CFL Week Nine

Last week's results:

The only game I called correctly was the BC win over Saskatchewan.

Last week's record: 1-3.  Overall record: 16-12.

This week's games:

Thursday

Hamilton (3-4) at Montréal (4-3)

AC and a short-handed Montréal offence dismantled the Eskimos defence last week.  The Ti-Cats made the Bombers look like world-beaters, as they looked disorganised on defence (allowing 400+ yards in the air) and on offence.  How a 37-year-old veteran quarterback can fumble the ball 4 times (3 lost) in a game is quite simply beyond me.  Henry Burris is suffering those kind of lapses at this stage in his career?  I am baffled. With Richardson and Whittaker back, AC will be giving the Ti-Cat defence fits, a Ti-Cat defence which could not contain Joey Elliott.

Als by 12.

Friday

BC (5-2) at Winnipeg (2-5)

The Bombers looked good last week against the Ti-Cat, playing their best game of the year.  Joey Elliott finally gave the team some worthwhile production at QB (400+yards throwing), spreading the wealth amongst a very strong core of 5 receivers.  On the other side of the ball, Winnipeg is dressing its starting 12 on defence for the first time this year. and should be fired up.  The only problem?  They are playing the Lions.  Joey will have significantly more trouble moving the ball against a Lions defence that is just humming along right now, with no TDs allowed in their past three games.  Lulay and the offence is moving the ball well enough (3rd overall in net yards); however, a lot of drives seem to end up in field goals instead of majors.  With the way the D is playing, that is enough.

BC by 10.

Saturday

Calgary (3-4) at Saskatchewan (3-4)

The Roughriders have lost their last four.  Darien Durant has looked ineffective of late; he needs to prove whether he is a top-line CFL QB.  He has not looked like one this year.  After a big game in the season opener in Hamilton, even when the Green Riders were successful, he has looked like a very conservative QB, or, perhaps, like a QB who is not comfortable playing within the conservative offensive scheme that seems to have been implemented in Regina this year.  For the Stamps, Kevin Glenn really only has had one bad game (OK, and a really, really bad 3 minutes or so at the end of the Week 4 loss against the Als) since taking over the reigns from an injured Drew Tate, and that was during a Stamps victory over the Ti-Cats, where the bulk of the offence was generated by Jon Cornish.  That being said, the Stampeders have looked inconsistent all year.

Stamps by 3.

Monday

Edmonton (4-3) at Toronto (4-3)

Edmonton's defence was embarrassed against the Als last week.  It has to be too early in the season for fatigue to be setting in, even though they have spent a lot of time on the field, courtesy of an ineffective Eskimos offence.  Either the D has had a sudden loss of confidence, or last week was a one-shot deal, due to Anthony Calvillo being other-worldly, and it will bounce back to the form they showed in their first 6 games (e.g., hard hits, big plays, few points allowed).  As for the Esks offence, Cory Boyd and his 9 yards or no Cory Boyd and his 9 yards, it is still sputtering.  That Matt Nicholls has not taken any significant reps this year is unexplainable.  He may not be ready for the full-time job, but cannot be much worse than Jyles or Joseph.  While he should be getting some game time experience, maybe this would not be the right game for it, given how strong the Argo D has looked this year.

This should be low-scoring affair, with the Argos winning by 3.