The first
round of the play-offs gave us two very different games, one was a blowout and
the other decided on the last kick of the game. The teams who came through were
the two who played in last years year's Grey Cup. For them the action moves to
Ottawa and and Edmonton this Sunday. It will be another TV double header for us
on BT Sport. The Divisional Final previews are further down the page.
For those
outside of the BT Sport and ESPN market areas the CFL will be broadcasting the
games live on their CFL Global
YouTube Channel.
Divisional Semi-Finals
Toronto
Argonauts 22 - 25 Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The
Tiger-Cats came kept their hopes of playing in a third consecutive Grey Cup
alive when Justin Medlock kicked a 47 field goal on the last play of the game
to break a 22 all tie.
Toronto, with Ricky Ray at quarterback, were on top going into the fourth quarter with touchdowns having come on a short Brandon Whittaker run and a nine yard pass play to Chad Owens. Jeremiah Masoli, who was making his first QB start for Hamilton, was able to keep Hamilton in the game. He scored one TD on the ground, shared the running game with C J Gable and in the fourth quarter hit Bakari Grant for a 42 yard touchdown which tied the game and ultimately set up the last play win.
The Argonauts have done well through a lot of uncertainty this season and will be looking to build on their success with a new owner and new stadium after New Year. The Tiger-Cats now have Ottawa Redblacks between them and a third consecutive appearance in the Grey Cup.
Highlights
Toronto, with Ricky Ray at quarterback, were on top going into the fourth quarter with touchdowns having come on a short Brandon Whittaker run and a nine yard pass play to Chad Owens. Jeremiah Masoli, who was making his first QB start for Hamilton, was able to keep Hamilton in the game. He scored one TD on the ground, shared the running game with C J Gable and in the fourth quarter hit Bakari Grant for a 42 yard touchdown which tied the game and ultimately set up the last play win.
The Argonauts have done well through a lot of uncertainty this season and will be looking to build on their success with a new owner and new stadium after New Year. The Tiger-Cats now have Ottawa Redblacks between them and a third consecutive appearance in the Grey Cup.
Highlights
BC Lions 9
– 35 Calgary Stampeders
If the first
game was as close as it gets the Western game wasn't. Calgary showed the form
of reigning champions and comfortably saw off BC Lions. The star of the show
was running back Jerome Messam. The Stamps signing on Transfer Deadline Day
looked like the bargain of the year as he ran up 147 combined rushing and
receiving yards and scored a touchdown. Bo Levi Mitchell connected with Eric
Rogers for two other scores as BC had no answer for the Calgary Offence. The
Lions suffered a big set back as they lost starting quarterback Jonathon
Jennings before half time to a shoulder injury after he was sacked. They were
already 24-3 behind though so it didn't make much difference.
Game Previews
Eastern
Division Semi Final – Hamilton
Tiger-Cats at Ottawa Redblacks
TD Place,
Ottawa
Sunday 22nd November, live on BT Sport ESPN at 6.00pm UK time.
Sunday 22nd November, live on BT Sport ESPN at 6.00pm UK time.
Weather
forecast: 4°C, showers, possibly snow.
After their
bruising encounter with the Argonauts, Hamilton have to gather themselves
together as they face their third game against Ottawa Redblacks in four weeks.
They lost the first two so will be starting as second favourites. The
performance which stand-in quarterback
Jeremiah Masoli produced last week must give them hope as will the
superiority of their special teams. Defending kick returns is a weakness of
Ottawa so look for the speed of Brandon Banks to challenge them. However, the
loss of defensive end Eric Norwood will be a serious blow to the TiCats.
The
Redblacks will have a sell-out crowd backing them for what is the first post
season football to be played in the city for over thirty years and the first
Ottawa team in the play-offs for over twenty. They've hit top form at the right
time and come into the game after four regular season wins in a row. With Henry
Burris and his all star set of receivers they lead the league in total offence
while their defence registered more sacks than any other team.
Who will
win? The Ottawa bandwagon is rolling and I don't see it being stopped yet.
TiCats coach Jeff Reinebold could be appearing in the Sky Sports studio sooner
rather than later.
Western
Division Final – Calgary Stampeders at
Edmonton Eskimos
Commonwealth
Stadium, Edmonton
Sunday 22nd
November, live on BT Sport ESPN at
9.30pm UK time.
Weather
forecast: 4°C, sunny intervals, moderate winds.
Early in the
season it appeared there had been a major power shift in the CFL. Teams from
the East Division were beating their Western rivals, they even swept the board
in Week 2. By the end of the year normal service had been resumed, the Alberta
teams both had 14 and 4 records and were clearly the strongest in the league.
Edmonton have home advantage thanks to having won two of three against the Stampeders and they've had three weeks since their last game to rest and recover and to plan. Their meetings with Calgary have been low scoring games and the Eskimo's league leading defence was key to their wins. Meanwhile quarterback Mike Reilly also has two of the best passing targets to threaten the Calgary line with, Adarius Bowman and Derell Walker.
With Jerome Messam proving he can cover the running back slot for Jon Cornish it looks like Calgary's offence are well balanced coming into the game. However their season long problem is still dogging them, last week they suffered injuries in the offensive line and yet again had to borrow players from the defence to cover. With the recent injuries having hit Canadian players Shane Bergman and Pierre Lavertu, head coach John Hufnagel has some big team selection decisions to make.
Who will win? Edmonton have had rest, Calgary have had game practice, it could go either way. Taking into account home advantage and the problems in the Calgary O line I'm taking Edmonton to grind out a result, but I'm not confident.
Edmonton have home advantage thanks to having won two of three against the Stampeders and they've had three weeks since their last game to rest and recover and to plan. Their meetings with Calgary have been low scoring games and the Eskimo's league leading defence was key to their wins. Meanwhile quarterback Mike Reilly also has two of the best passing targets to threaten the Calgary line with, Adarius Bowman and Derell Walker.
With Jerome Messam proving he can cover the running back slot for Jon Cornish it looks like Calgary's offence are well balanced coming into the game. However their season long problem is still dogging them, last week they suffered injuries in the offensive line and yet again had to borrow players from the defence to cover. With the recent injuries having hit Canadian players Shane Bergman and Pierre Lavertu, head coach John Hufnagel has some big team selection decisions to make.
Who will win? Edmonton have had rest, Calgary have had game practice, it could go either way. Taking into account home advantage and the problems in the Calgary O line I'm taking Edmonton to grind out a result, but I'm not confident.
Next Week
The winners
of these games will travel to Winnipeg to play in the 104th Grey
Cup. Before that the year's Most Outstanding Player awards will be announced.
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