CFL Week 9 Preview

Article by Duncan Gray - submitted on 20/8

 

Three out of four games this weekend are live on TV. Note that the Saturday night game is in BT Sport 1, not ESPN. The games are previewed further down the page.

 

This week's TV Schedule   Montreal Alouettes at BC Lions - LIVE Friday morning August 21, 03:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN repeat: Friday Afternoon 15:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Edmonton Eskimos – LIVE Saturday morning August 22, 0020 hrs – BT Sport ESPN repeat: Sunday morning 06:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Calgary Stampeders at Saskatchewan Roughriders  – LIVE Sunday morning August 23, 00:00 hrs - BT Sport 1 repeat: Sunday afternoon 13:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Ottawa Redblacks at Toronto Argonauts – recorded Wednesday morning August 26, 10:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN

 

In the news this week:

Plans for a new sports complex in Calgary were unveiled, including a stadium for the Stampeders which would feature a translucent dome.

 

 

Other goings on  in Calgary surrounded back-up linebacker Jasper Simmons who's been unhappy with his role since arriving in a trade from Ottawa. His agent Sammy Gahagan criticised the team on Twitter and in at least one podcast. This developed into several arguments among players on Twitter. You wouldn't expect a team to release a player from their contract on the strength of this, it certainly didn't work for Adrian Peterson at Minnesota, but it's a measure of how badly the locker room took to Simmons that the Stampeders let him go. Winnipeg Blue Bombers jumped in to sign him.

 

It looks like the Michael Sam story in Montreal is over. After he played a limited and ineffective role in their game two weeks ago he didn't even appear on the sideline last week and later announced that he's retiring from football and that he has mental health problems to address. There have been many conflicting reports as to how well he was received among his team mates, some say he had a lot of support, others that the locker room was divided. Homophobia wasn't the the only problem suggested, there was resentment at the preferential treatment he received from management. Sam reportedly received a $100,000 signing bonus, more than many players yearly pay, despite being completely unproven. Meantime we haven't heard an explanation for star defensive end John Bowman being left out of the team for a second week.

Game of the Week

Expect a tight battle this week as the two best defences in the league go head to head on Friday. Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats  both have 5 & 2 records and a share of the lead in their divisions.
The Eskimos defence hasn't conceded a touchdown at home since the middle of last season, has been conceding less than 300 total yards per game and recorded 8 sacks last week. Their weakness is in offence. It's good news that their franchise quarterback Mike Reilly, who's recovering from a Week 1 knee injury, has started practicing. He won't make it back for a few weeks yet though and in his absence Matt Nichols has been less than brilliant. Look for him to be sharing time with James Franklin and Jordan Lynch. The league's leading receiver Adarius Bowman and rookie running back Shervin Bell are both expected to play.

In their last three home games the Tiger-Cats have been completely dominant. They've been scoring on all three phases of the game, offence, defence and special teams. The defence in particular have scored no less than seven touchdowns this season, six of them from interceptions. That's got to be a big concern for Edmonton as Nichols has the worst record in the league, he's thrown eleven picks so far. If Hamilton can keep up the standard they've shown in their three home games then they're going to be very hard to stop.

 

 

The other games

The Thursday night game this week is in Vancouver. Montreal Alouettes (2&5) are the team that faces the long journey across three time zones to play the BC Lions (3 & 4). With both teams struggling for consistency home advantage could be the key. However it's BC Place on a Thursday night. It isn't an easy stadium to get to at the best of times and a lot of fans can't get their ferries home to the islands after the game, so there probably won't be a big crowd. The Lions were beaten soundly by Hamilton last week and had a big injury loss as linebacker Solomon Elimimian, the league's Most Outstanding Player for 2014, suffered a torn Achilles tendon and is done for the season. The Alouettes have lost all three away from home and they've only won once in BC since the turn of the century. Their defence is strong but it's suggested that offensive coordinator Turk Schonert's job is under threat if his unit don't improve.  Rakeem Cato and Co need to step up.

 

Saskatchewan Roughriders (0 & 7) had the bye last weekend and had plenty to work on. Point one would be discipline, they've been the most penalised team in the league. Any penalty committed during training last week resulted in all the players, whether they were on the field or not, doing push ups. The week should also have been useful for rookie quarterback Brett Smith's preparation. Calgary Stampeders (5 & 2) are coming to Regina full of confidence after their five touchdown win over Ottawa. Bo Levi Mitchell was back at his best, throwing for two of the scores and rushing for two more. The  Stampeders are clear favourites to win this one but the 'Riders have still made more yards on offence than any other team, they WILL win a game soon.

Toronto Argonauts' (5 & 2) strange season continues on Sunday when they get to play their second game in the SkyDome, where Ottawa Redblacks (4 & 3) will be the visitors. The Argos already had to play their first home game away from Toronto and this week's news suggested that they'll be bumped out of their home venue later in the season as the Toronto Blue Jays look likely to play in the MLB post season. It's even suggested they'll be playing home games at the field of their bitter rivals in Hamilton.
Other news from Toronto is that Trevor Harris will continue at quarterback for a while as Ricky Ray has been put back on the 6 week injury list. On the field they still have a share of the East Division lead but haven't put together a dominating performance yet, and have had to rely on comeback victories. That at least is good news for the Redblacks who suffered an absolute hammering in Calgary last week. Their QB Henry Burris was benched at half time, look to him to bounce back, and they'll hopefully have star receiver Chris Williams available.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers finally get their first bye week.