Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) -
TORONTO ARGONAUTS (2-3) AT MONTREAL ALOUETTES (4-1)
DATE & TIME: Friday, August 7, 7:30 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: Having suffered their first loss of the 2009 campaign, the Montreal Alouettes try to get back on track this week as they entertain the Toronto Argonauts at Percival Molson Stadium on Friday night.
Montreal, which lost to Calgary in the most recent Grey Cup title game, kicked off this season with four consecutive wins and was the last of the unbeatens in the CFL heading into action last week. Unfortunately for the Als, the Edmonton Eskimos had revenge on their minds following an ugly 50-16 loss to Montreal in the first meeting between the two teams this season.
Settling for just three field goals in the first half and coming up scoreless in the third frame, the Alouettes put themselves in a hole against Edmonton last week and were unable to climb out as they fell by a pair of touchdowns on the road, 33-19.
Damon Duval knocked through kicks of 37 and 33 yards in the first quarter and then converted a 21-yard effort in the second to cut the deficit at the break to 12-9 before the Montreal offense stalled again in the second half as it allowed the Eskimos to escape.
A one-yard TD run by Avon Cobourne in the fourth period, coupled with a 31- yard field goal by Duval, was all the Als could muster down the stretch. Quarterback Anthony Calvillo converted 28-of-34 pass attempts for 236 yards, becoming just the second signal-caller in league history to reach 60,000 passing yards for his career.
Calvillo, who failed to throw a touchdown pass in the outing, trails only Damon Allen for the league's all-time mark in passing yardage. Allen, who played for six different clubs over his 23 seasons, ended his tenure with an amazing 72,381 yards. Allen is also the last man standing in terms of passing touchdowns ahead of Calvillo, tossing 394 between 1985-2007.
As for the Argonauts, a team that is tied for third place in the East Division with Winnipeg, they've gone from winning their season opener against Hamilton to bowing in three of the last four contests.
Last Saturday, Kerry Joseph converted 20-of-32 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but his efforts fell just short in what became a 13-12 home setback.
A major problem for Toronto was Joseph's inaccuracy down the field, resulting in four interceptions. Add to that another three lost fumbles and the Argonauts didn't give themselves nearly enough chances to come out ahead. Adding to the pressure for Joseph was the fact that he no longer had wideout Arland Bruce III to turn to down the field as he was traded earlier in the week to Hamilton.
The signal-caller made some plays with his feet as he raced for 86 yards on 10 carries, while Jamal Robertson chipped in a game-high 86 yards on 15 attempts on the ground as well. Unfortunately, too many mistakes on offense again spelled doom for the Argos as they fell for the eighth straight time at home.
Joseph is currently third in the CFL in passing yards with 1,243, but having thrown a league-worst nine interceptions means his passer rating plummets to a mere 70.6 and keeps skeptics from seeing his seven TD passes which is tied for the league high at the moment.
Robertson is just four yards off the pace set by league-leader Avon Cobourne, but even with 427 and three touchdowns yards on 68 carries, his production tends to be overshadowed by the fact that he has fumbled the ball three times already. Toss Joseph into that category as well because he has been charged with four fumbles himself while averaging seven yards per attempt on the ground.
Even though they endured the loss last week, there's no denying that the Alouettes still maintain the top one-two offensive punch in the league in Calvillo and Cobourne. The former is completing an amazing 75.6 percent of his attempts for a league-best 1,519 yards and is tied for the league high with seven touchdowns through the air. Better yet, Calvillo has limited his mistakes like none other with a mere two interceptions on 172 attempts, providing him with a passer rating of 110.6.
Cobourne, who is averaging just under five and a half yards per carry, leads the league in rushing touchdowns with five and is a threat to break a long run every time he touches the ball. With 18 receptions for another 126 yards, Cobourne is the sort of all-around player that every team dreams of having on the roster.
Since 1950 these two teams have met a total of 165 times in the regular season and Montreal currently owns an 89-74-2 mark over the Argos. Last year the teams faced off three times during the regular season, with the Als taking all three regardless of venue.
Now that they have their first loss out of their system, the Alouettes can get back to the job at hand, which is remaining the top team in the CFL. Trying to stop either Cobourne or Calvillo is one thing, but to hold both players down is a lot to ask of any defense, especially that of the Argonauts.
My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Montreal 38, Toronto 17
SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (3-2) AT BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS (1-4)
DATE & TIME: Friday, August 7, 10:30 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: The British Columbia Lions try to sort out their issues at home this week at BC Place Stadium, as they settle in against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday night.
The Lions have been mere shadows of their former selves with just a single win in five attempts thus far. The club is all alone in last place in the West Division of the CFL, scoring the fewest points of any squad in the process. If not for a 40-22 win over Edmonton back on July 16 it might be time already to push the panic button as the team still searches for its first home win of the 2009 campaign.
Last week, the Lions faced Hamilton on the road and actually held an 18-17 advantage at the break, but then the offense went cold and BC found itself with a 30-18 setback. The Lions generated close to 400 yards of total offense in the outing, but four turnovers proved to be too much to overcome.
Quarterback Buck Pierce converted 23-of-36 passes for 282 yards and a score, but also tossed a pair of interceptions. Rufus Skillern finished with a team- best six receptions for 67 yards, followed by Paris Jackson with four catches for 71 yards and a score. Although he was allotted just a single rushing attempt, Ryan Grice-Mullen made the most of it by taking the ball into the end zone from two yards out.
As for the Roughriders, a team that is tied with Edmonton for first place in the division at 3-2, they've performed well on the road thus far with two wins in as many attempts, giving them a leg up in this week's contest.
Last Saturday, the Roughriders needed some late heroics against Calgary to pull out a 24-23 victory on the road. Thankfully, the team had Darian Durant's arm and Chris Getzlaf down the field as the two hooked up for a 65-yard TD connection with just over a minute remaining in regulation to put Saskatchewan into the win column yet again.
Durant finished the outing 17-of-28 for 257 yards and three touchdowns, against just a single interception. Getzlaf grabbed five balls for 101 yards and two scores, while Weston Dressler had a game-high eight catches for 82 yards and another TD.
Wes Cates helped the Roughriders move the ball on the ground with his team- high 98 yards on 16 carries. The effort by Cates accounted for almost half of his carries on the season and the bulk of his 163 yards on the ground to this point.
Durant is fifth in the league this week in total passing yards with 1,117, courtesy of his 57.7 percent completion rate, but he still has almost as many interceptions (six) as he does touchdowns (seven).
Nevertheless, even though Durant could use some work on his TD/INT ratio, the fact remains that he is still better than Pierce who has been picked off seven times (second-most in the CFL) and has but five TDs to show for his efforts. With numbers like that it is no wonder that some think that Jarious Jackson (four TDs, two INTs) should be getting more reps under center.
However, put the two BC signal-callers together and they represent the top passing attack in the CFL thus far in terms of aerial scores with nine. The eight catches by Dressler last week represent more than one-third of his total (22 receptions) thus far. He ranks fourth in the league in receiving yards with 341 and has one of the better averages per catch with 15.5 yards per grab for the Roughriders.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Roughriders have five players with at least a pair of forced fumbles, as Sean Lucas and Renauld Williams top the league charts with three apiece. The team as a whole has recovered a league- best 13 fumbles, but has yet to record a takeaway on downs, the only team in the league without such a tally.
In action off the field in recent days, the Lions bolstered their roster by bringing back linebacker JoJuan Armour and signing both running back A.J. Harris and defensive lineman James Edwards. Harris spent last season with Edmonton and combined for nearly 1,000 yards from scrimmage, scoring six rushing touchdowns in 12 games.
Since 1954 these two teams have faced off against each other a total of 165 times during the regular season, with the Roughriders owning an 87-74-4 mark versus BC over the years. The teams kicked off the 2009 campaign on Saskatchewan's home turf, with the Roughriders claiming a narrow 28-24 win.
Being out on the road seems to be where the Roughriders are most comfortable and given the fact that the team already has one win under its belt against BC, there's no reason to think it can't happen again this week.
My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Saskatchewan 23, British Columbia 14
EDMONTON ESKIMOS (3-2) AT HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (3-2)
DATE & TIME: Saturday, August 8, 6:30 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: Tied with Saskatchewan for first place in the CFL's West Division entering the sixth week of the 2009 season, the Edmonton Eskimos try to extend their win streak to three in a row as they challenge the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynne Stadium on Saturday evening.
Edmonton has bounced back from consecutive losses to Montreal and British Columbia by putting up a 38-33 victory over the Roughriders on July 25 and then taking a short week and grabbing a 33-19 triumph versus Montreal in response to falling to the Alouettes in the second week of the season by an ugly 50-16 margin.
Montreal went into last week's action as the lone undefeated team remaining in the CFL, but the Eskimos took care of that as quarterback Ricky Ray out-paced Anthony Calvillo by converting 23-of-27 pass attempts for 363 yards and three touchdowns, against just a single interception for the home team. Ray also carried the ball three times and responded with a rushing touchdown as well for the Eskimos.
Fred Stamps collected just four passes, yet those grabs translated into 109 yards and two scores for the victors.
As for the Tiger-Cats, now also 3-2 and hot on the tail of the Als over in the East Division, they secured their third win in the last four outings last Friday with a 30-18 triumph over British Columbia.
Suiting up for the Tiger-Cats for the first time, receiver Arland Bruce III had little impact last week, yet the home team still came away with the 12- point win nonetheless.
Bruce, who was traded to Hamilton from the Toronto Argonauts earlier in the week after the coaching staff had decided he no longer fit their plans, failed to catch a single ball for the Ti-Cats.
DeAndra' Cobb handled the action on the ground for Hamilton as he ran the ball 17 times for a game-best 167 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Quinton Porter converted 17-of-31 passes for 171 yards and a score. Prechae Rodriguez was responsible for five catches for 49 yards and a tremendous juggling score to lead the receiving corps.
Porter has completed just under 65 percent of his passes through the first five games, but has just four touchdowns through the air to show for his efforts. Ranked fifth in the CFL with 325 rushing yards, Cobb has made a huge statement by averaging 6.6 yards per carry, taking some of the pressure off Porter when he needs it most.
From a defensive standpoint, the Ti-Cats lean heavily on Jamall Johnson, a linebacker in his fifth season who is currently second in the league in tackles with 34, a number that is already a career high, even though he has played less than one-third of the season.
Ray is connecting on almost 70 percent of his pass attempts, resulting in six TDs and the second-highest yardage total (1,374) in the league at the moment.
If there's an area that the Eskimos need to work on it is in the defensive secondary. After five games the group is ranked second-to-last in the league in passing yards allowed with an average of 283.6 ypg, with opponents completing 66.5 percent of their attempts. Edmonton is also the only team in the CFL yet to record an interception. By way of comparison, Montreal is second from the bottom in that category with five picks already.
Since 1961, including just regular season matchups, Edmonton maintains a 48-26-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Tiger-Cats. The Eskimos won a pair of meetings in 2008, the first being a 19-13 decision on the road and the second, a 38-33 triumph at home.
Edmonton certainly has a lot of potential and has already shown the ability to put together successful offensive drives, but the team needs to be focusing more on defense because that's where the Eskimos are going to lose track of Hamilton this week.
My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Hamilton 31, Edmonton 24
WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (2-3) AT CALGARY STAMPEDERS (2-3)
DATE & TIME: Saturday, August 8, 9:30 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: The defending Grey Cup Champion Calgary Stampeders try to climb back to .500 for the second time this season as they entertain the Winnipeg Blue Bombers inside McMahon Stadium on Saturday night.
The Stamps began the 2009 campaign with back-to-back losses against Montreal and these same Blue Bombers, but then turned the corner with consecutive wins versus Toronto and British Columbia to reach an even 2-2. Unfortunately, last weekend Calgary failed to hold off West Division foe Saskatchewan in what became a 24-23 setback at home.
Calgary held the lead in the final period last Saturday after an 18-yard TD run by Henry Burris and a 26-yard field goal by Sandro DeAngelis, but the defense then allowed the Roughriders to convert a 65-yard scoring pass with less than two minutes remaining in regulation to seal the deal.
Burris finished the contest 17-of-29 for 224 yards and a score and chipped in another 38 yards on the ground. Joffrey Reynolds was again the leading ground gainer with his 112 yards on 14 attempts, while Jon Cornish had his only catch of the day go for a touchdown in the narrow setback.
Now at 2-3 on the season, Calgary is third in the West Division standings ahead of only British Columbia. Sporting the same record, Winnipeg is tied for last in the East Division with Toronto, the team that it defeated last week. Coming back to haunt his former team on Saturday was quarterback Michael Bishop who helped the Blue Bombers put up 10 quick points in what became a narrow 13-12 win for the visitors. Bishop converted 16-of-30 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown and added another 25 yards rushing for the victors.
In addition to the TD pass to Terrence Edwards, the receiver finishing with team-highs of seven receptions for 110 yards, the Bombers also posted a couple of critical field goals by Alexis Serna, his 48-yard effort with just over four minutes to play in the fourth quarter proving to be the game winner.
From a defensive standpoint, Winnipeg completely dominated the Argonauts by intercepting Kerry Joseph a total of four times and collecting another three fumble recoveries to keep the offense for the home team off the field as much as possible.
Bishop, who has completed better than 51 percent of his passes and is closing in on 9,000 yards in his career, signed on with the Blue Bombers earlier in the week and jumped ahead of Stefan LeFors, Richie Williams and Bryan Randall on the depth chart after the trio combined to produce a miserable effort in the team's 19-5 loss to Toronto a week earlier.
Burris is going to find out that completing passes down the field is going to get even tougher now that Ken-Yon Rambo has been lost to injury. Rambo, who posted 100 receptions for 1,473 yards and eight touchdowns last season and had 10 receiving scores in 2007 for Calgary, damaged his ACL and meniscus in his right knee in the loss to BC two weeks ago. With Rambo now done for the season, Burris will now turn his focus to Jeremaine Copeland who has 19 catches for 242 yards and half of the team's eight receiving scores thus far.
Siddeeq Shabazz, who recovered a fumble forced by teammate Barrin Simpson last week, has been shouldering a lot of the weight on defense for the Blue Bombers thus far in '09. Shabazz leads the league in interceptions with four and has taken two of those back for touchdowns, giving the opposition reason to second guess when throwing down the field in his direction.
Winnipeg may be in the middle of the pack when it comes to passing yards allowed (265.2 ypg) so far this season, but having collected an amazing 13 interceptions already means the Blue Bombers have more than twice as many as every other club in the CFL, except for Calgary which has seven.
Winnipeg holds a slight advantage in the all-time series between these two teams dating back to 1950. Taking into consideration only regular-season meetings, the Blue Bombers are out in front by a count of 84-80, thanks in part to a 42-30 win in the first meeting of this season back on July 10. During that contest Burris tossed three interceptions for the Stamps, while former Bombers starter Stefan LeFors was credited with two passing scores.
Living without Rambo will be tough for the Stampeders, especially given what he did for the program a year ago. Also going against Calgary this week is the emergence of Bishop on the scene for Winnipeg, giving that club new life and a sense of excitement at the quarterback position.
My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Winnipeg 31, Calgary 24
Overall Season Record: 7-13; Last Week's Record: 1-3.
