Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) -

CALGARY STAMPEDERS (3-4) AT TORONTO ARGONAUTS (2-5)

DATE & TIME: Friday, August 28, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Fighting for a chance to get back to .500 yet again this season, the Calgary Stampeders take on the Toronto Argonauts on Friday night at the Rogers Centre.

Over the last four games the Stampeders, who sit third in the CFL's West Division with a record of 3-4, have alternated wins and losses with the most recent outcome being a 38-35 setback against Edmonton on August 13.

Against the Eskimos the Stamps were beaten by another Stamps, Fred in this case, as the receiver reeled in the game-winning touchdown from Ricky Ray with just nine seconds to play.

Calgary quarterback Henry Burris, who during the contest surpassed Doug Flutie as the all-time leading passer in Calgary history, had a monster effort for the visitors as he completed 30-of-45 passes for 479 yards and three touchdowns and, more importantly, no interceptions to keep his team in the mix. Receiver Jeremaine Copeland led the way with game-highs of 11 catches, for 182 yards and two scores, while Nik Lewis logged seven grabs for 132 yards in the losing effort.

On the ground the Stampeders were held back as Joffrey Reynolds, one of the league's top yardage producers, was limited to a mere 33 yards on seven carries.

As for the Argonauts, they've gone from a respectable 2-2 after four games to losing three straight outings and falling to last place in the East Division.

On August 14, Toronto had its highest scoring performance since losing to Saskatchewan back on July 11 in a 46-36 decision, unfortunately the effort still left the Argos with a 36-28 loss to British Columbia at home.

After scoring 13 points in the second quarter alone against British Columbia, the Argos were limited to a mere nine points in the second half, while the Lions lit up the scoreboard with 22 points in the final frame to claim the win.

Toronto got the bulk of its scoring from kicker Justin Medlock who knocked through an incredible seven field goals on as many attempts, earning himself CFL Special Teams Player of the Week honors. The seven successful boots by Medlock tied a club record and was one short of the league record.

Handling the quarterback duties for the Argos was Cody Pickett who converted 25-of-40 passes for 326 yards and a score, but it wasn't enough to keep the team from adding another tally in the loss column. Pickett also paced the club in rushing with a mere 16 yards on three carries, while Jamal Robertson was limited to just eight total yards on eight totes.

Robertson has had an up and down season to say the least, leading off with a 134-yard effort against Hamilton in the opener, but since then he has also had three games in which he has been limited to 26 yards or less.

Despite a few poor outings, Robertson is still fourth in the league in rushing with his 455 yards on 82 carries, hitting the end zone on three occasions. In terms of yards from scrimmage, Robertson is fourth in the CFL with 705 yards and he is currently seventh in the league with 872 combined yards, so he is always a threat to break a big pay for the Argonauts.

But as good as Robertson can be, the fact remains that Toronto as a team ranks last in the league in scoring with just 134 points over the course of seven games. Robertson accounts for all three rushing TDs for the unit, which means the squad is last in the league in that department as well and offers very few options that defenses have to pay attention to from play to play.

Toronto signal-callers have combined to throw for 1,712 yards, the third- lowest figure in the league at the moment. By comparison, Calgary is second in passing yards 305.1 per outing, one of only two teams above 300 ypg on the year thus far.

Burris is second in passing yards with 2,064 and he is tied for second with 11 TD passes as well. More importantly, of his 245 attempts, only five have been picked off, giving him one of the best percentages in the league and a quarterback rating of 94.7 which is third-best.

The first meeting of the season between these two teams took place in week three as Calgary completely crushed the Argonauts in a 44-9 decision. The Stamps used three defensive touchdowns to put the game away in the second half, while Reynolds scored touchdowns on a one-yard run in the first frame and a 32-yard pass play from Burris in the third.

The only scoring for Toronto in the contest came courtesy of kicker Justin Medlock who booted three field goals in the first half. The Argos managed just 36 yards rushing and turned the ball over five times.

As far as the all-time series between these two clubs is concerned, Calgary maintains a 39-36-1 advantage in regular-season tests and has now won four in a row thanks to the triumph at McMahon Stadium in Alberta last month.

While Toronto may have the incentive of being at home and revenge as motivation, the fact remains that the Stampeders are simply the better team at this stage and should ride the arm of Burris into the win column yet again.

My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Calgary 36, Toronto 17

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (4-3) AT EDMONTON ESKIMOS (4-3)

DATE & TIME: Saturday, August 29, 7:00 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Two teams searching for their fifth wins of the season hit the field at Commonwealth Stadium this weekend, as the Edmonton Eskimos entertain the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Tiger-Cats have had a couple of two-game win streaks so far this season, but the latest one was halted back on August 16 when Saskatchewan recorded a 33-23 win over Hamilton.

In their last contest, the Ti-Cats were held scoreless through the first half of action and then scored 23 unanswered points in the second half to tie the game at 23-23. However, the defense then faltered and permitted the Roughriders to score 10 points down the stretch in the setback.

The Hamilton offense was simply dreadful, registering just eight first downs and 31 yards rushing on seven attempts. The quarterback tandem of Quinton Porter and Kevin Glenn converted just 13-of-32 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown. Glenn, who stepped in for Porter after the first quarter, accounted for the lone passing score, a 49-yard effort to Arland Bruce, the wideout coming up with four grabs for a game-best 98 yards.

From a rushing standpoint, DeAndra Cobb was effectively shut down and limited to just 29 yards on six carries.

In the case of the Eskimos, who lost to Hamilton on the road back on August 8 by a score of 28-21, they won for the third time in the last four outings on August 13 with a hard-fought 38-35 triumph over Calgary at home.

In order to come up with the narrow three-point decision, Fred Stamps made a dramatic catch in the back of the end zone with just nine seconds remaining to make the difference. Stamps finished the outing with five grabs for 94 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Quarterback Ricky Ray completed 28-of-37 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the victory, adding another five rushing attempts for 52 yards and a TD on the ground. Running backs Arkee Whitlock and Calvin McCarty also carried some of the load with the former gaining a game-high 106 yards on nine carries and the latter making it into the end zone on one of his three attempts.

The difficult decision was made that much tougher as the pass defense for Edmonton permitted the Stampeders to generate a hefty 479 yards through the air.

After such a lackluster effort in the secondary, it should come as little surprise that Edmonton ranks last in the CFL this week in pass defense, allowing opponents to post 301.1 ypg through the air. The Eskimos are the only team in the league permitting more than 280 ypg, while Hamilton is third from the bottom with 272.7 ypg allowed.

Giving up so many yards per game on the average could be the result of just too many big plays being allowed by Edmonton, but the truth is the squad is simply not getting the job done in coverage at all. In fact, the Eskimos have allowed opponents to convert an unsightly 66.7 percent of their attempts, easily the worst in the league right now. By comparison, the Tiger-Cats rank as the second-best pass defense in the league with just 59.7 percent of their opponent's pass attempts being completed.

Yet another knock against the Edmonton defense is that it is still the only group in the CFL yet to record a single interception. The squad has watched 252 pass attempts sail overhead and still have not caught up to one of them in order to slow down opponents.

The Eskimos have permitted the fewest field goals in the league at 10, but what that really means is that offenses have rarely been slowed by a group that is second-to-last in the league in points allowed at 31.7 ppg.

Hamilton would be smart to try and exploit the weakness presented by the Edmonton defense, but with Glenn and Porter both likely to see action, the ability of both and the timing between them and their receivers has to be brought into question.

The Ti-Cats are tied for the second-fewest TD passes at the moment with just eight and are close to the bottom in total passing yards with 1,706.

In the first meeting of the season between these two clubs, a one-yard TD run by Hamilton's Porter made all the difference as the home team secured the seven-point triumph. Porter threw for another touchdown to offset the effort of Ray who threw for 335 yards and a score for the Eskimos.

Dating back to 1961, the series between these two teams favors Edmonton by a count of 48-27-1, even after the setback earlier this month.

No matter who it is getting the bulk of the snaps for the Tiger-Cats, the smart bet would be for them to go after the secondary of the Eskimos just like every other team in the league and take what the pass defense gives them.

My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Hamilton 28, Edmonton 20

Overall Season Record: 13-17; Last Week's Record: 1-1.