Week 9 has arrived in the Canadian Football League, featuring a couple of “prove it” matchups across the country.
The Blue Bombers are facing a must-win game against B.C., while the Stampeders will look to bounce back from an embarrassing loss to Ottawa when they host Toronto. We’ve yet to reach the midway point of the season but neither team can afford to fall further behind in the West Division standings if they want any chance to host a playoff game this year.
After a week off, we’re back to make some picks and predictions. Here we go.
Thursday, August 1: B.C. Lions vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers — 8:30 p.m. EDT
Last season, this matchup was an epic battle of titans that ended up deciding the West Division. This year, the Lions are where you’d expect, while the Bombers have yet to really get out of the starting blocks.
Even though they sit atop the West Division, the Lions are looking to bounce back from one of their worst performances of the season in a Week 7 loss to the Calgary Stampeders. The Lions should be well prepared, however, as they’ve had a bye week to sit in the frustration of that loss and get ready for this matchup with the Blue Bombers.
Winnipeg is on the opposite end of the rest advantage, having just played on Saturday. Their overtime loss to the Toronto Argonauts turned into a defensive battle with Winnipeg struggling to hold on to the football, losing three fumbles.
The Blue Bombers are now last in the league in turnover ratio at minus-eight for the season. They simply can’t afford to give Vernon Adams Jr. extra possessions to work with.
Even with some struggles against Calgary in Week 7, the Lions still sit first in the league in points per game, net offence, and basically every other offensive statistic. They sit second in big plays this year, just a couple behind Montreal. Meanwhile, Winnipeg has given up the most big plays of any defence in the CFL. And yes, they have played one more game than anyone, but they’ve also given up three more big plays than the next closest team.
People keep waiting for Winnipeg to regain their form from a year ago and they still might. But, at some point, we may have to start believing what the Blue Bombers are showing us.
Pick: B.C. Lions -3.5
Sunday, August 4: Toronto Argonauts vs. Calgary Stampeders — 7:00 p.m. EDT
The Toronto Argonauts survived a defensive struggle against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last weekend. Now they face a Stampeders team looking to bounce back after getting beat up by the Ottawa Redblacks.
Toronto’s defence was the star of the show in Week 8 as they forced five turnovers against the struggling Blue Bombers. That performance puts them now third in the league in turnovers forced.
They will face a Calgary offence in this one that struggled against Ottawa last week with Jake Maier throwing for just 136 yards, while Dedrick Mills added only 43 on the ground. Calgary is now second-last in the league in points per game, only slightly better than their defence that ranks seventh in points allowed per game.
The defence has been a frustration for fans in the Stampede City all year. Coming into the season, the unit was supposed to be a strength of this team, but the numbers would suggest otherwise. The Stamps are second from the bottom in opponent net offence, only edging out the Edmonton Elks, who just gave up 44 points to Hamilton.
This matchup against Toronto’s offence is the exact opposite of the “unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.” The Argos needed two QBs to get over the 100-yard mark in their win over the Blue Bombers and they needed a defensive touchdown and overtime just to get to 16 points.
Regardless of who is under centre, their best course of action is probably to hand the ball off to Ka’Deem Carey, who will play his former team for the first time, early and often as Calgary ranks third-last in the league in rushing yards allowed per game at 99.7.
The Carey revenge game paired with the Argonauts’ defence should be enough to give Toronto an upset win, or at least keep it close.
