CFL Divisonal Semi-Final previews

Article by Duncan Gray

It's November. The weather's turning cold in Canada but the CFL action is getting hotter. There are six teams and two rounds of games left before the Grey Cup at the end of the month. The two games this week are scheduled to be shown live as a double header on BT Sport ESPN on Sunday evening.

 

The CFL announced this week that the play-off and Grey Cup games will be streamed live worldwide on YouTube. However it hasn't been made clear if the stream will be available in the UK and Ireland where BTSport is broadcasting the games, or in the Americas and Australia which is covered by ESPN.

 

 

Game Previews

 

Eastern Division Semi Final – Toronto Argonauts at Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton
Sunday 15^th November, live on BT Sport ESPN at 6.00pm UK time.

 

Weather forecast: 12°C, no rain, light winds.

 

The two bitter Southern Ontario rivals have had strong periods during the season as they built ten win records but they've both struggled towards the end. Toronto led the league during the weeks while the TiCats were clearly the best during the middle period. That was when Hamilton swept the three games between them. However neither team has been strong in the later third of the season, the Als went three and three, Hamilton two and four.

If Toronto are going into the game with one advantage it's that they have two first string quarterbacks. Future Hall of Famer Ricky Ray has been restored to the starting slot after missing most of the season with a shoulder injury. No one thinks he's back to his best but all that experience counts for a lot and they do have Trevor Harris as back-up. The offence has been boosted by the addition of ex Seattle and Cleveland receiver Phil Bates while they'll probably have both Chad Kackert and Brandon Whitaker at running back.
Hamilton on the other hand are reduced to second and third string quarterbacks after they lost Zach Collaros to injury. Jeremiah Masoli proved to be the best available last week though it's suggested Jeff Matthews might be fit to return. Beyond that the offence has benefited by the return of running back C J Gable and slotback Andy Fantuz. Their defence is still very strong, but it's not the scary force of mid season which threatened to break all sorts of records. Jeff Reinebold's Special teams unit have made a big contribution all year so watch for them having a trick or two up there sleeves.
Who will win? Home advantage is big at Tim Hortons Field, the crowd will be large, loud and shouting "Argos suck". But there's history in the CFL that says four wins by one team over another in a season doesn't happen.  Toronto had a much less intense game last week, I think they might just spring a surprise.

 

 

Western Division Semi Final – BC Lions at Calgary Stampeders

McMahon Stadium, Calgary

Sunday 15^th November, live on BT Sport ESPN at 9.30pm UK time.

 

Weather forecast: 1°C, chance of snow, light winds.

 

There's a saying in the CFL that the season really only starts at Labour Day. It's a teams performance down the stretch that matters. BC Lions are a team which is peaking at the right time. They struggled most of the year but a late season surge and week 18 and 19 wins over Hamilton and Toronto were enough to sneak them into the play offs. Their return to form actually coincided with rookie quarterback Jonathon Jennings taking over from the injured Travis Lulay. Other big name players keeping the BC fans hopeful include running back Andrew Harris, wide receiver Emanuel Arceneaux and linebacker Adam Bighill who was the only unanimous choice in the Divisional All-star teams announced this week.

The Calgary Stampeders haven't beaten by any team except the Eskimos since July. Their top running back Jon Cornish is expected to miss this game. He missed a few games earlier in the season and the Stamps still won, and now they have Jerome Messam to provide cover. Expect Bo Levi Mitchell to keep making connections to the CFL's leading receiver Eric Rogers.

Who will win? I'm going to go with home advantage. The Lions will provide a serious challenge but expect Calgary to edge it.

 

 

Next Week

The winners of these games will travel to Ottawa Redblacks and Edmonton Eskimos for the Divisional Finals.

 

 

Other News This Week
The three teams which didn't qualify for the play-offs have started work for next year. To the surprise of very few, Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced that offensive coordinator Marcel Bellefeuille won't be having his contract renewed for next year. In contrast, almost everyone was surprised when the Montreal Alouettes announced that their general manager and interim head coach Jim Popp will continue as head coach next year. No word yet on who'll be offered the most high profile job, head coach at Saskatchewan Roughriders.

CFL Week 20 Review

Article by Duncan Gray

The highlight of the final week of the regular season was a remarkable game which saw Ottawa clinch first place in the East Division while Saskatchewan and Montreal kept the excitement going right to the end.
The final tables are here.

 

 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers 11 – 21 Toronto Argonauts

The Argonauts broke their losing streak on Friday and enjoyed a solid preparation for their coming play-off game. Ricky Ray and Trevor Harris both had time at quarterback and both threw touchdown passes to Dave Stalla. Meantime Dionte Spencer led the offence in receiving with 123 yards and Chad Kackert in rushing with 89. The defence was solid and kept the Bombers out of the end zone all night.

For Winnipeg's last game of the season they gave ex Atlanta Falcon Dominique Davis a try out at QB. Jamaal Westerman had two sacks while Khalil Bass kept up his claim for rookie of the year honours by leading the defence with nine tackles, taking him to 102 for the season.

In a ceremony at half time the Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea was inducted into the Argonauts all-time team, honouring his many years played as a star of Toronto's defence. A banner with his number 50 was hung up though in the Rogers Centre though presumably it won't be there for long as this was the last time the Argos will play there.
highlights

 

 

Hamilton Tiger-Cats 28 – 44 Ottawa Redblacks

The Redblacks completed the leap from worst to first in the East Division as they clinched top place with a storming performance over Hamilton. It was a night of broken records. Greg Ellingson caught three touchdown passes and made 152 yards, making him the fourth Ottawa receiver to reach 1000 yards this season. Four one thousand yard receivers on one team has only been achieved twice previously in CFL history. Henry Burris threw a total of six touchdowns on the day and with his 28 pass completions he set a new record total for a season at 481.

The Redblacks raced out to 17-0 first quarter lead before Hamilton replaced Jacory Harris with Jeremiah Masoli at QB and fought back to lead 20-17 at halftime. Masoli ran in one TD and passed to Andy Fantuz for another. Credit the scores however to an Eric Norwood interception return and a 63 yard Terrell Sinkfield Jnr punt return, both of which were stopped just short of the line. The Tiger-Cats chances of getting the six point win they needed looked good at that point and they kept the excitement level high with a third quarter touchdown when Rico Murray scored from their onside punt routine. Brandon Banks produced the highlight of the night when he ran a missed Ottawa extra point all the way for two points at the other end. In the end though Ottawa were too strong and Burris threw touchdowns to Sinopoli, Williams, Lavoie and Ellingson again to make the win comfortable.
Hamilton will now host Toronto in next week's Divisional Semi-final. Ottawa will play the winner a week later for a place in the Grey Cup.
highlights

 

 

Calgary Stampeders 28 – 7 BC Lions

With the teams due to meet in next week's West semi-final game lots of starters were rested and the teams were going through the motions. BC had Travis Lulay back at QB while Bo Levi Mitchell's understudy, Drew Tate, led Calgary to the win as he threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns.
The point of interest of the night was the race for the rushing title. BC's Andrew Harris ran for 42 yards before sitting down before half time and he finished on 1039 yards for the season. Jerome Messam made 59 yards on the night and finished with a total of 1003.

highlights

 

Saskatchewan Roughriders 30 – 24 Montreal Alouettes
The final game of the regular season on Sunday brought us one last overtime thriller though there was nothing but pride at stake. Both quarterbacks were making their starting debuts. Keith Price played the first half for the Riders before being replaced by Brett Smith. The big news though was that Montreal's Brandon Bridge became the first Canadian since 1996 to start at QB and to throw a touchdown pass (or two).

The Als were leading comfortably until Brett Smith came in at QB for Saskatchewan late in the game and threw three touchdowns, the last one in overtime to earn the Riders their third win and avoid this being worst ever season.

Points of pride for the Als were that running back Tyrell Sutton ran for 139 yards on 22 carries, enough for him to steal the year's rushing title from Andrew Harris, while John Bowman took the sack title with three on the night and a season's total of 19.
Both teams have a lot of work to do before they play again next year, not least they both need new head coaches.
highlights

CFL Week 20 Preview

Article by Duncan Gray - submitted Friday 6th

It's going to be a low key final week of the regular season. In three of the games there's nothing to play for apart from player's individual records. The exception will be Saturday's East Division title decider between Ottawa and Hamilton. There's no live TV coverage in the UK this week.

 

As part of the publicity for the Grey Cup in Winnipeg, an interactive illuminated sign has been erected which reacts to Twitter messages. If you use the hashtag #greycup and then the hashtag of a team the sign will change to the team's colours.
Meantime the CFL have announced that Grammy-nominated rock group Fall Out Boy will perform at the Nissan Titan Halftime Show.

 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Toronto Argonauts – Friday
Winnipeg have missed out on post season football for the fourth straight year and there's a lot of dissatisfaction coming from their fanbase, mainly aimed at the front office. It's probably just as well they're away this week or it could have become ugly. Quarterback Dominique Davis is getting a try-out in their starting line-up.
The game should be the Argonauts last ever fixture at the Rogers Centre and no one is sorry about it. They've been second class tenants in the dome and were forced to play four home games on the road this year. It's to their credit that they've done so well despite all the travel. The players and staff have already been to their new venue, BMO Field, for a look around, but the business at hand is to get back on track for the East semi-final after three consecutive losses. Since he was brought back into the line-up veteran quarterback Ricky Ray hasn't performed as well as he used to (the CFL's version of Peyton Manning?) but  he will start this game. Trevor Harris should get a chance to compete for the job though. Kicker Patrick Swayze will return from injury again.

The Game of the Week – Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ottawa Redblacks  - Saturday
The Redblacks are on the verge of a remarkable feat. From finishing dead last in the CFL last year with a 2&16 record they're just one game away from winning the East Division. Ottawa have a one game lead in the table so the Tiger-Cats need a result to level the number of wins. If they do the title will be decided on head to head record. Effectively this is a European football style two leg aggregate match, and Ottawa have a six point lead from the first game.
If that wasn't enough of a disadvantage for Hamilton they'll be without quarterback Jeff Matthews who suffered a concussion last week. The starter will be a third stringer, either Jacory Harris or Jeremiah Masoli.
Henry Burris should become the only QB to start all 18 games this season while the Ottawa offence will be chasing an unusual record. If Greg Ellingson can make 81 yards then they'll have four receivers who've made 1000 yards in the season. Burris himself needs 26 completions to set a season record.

 

Calgary Stampeders at BC Lions -  Saturday
These teams will meet again next week in the West semi-final, so don't expect them to make any great effort in this one. There will be plenty chances for back up players to get reps and they'll probably start running out the clock in the first quarter. Both sides have already announced a change at quarterback, Drew Tate comes in for the Stampeders, Travis Lulay for the Lions.
The seasons rushing title is up for grabs in this game. BC's Andrew Harris is the leader and he only needs 3 yards to make his 1000 for the season. Calgary's Jerome Messam starts 50 yards behind. The question is will either of them get enough carries to make a difference? In the defensive stats the Lion's linebacker Adam Bighill has a 10 tackle lead over the Roughriders' Jeff Knox Jnr to defend.

Saskatchewan Roughriders at Montreal Alouettes – Sunday
The final game of the regular season features the bottom team of each division. Both have Acting Head Coaches who are unlikely to keep the role for next year and they've only pride to play for. If the Riders can't get a result their season record will be 2&16, the team's worst ever. For the Als it's the first time they've missed out on the post season since the team moved to Montreal twenty years ago.

Edmonton Eskimos are on the bye week. They also have a bye for the first round of the play-offs. The players have been given the luxury of a ten day holiday before they get back to training for the Western Final on the 22^nd.

This week's TV Schedule Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Totonto Argonauts – recorded Sunday morning November 8th, 07:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Calgary Stampeders at BC Lions- recorded Sunday evening November 8th, 22:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ottawa Redblacks – recorded Monday evening November 9th, 19:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Saskatchewan Roughriders at Montreal Alouettes – recorded Tuesday morning November 10th, 10:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN

 

 

CFL Week 19 Review

Article by Duncan Gray

We've had the second last week of the regular season and we now know which six teams are still on the Road to the Grey Cup. The weekend went as follows:

 

BC Lion 27 – 25 Toronto Argonauts

The Argos finally got to play a home game in the Rogers Centre on Friday but it turned out to be BC Lions and quarterback Jonathan Jennings night. Jennings threw two touchdowns and eclipsed his veteran opposite number Ricky Ray who was making his first start of the season.

 

Saskatchewan Roughriders 19 - 42 Calgary Stampeders
Calgary had a comfortable win over the league's bottom side on Saturday to keep the pressure on Edmonton. Bo Levi Mitchell threw three touchdown passes, two to Eric Rogers while Jerome Messam ran for 121 yards against his former team mates.

 

Ottawa Redblacks 12 - 6 Hamilton Tiger-Cats
It's advantage to the Redblacks in the race for the East title. Play at Tim Hortons Field was affected by a strong wind  and with the Division to be won over back to back games this was a cagey affair. In fact all of the scoring came from field goals and they were all kicked with the wind at the kickers back. The TiCats had a couple of opportunities to score a touchdown but interceptions thrown by Jeff Matthews left them trailing.

 

Montreal Alouettes 22 - 40 Edmonton Eskimos

The last game of the weekend decided the West Division play-off places. The result, Edmonton's eighth win in a row, clinched first place in the table for the Eskimos while it also put an end to Montreal's chances of stealing the third play-off spot in the West. The Eskimos took a first quarter lead with the first of three touchdowns thrown by Mike Reilly to the outstanding rookie receiver Derell Walker. However the Als weren't beaten easily and they led after three quarters after Kevin Glenn threw touchdowns to B.J. Cunningham (twice) and Fred Stamps. Edmonton dominated the final period though and made the game safe as Montreal were forced to try desperate third down conversions which didn't come off.

 

 

The Play-off Picture

West Division: Edmonton's have secured first place in the division and home field advantage for the West Final. They now BC Lions have officially finished third as Montreal can no longer overhaul their wins total. BC will travel to Calgary for the semi-final match.

East Division: Toronto are going to have to make do with third place and an away semi final. First place will be decided between Ottawa and Hamilton in Week 20, the loser gets to host the semi-final.

CFL Week 18 Review and Week 19 Preview

Article by Duncan Gray

 

Despite some decisive wins in the Week 18 games the play-off picture hasn't become much clearer. There's still almost everything to play for over the last two weeks of the season.

Next Sunday night's double header starting at 6pm on BT Sport/ESPN is going to be compulsive viewing.

 

The Week 18 games

Montreal Alouettes 34 – 2 Toronto Argonauts

Playing another home game in Hamilton because of the baseball, Toronto lost their second straight in embarrassing fashion and failed to score an offensive point. Running back Tyrell Sutton led the Als with two touchdowns while Kevin Glenn was solid at QB. John Bowman recorded three sacks and moved into the all-time top ten. Trevor Harris had another poor game as the Argos quarterback and was finally replaced by Ricky Ray in the second half, the first time that the veteran star has played this season.

 

Hamilton Tiger-Cats 13 – 40 BC Lions
The long trip west for the TiCats didn't bring any success as the Lions run of form continues. Jonathon Jennings threw three touchdowns and Andrew Harris got back on track for the rushing title with 119 yards and two TDs.

 

Ottawa Redblacks 27 – 20 Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Henry Burris reached a career total of 60,000 yards passing with his first throw as the Redblacks completed back to back wins over the Bombers. This was a close but scrappy game which Ottawa came through to win late on. Their defence is still firing though, they recorded six sacks and two interceptions on Matt Nichols.

Edmonton Eskimos 35 – 24 Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Riders looked like causing an upset in their last home game of the season when they took a 21-3 lead over the Eskimos early in the second quarter. The third TD was scored on a pass by try-out quarterback Keith Price on his first ever CFL play. However, the Eskimos came back to lead by half time, thanks largely to over 200 yards of passing from Mike Reilly to Adarius Bowman.

 

Highlights of all the games are available through our results page.

The Play-off situation

A quick reminder of how it works, the first place teams in each division get a bye straight to the Divisional Final. The second and third place teams meet in a semi-final, the winner goes to the final. If a fourth place team in one division has a better win/loss record than the third team in the other division then the team with the better record crosses over to take the other's third place play-off place.

The winners of the East and West finals will meet in the Grey Cup game in Winnipeg on November 29^th.

East Division: Toronto have qualified for a top three finish but they cannot now finish first in the Division. The next two weeks has Hamilton and Ottawa meeting in back to back games which will decide who finishes first and goes straight to the final.

West Division: Edmonton play their last regular season game on Sunday and a win will secure first in the division. If they do win they'll go three weeks between games as they have the Week 20 bye and then the first round play-off bye. That's not necessarily a good thing. If the Eskimos slip up then Calgary can steal the division by winning their last two games.
BC Lions now lead the race for the third spot with six wins. Montreal also have six but need to finish with one more than BC to achieve the crossover. Winnipeg have fallen a game behind and with only one left to play they'll be eliminated without playing this week if either of the others wins. In fact BC can clinch the play-off place this week if they win and and Montreal loses.

 

 

This week's TV Schedule Ottawa Redblacks at Hamilton Tiger-Cats – LIVE Sunday evening November 1, 18:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Montreal Alouettes at Edmonton Eskimos – LIVE Sunday evening November 1, 21:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN BC Lions at Toronto Argonauts – recorded Monday morning November 2,  00:30hrs BT Sport ESPN Saskatchewan Roughriders at Calgary Stampeders – recorded Monday morning November 2,  09:00hrs BT Sport ESPN

 

Week 19 Game Previews

 

Toronto Argonauts should finally get to play a proper home game at the Rogers Centre on Friday as the Blue Jays MLB season came to an end last week. Their form has collapsed in the last two games (playing four games in 17 days doesn't help) while the visiting BC Lions are having a late surge behind rookie Jonathon Jennings at quarterback and must fancy their chances. The Toronto QB situation is more of a problem. A couple of weeks ago rumours started to emerge that Trevor Harris, who's been covering for an injured Ricky Ray all year and will be a free agent after the season, is looking for a new contract to make him the CFL's highest paid player. Since then he's played terribly and was finally benched last week with Ray being brought back into action. This game will see Ricky Ray restored to the starting role.

 

 

Calgary Stampeders return after their bye week to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders at McMahon Stadium. Calgary need to win to keep up their chances of winning the division. They'll have running back Jerome Messam in the line up ready to face the team he was traded from just a couple of weeks ago.

 

In the first game of the live on UK TV Sunday night double header, Hamilton Tiger-Cats have home advantage for the first of two decisive games against Ottawa Redblacks. To the winner will go the East Division title. Hamilton have struggled since losing quarterback Zach Calleros a month ago but will be improved as running back CJ Gable has returned to the line up. Ottawa had a scare last week as their QB Henry Burris took a knock in the game at Winnipeg but their stand-in running back William Powell looked good as he ran for over 100 yards in the game.

 

Finally on Sunday night Montreal Alouettes will be away to Edmonton Eskimos. The game between these two earlier in the year was a fascinating defensive battle of field position which Edmonton won 15-12. With so much at stake this game might just be similar.

CFL Week's 15-17 Review

Article by Duncan Gray

It's been a couple of weeks since I've been able to report on what's happening in the CFL so here's the catch up on what's been happening.

 

 

Week 15
Henry Burris threw a record 45 completions as Ottawa Redblacks thrashed the Montreal Alouettes 39-17. The previous record holder, Anthony Calvillo was watching from the opposite sideline.
Jonathon Jennings was the star as BC Lions dumped on Saskatchewan Roughriders 46-20. The BC quarterback threw four touchdown passes and caught one too!
Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders both officially qualified for the play-offs with narrow wins and last minute field goals over Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats respectively. The Bombers kicker Lirim Hajrullahu missed 5 kicks in their game.

 

Week 16
Toronto Argonauts beat Ottawa 38-35 in a wild game. Argo's Chad Owens made an outstanding one handed touchdown catch for the winning score.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats got their first win with Jeff Matthews at quarterback as they saw off  Saskatchewan by an easy 30-15.
Edmonton got a win in Calgary by 15-11. This gave them the lead in the West Division as they now hold the tie breaker over the Stamps.

In the battle for the last play-off place in the West, Winnipeg had a big comeback win over BC Lions. They came back from 14 points down to win 29-26
In Toronto's second game of the week they saw off Montreal 25-17 and took top spot in the East Division.

The Trade Deadline arrived and there were two significant departures from the Saskatchewan Roughriders who have gone into rebuilding mode. Firstly, Montreal signed quarterback Kevin Glenn to cover for Rakeem Cato who's doubtful for the rest of the season after suffering a concussion. Then Calgary signed running back Jerome Messam. This gives the Stampeders the season's second and third top running backs in their backfield.

Week 17
Ottawa beat Winnipeg 27-24 in dreadful weather to secure their first ever play-off spot.

Toronto had to play their home game in Hamilton due to the Blue Jays MLB play-offs and lost to Calgary there by 27-15.
BC Lions had an opportunity but couldn't take advantage of Winnipeg's loss. They surrendered a late lead and finally lost 26-23 after overtime in Edmonton.
Hamilton finally got a win over Montreal on the third attempt of the season, wining 23-11. The highlight was an over the shoulder reception by Luke Tasker.

 

 

 

The Play-off Picture

The three post season places in the East Division have been claimed by Hamilton (10&5), Toronto and Ottawa (both 9&6). The last three regular season games will be needed to sort out the seeding.
In the West Division Edmonton and Calgary (both 12&4) have tied up the top two spots. With two games left the automatic place in the West Final is Edmonton's to lose. The last place is up for grabs is still between Winnipeg, BC and Montreal who have 5 wins each. Montreal would need to finish with more wins than the other two to achieve the crossover from the East.

 

 

This week's games
It's Week 18 and every game has play-off implications. The action starts on Friday night with Toronto Argonauts having to play their home game away in Hamilton again, this time against Montreal Alouettes. Toronto beat Montreal easily a couple of weeks ago but then played badly against Calgary. Montreal will hope Kevin Glenn settles in at QB for this one. However they've lost four in a row and another defeat would pretty well kill their play-off hopes.

The late Friday game is a match up between two young quarterbacks. BC Lions with Jonathon Jennings playing well enough to keep Travis Lulay off the field, host Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Jeff Matthews. It's a long trip for Hamilton on a short week, and BC have been unlucky in recent games.

There's another East to West trip on Saturday for Ottawa Redblacks as they're in Winnipeg to play the Blue Bombers. This one's a match-up of veteran quarterbacks, the Bomber's Matt Nichols against Ottawa's Henry Burris who's in contention for the CFL's Most Outstanding Player award.

The week finishes with Edmonton Eskimos facing the ultimate banana-skin game as they visit Saskatchewan Roughriders. With only two wins through the season this is the Riders last home game and with rookie Brett Smith now established as their quarterback they have a lot of points to prove. Edmonton have won their last six games but haven't always been convincing. They can't afford to lose if they're to finish top of the Division.

 

This week's TV Schedule There's only one live game in the listings so far but hopefully more slots might become available if the Baseball Conference Championship series finish before Game 7. Ottawa Redblacks at Winnipeg Blue Bombers – LIVE Saturday evening October 24, 21:00 hrs –  BT Sport 2 repeat - Monday morning October 26, 10:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Hamilton Tiger-Cats  at BC Lions - recorded Sunday evening October 25, 22:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN repeat - Wednesday morning October 28, 06:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Edmonton Eskimos at Saskatchewan Roughriders – recorded Monday morning October 26, 01:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN repeat - Monday afternoon October 26, 13:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Montreal Alouettes at Toronto Argonauts – recorded Thursday afternoon  October 29, 13:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN

 

 

CFL Week 15 Preview

Preview by Duncan Gray

 

Live TV coverage of the CFL is back on BT Sport this week, including a Saturday afternoon double header which we can watch starting at a respectable time of night. The full schedule is further down the page.

In the news this week
With Swayze Waters back on the injured list Toronto Argonauts brought in a couple of players to cover the kicking duties this week. The players they signed were Michael Palardy and, a couple of days later, Justin Palardy (no relation). Since it's usual in the CFL that one player acts as both kicker and punter there's a suggestion going round that somebody made a boo-boo and signed the wrong Palardy. Argos general manager Jim Barker vehemently denies he would make a mistake like that, after all Michael is a left footer from Florida while Justin is right footed and Canadian. Michael will do the kick-offs and punts, Justin will specialise in field goals.

 

The competition to sign free agent linebacker Henoc Muamba has been won by the Montreal Alouettes who have signed him to a two year, $225K per year contract. Muamba, who was born in the Congo but grew up in Ontario, was named a CFL All-Star with the Blue Bombers in 2013 before playing last season with the Indianapolis Colts. This should boost the Montreal defence who've had to play all season without their first choice LB Bear Woods. Still, the defence has played well so far, you'd think it's the Als' offence that needs shoring up....

The official announcement was finally made this week that the 2016 Grey Cup will be played in Toronto. The venue will be BMO Field, the stadium being redeveloped to host the Argonauts and Toronto FC, rather than the Rogers Centre.

Play-Off Watch
Toronto's win in Ottawa last week moved them up to second in their division and in line to host a semi-final. However there are still lots of ups and downs to come before anything's decided in the East. On the other hand Calgary and Edmonton can both officially qualify for post season football in the West if results go their way this week. In the race for the third place in the West all three teams with a realistic chance lost, so no change there. Montreal still holds the crossover spot.
East: 1 Hamilton, 2 Toronto, 3 Ottawa
West: 1 Calgary, 2 Edmonton, 3 Montreal

 

This week's TV Schedule Montreal Alouettes at Ottawa Redblacks – LIVE Friday morning October 2, 00:30 hrs –  BT Sport 2 repeat - Saturday morning October 3, 07:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Calgary Stampeders at Hamilton Tiger-Cats - recorded Saturday morning October 3, 10:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Edmonton Eskimos at Winnipeg Blue Bombers – LIVE Saturday evening October 3, 21:00 hrs –  BT Sport 1 repeat - Sunday morning October 4, 06:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Saskatchewan Roughriders at BC Lions – LIVE Saturday night October 3, midnight –  BT Sport 1 repeat – Monday afternoon October 5, 15:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN

 

Game of the Week

When last season's Grey Cup teams, Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats met back at the start of the season they served up a thriller which the Stamps won on the last play of the game. They're both sitting on top of their divisions and the Tiger-Cats will be looking for revenge.

Jeff Mathews will make his first start at quarterback for Hamilton. He struggled when he had to come on to replace Zach Collaros in their last game but the team have confidence in the rookie. He's well versed in the system, he played for head coach Kent Austin when they were at Cornell University and he's had two weeks of taking the snaps in training. To help Mathews the Ticats have Bakari Grant restored to their receiving group after injury while Michael Ford returns at running back, replacing Ray Holley. Ford played for Hamilton earlier in the season and has been brought back after a spell with the Atlanta Falcons.

On the Calgary side the offence is running smoothly with Jon Cornish restored at running back and eyeing a run at his fourth rushing title, while the Bo Levi Mitchell to Eric Rogers passing combination leads the league. Their problems are in defence where they had two injury losses last week, both defensive back Joe Burnett and linebacker Juwan Simpson are going to be out for several games. They're bringing in ex NFL defensive back Brandon McDonald who was axed by the Redblacks earlier in the season for indiscipline on the field.

 

The Other Games
Talking of the rushing title, the two leading contenders will face up on Saturday when Andrew Harris and the BC Lions host Jerome Messam and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Harris in particular has been underused in recent games, leading to a lot of fan criticism of the coaching staff, while Messam is seeing more action since the Riders changed the head coach. Travis Lulay has been reactivated off the injured list but rookie quarterback Jonathon Jennings performed well for BC on his starting debut last week and he'll lead the team again.

 

Ottawa Redblacks have had a short week's preparation for their East Division match up against the Montreal Alouettes at TD Place on Thursday. The Redblacks offence, particularly the O line, underperformed against Toronto and they'll be desperate to make amends. However, Montreal's performance in Saskatchewan last week was even worse. Jim Popp has decided that they're reverting to having Rakeem Cato start at quarterback. In nine games this season Cato has thrown nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. The Als are such an inconsistent side that anything could happen here. Watch out for returner Stefan Logan looking to take advantage of Ottawa's weak special teams.

 

The first game of Saturday's double header features Edmonton Eskimos looking for a win over Winnipeg Blue Bombers to secure their place in the play-offs. The Bombers showed up well against Calgary last week and were unlucky when a bad refereeing call denied them the chance of a last gasp result. It will be a big game for QB Matt Nichols who'll be facing old friends. He came over from the Eskimos in a trade last month and played his best game yet for Winnipeg last Friday. Kick returner Kendial Lawrence is an injury doubt for the Eskimos.