to dust themselves off and keep going after facing adversity. Still no word on Kenny Lawler’s status for Winnipeg, but they still have the best offense in the league even after their virtual no-show last week. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Als’ start to the year, but we’ll see what this team is really made of now that they’re not squaring off against lowly rivals Ottawa and Hamilton.

PICK: Winnipeg

BC (3-0) vs. Toronto (2-0), Monday, July 3rd, 7:00 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The league’s two last undefeated teams will face each other to cap off a short schedule; Toronto has played very well to start the year, but the Lions are truly on another level this season. I really thought that without Nathan Rourke we’d see the team regress as a whole, but in their three games to date, their D has more than made up for the reduction in presumed offensive star power. If Dominique Rhymes and Keon Hatcher are back for Monday that will just be the cherry on top for this team. After last week’s showing against Winnipeg, BC clearly has the potential to go up against just about anyone and presumably shut them down. Most impressive, besides their incredible pass-rushing ability, was the way they shut the door on the ground game; for a team like the Argos, who have shown some success at running the ball this year, that’s going to be a realy wrinkle for their game planning.

PICK: BC

BYE: Calgary (1-2), Hamilton (0-3), Saskatchewan (2-1)

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. Harris, SSK – 867
2. Adams, Jr., BC – 861
3. Collaros, WPG – 838

Passing TDs

1. Harris, SSK – 5
2. Adams, Jr., BC – 5
3. Collaros, WPG – 5

Rushing Yards

1. Morrow, SSK – 233
2. Mizzell, BC – 224
3. Oliveira, WPG – 207

Receiving Yards

1. Williams, HAM – 260
2. White, HAM – 258
3. Bane, SSK – 245

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, CGY – 27
2. Dean, SSK – 23
3. Lokombo, MTL – 21

Sacks

1. Betts, BC – 5
2. Haba, WPG – 3
3. Coleman, OTT – 3

Interceptions

1. Evans, MTL – 3
2. Houston, WPG – 2
3. Judge, CGY – 2

Field Goals

1. Whyte, BC – 9
2. Lauther, SSK – 8
3. Paredes, CGY – 8

PICK POOL

That Bombers game got a lot of us. I’m truly shocked. Not a perfect score in sight from this previous week…

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Enjoy the games, everyone.