Introduction | Week 6 | Week 8
Some surprising upsets and close games this week, and almost every team finally has a win!
GAME VODS
Edmonton @ Ottawa
Winnipeg @ Saskatchewan
Toronto @ Hamilton
BC @ Calgary
EDMONTON ELKS @ OTTAWA REDBLACKS
Played: Friday July 19
Final Score: EDM 14 – OTT 20
Points Breakdown by Quarter: Q1: EDM-6 OTT-8 | Q2: EDM-3 OTT-6 | Q3: EDM-2 OTT-3 | Q4: EDM-3 OTT-3
Edmonton needs a win in the worst possible way. They’re currently 0-6, and well on their way to at least matching last year’s record of 9 losses before their first win. McLeod Bethel-Thompson spent a lot of this game staring at the sky as the Elks offensive line just could not protect him. The offence struggled all night, and even a brief change to Tre Ford couldn’t shake things up. Boris Bede also has to be extremely disappointed in his 3 missed field goals, which would have given Edmonton the win. The defence played solid football, but that was really the only bright spot for the Elks. It’s not surprising that the Elks first game without Chris Jones was a loss, as the new coaches are getting settled into their roles, but it’s still very frustrating for the fans. At the very least, they face a struggling Hamilton team next week, which is going to be their best chance for a win in the next few weeks.
As much of a mess as this game was for Edmonton, things didn’t go too much better for the Redblacks. Dru Brown had some real trouble finding his receivers, missing a full third of his 33 passing attempts. The offence played fine, but there weren’t any particularly standout performances. Like in Edmonton, the defence put in most of the work, sacking Bethel-Thompson 4 times and generally chasing him up and down the field. Special teams also did decent work, though again, nothing mind blowing. This team is really missing the explosive punt returns of Devont Dedmon, though he should be back after next week. Not the finest outing for the Redblacks, but a win’s a win. They face down Calgary next week, and I think it could go either way. It really depends on which team decides to show up.
WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS @ SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS
Played: Friday July 19
Final Score: WPG 9 – SSK 19
Points Breakdown by Quarter: Q1: WPG-3 SSK-3 | Q2: WPG-3 SSK-3 | Q3: WPG-0 SSK-7 | Q4: WPG-3 SSK-6
Something needs to change with this Bombers offence. When the player with the most receiving yards is the running back, there’s a problem. Collaros missed a third of his targets tonight, and his receivers just could not catch the ball. Of a combined 17 throws to what I consider Winnipeg’s best receivers, they combined for just 7 receptions. Brady Oliveira continues to be an amazing player, but he can’t win games by himself. The rest of the offence really needs to step it up if they want to remain competitive. Their defence played fine, and the special teams pulled their weight as well, but you can’t win on field goals, even if Sergio Castillo is a great kicker. The Bombers didn’t make it into the Saskatchewan red zone once the entire game. This offence needs a shakeup badly, and frankly the defence could do with stepping up as well. It looked like they were finally turning the corner with a couple wins on the board, but Calgary and Ottawa are not on the same level as Saskatchewan. Winnipeg plays Toronto next week, and while the Argos didn’t look great against Hamilton this week, I don’t much like Winnipeg’s chances.
I was little worried about the Riders with Trevor Harris out injured, especially after Shea Patterson’s rocky performance against BC last week, but he seems to be settling in. It helps that he has a solid receiving corps around him. Of particular mention this game was a fantastic performance by receiver Ajou Ajou, who put up 110 yards in a single half. The Saskatchewan defence also continues to eat quarterbacks alive. I can’t remember a single play that ended without Collaros on the ground. They also forced a couple of key turnovers to completely yank the rug out from under the Bombers right as they were finally getting some momentum. Harris is out for another few weeks, but the Riders have absolutely been performing. The real test is going to be next week, however, when this 5-1 Riders squad finally runs into the 5-1 Alouettes. Both of these teams are very strong on defence, and with both starting quarterbacks out, it’s going to be a defensive slugfest.
TORONTO ARGONAUTS @ HAMILTON TIGER-CATS
Played: Saturday July 20
Final Score: TOR 24 – HAM 27
Points Breakdown by Quarter: Q1: TOR-0 HAM-7 | Q2: TOR-7 HAM-10 | Q3: TOR-3 HAM-10 | Q4: TOR-14 HAM-0
The Argonauts special teams squad has to be kicking themselves after this one. Kicker Lirim Hajrullahu missed a single field goal, and Toronto lost by 3. Punt returner Janarion Grant also had a bit of a rough night. He did get a kick-six and made it look easy, but outside that one instance he had a difficult time getting Toronto any kind of good field position. To add to the frustration, Toronto had more first downs, more passing and rushing yards, and ten more minutes of possession than Hamilton. Looking at the stats, they probably should have won. That’s football, though, and the Argos defence and special teams weren’t able to keep the offence in the game. Toronto hosts Winnipeg next week, and they’ll be taking it more seriously after losing to the winless Tiger-Cats.
It’s about time this team got a win. I was starting to get worried that they’d really go 0-18. The offence performed fine, but there weren’t any real standout performances. The defence, however, finally stepped up. It wasn’t a perfect game, but they got sacks and stalled out Toronto’s offence. Special teams were also in fine form, and forgave a lot of the offence’s sins. It started early with a beautiful punt block by Ante Milanovich-Litre to set up an easy touchdown, and they continued to stick the Argos in their own end. There was one glaring moment where they allowed Janarion Grant to run the ball up the field with very little opposition, but they were great besides that blip. This is by far the most complete game the Cats have played this season, and they were rewarded for it. If they can keep the defence and special teams performing at this level and get the offence to step it up a notch I think they might be able to salvage the season. They travel to Edmonton next week, and while I’d like to say that will be an easy win number 2, the Elks are hunting for their first win and won’t make it easy for Hamilton.
BC LIONS @ CALGARY STAMPEDERS
Played: Sunday July 21
Final Score: BC 24 – CGY 25
Points Breakdown by Quarter: Q1: BC-7 CGY-0 | Q2: BC-3 CGY-14 | Q3: BC-7 CGY-3 | Q4: BC-7 CGY-8
What a heartbreaking loss for BC, though not unexpected with how they played. Their dynamite offence finally stalled out, and the defence just barely couldn’t keep up with the Stamps offence. Adams again only made about half of his shots, but only put up 192 yards instead of over 400. Adams also threw two interceptions, and at critical moments as well. Justin McInnis registered just 55 receiving yards, and was somehow still the leading receiver by 10 yards. Things were not much better on the ground, with William Stanback only rushing for 64 yards. The team also took an unusually large number of penalties. Calgary took similar losses from penalties, but they rebounded better. About the only bright spot in this game was kicker Sean Whyte, who managed to kick some pretty long shots and put him even closer to claiming the CFL all time consecutive field goals record. BC has the bye next week, and I’m sure they’ll appreciate the chance to rest up. Their schedule for the next several weeks is comparatively light as well, so they look to be in decent position despite this loss.
This Stamps team is frustrating. When they’re on, they can hang with the best in the league and win convincingly. When they’re off, they get games stolen away by teams at the bottom of the league. Jake Maier put up over 300 yards, and Jalen Philpot finally got a decent game under his belt this season. Their defence got some huge interceptions, but the offence also fumbled the ball. Calgary didn’t do much rushing, but running back Dederick Mills suffered a nasty hand injury early in the game, taking him out for most of it. Still, the team played well and managed to take a win off one of the best teams in the league, and one above them in their division standings. If nothing else, it’s a big confidence boost. They travel to Ottawa next week, who have been over performing. A number of those Redblacks wins have been ugly, though, so the Stampeders stand a chance if they actually show up.
STANDINGS AT THE END OF WEEK 7
EAST
MONTREAL ALOUETTES 5 – 1
OTTAWA REDBLACKS 4 – 2
TORONTO ARGONAUTS 3 – 3
HAMILTON TIGER-CATS 1 – 5
WEST
SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS 5 – 1
BC LIONS 5 – 2
CALGARY STAMPEDERS 3 – 3
WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS 2 – 5
EDMONTON ELKS 0 – 6
NEXT WEEK: WEEK 8
Saskatchewan @ Montreal – Thursday July 25 7:30PM EDT
Calgary @ Ottawa – Friday July 26 7:30PM EDT
Winnipeg @ Toronto – Saturday July 27 7PM EDT
Hamilton @ Edmonton – Sunday July 28 7PM EDT