Week 8 certainly ended with a bang after the Tiger-Cats scored 14 points in the final three minutes to come back to beat the Lions and extend Hamilton’s winning streak to five games.
The hottest team in the CFL will now have to do a double Western swing. After a stop in Vancouver, the Ticats are now off to Edmonton.
The game also featured the CFL play of the year as Robert Carter Jr. is going viral for his one-handed interception. (It could be in the conversation for greatest individual play in the history of the league.)
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Meanwhile, Week 9 is a tough one for CFL Pick ‘Em presented by Old Dutch players as a lot of the favourites this week are on the road and more upsets could be coming.
Though the biggest upset last week was a team on the road (Montreal) taking a ‘W’ away from the Stampeders, who lost their grip of first in the CFL thanks to the loss to the Als and the Roughriders win over the Elks.
Will we be in store for some more upsets?
CALGARY AT OTTAWA
Thursday, July 31
7:30 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS/CFL+
There will be clarity soon on Vernon Adams Jr. but his non-participation on Monday after being limited on Sunday scares me off. And Adams Jr. isn’t the only injury the Stampeders are dealing with as Damien Alford is also down with Canadian Clark Barnes still not participating in practice.
I’m playing the hunch that Adams Jr. is not going to be ready to go and even if he is, he’s missed a lot of practice time.
The REDBLACKS are coming off a bye week where they enter a crucial point in their season. They need to make some drastic movement up the standings and with Toronto only one win in front of them, the time is now to start making their move.
I thought the REDBLACKS had some very good talent at the start of the season and I’m very much a believer they can start stringing some wins together.
The two major things holding Ottawa back are turnovers and penalties. I know those are two things that are hard to fix overnight but they are things coaches can clean up.
Let me start the week with a big upset out East.
PICK: OTTAWA
TORONTO AT WINNIPEG
Friday, August 1
8:30 p.m. ET
TSN/CFL+
Zach Collaros didn’t look great last week and like the Vernon Adams Jr. injury, the injury reports could be important to tell the story of how this game is going to go.
It’s one of the back-to-back, home-and-home splits you get in the CFL and we’ve seen a split more often than not in these situations.
I thought Chris Streveler did some okay things at quarterback last week and we’ve already seen him play very well earlier in the season when Collaros was suspended.
With Streveler’s strong Week 1 performance and the fact that Brady Oliveira is chomping at the bit to get rolling, I think the Bombers are primed for some revenge from last week’s loss.
As for the Argonauts, Nick Arbuckle just has to do what has been successful against Winnipeg: be efficient and make no turnovers.
That’ll be easier said than done in the loudest stadium in the CFL.
PICK: WINNIPEG
HAMILTON AT EDMONTON
Saturday, August 2
3:00 p.m. ET
TSN/CTV/CFL+
I find it interesting that since 2021, an East Division team has only had back-to-back weeks out West five times and three of those were starting the season on the road out west in Weeks 1 and 2.
The record of that second game in those three are 0-3. The other two situations saw the East team win that second game on the road.
I looked it up because I was a bit concerned on the wear and tear and the travel. I won’t be this time around. Plus, it’s a regular work week to get ready for Hamilton, while the Elks get an extra few days of rest.
The bigger concern for the Tiger-Cats is that Cody Fajardo did look more poised at quarterback than Tre Ford in Cody’s first start of the season, albeit another loss. The Elks defence only allowed 21 points against a fairly powerful Riders offence last week.
But if this turns into a shootout, Bo Levi Mitchell is winning it with the weapons he deploys in Hamilton. Bo is playing some of the best ball of his career with a 15-3 touchdown to interceptions ratio. The offensive line is giving him time to pick apart defences and the Elks pass rush isn’t doing a good enough job.
Now that Greg Bell is healthy, the combo of Bell and Johnny Augustine adds a new wrinkle to Tiger-Cats’ game. I’m all in on the Tiger-Cats right now.
PICK: HAMILTON
SASKATCHEWAN AT MONTREAL
Saturday, August 2
7:00 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS/CBSSN/CFL+
This is the game of the week as the 6-1 Riders roll into Montreal to take on the 5-2 Alouettes. With Davis Alexander out of the lineup we saw a far more efficient version of McLeod Bethel-Thompson lead the Alouettes into Calgary and pull off an impressive victory.
I’m wondering if the Als can do it back-to-back weeks?
Defensively, Noel Thorpe has created another menacing defence as some eyes will be on the potential return of Shawn Lemon to the Als defensive line.
Either way you cut it, the numbers indicate this is the Roughriders’ biggest test of the season since their Week 6 loss to Stampeders.
Montreal is strong and will continue to figure out how to build a game plan around the strengths of MBT. And I have to say, the amount of passing yards the Riders give up per game doesn’t help my confidence the Roughriders can pull off the win in an extremely tough stadium to win in for the visitors.
I also think a potential Samuel Emilus injury will be another big blow for the Riders offence.
PICK: MONTREAL