3DownNation CFL best bets: Week 7

Photo: Handout/CFL

It’s Week 7 in the Canadian Football League, with this week’s slate giving us rematches and rivalries to dig into.

We went 2-2 last week, so let’s see if we can tilt it back in our favour this week.

Montreal Alouettes at Calgary Stampeders — Saturday, July 18 at 4:00 p.m. EDT

Our first play this week comes from Friday Night Football with a Stampeders and Alouettes matchup that’s so nice we get it twice.

These two teams met last week, with Montreal winning 37-30. My pick in that one was Calgary, but as soon as the game started, you could see where that was going to go wrong.

I like a lot of what Calgary can do, but their secondary is a major issue. The Stamps have allowed the second-most passing yards per game in the league this year. That is a problem when you are facing Davis Alexander, Tyson Philpot, and the rest of the Montreal passing attack.

Tyson Philpot is on an incredible tear this year with 719 yards in the first five games of the season. That total would have put him No. 25 in the league last season, which is remarkable considering how early in the year it is.

He had 132 yards against Calgary and his twin brother Jalen last week, and I think he could do that — or close to it — again this week.

Pick: Montreal -1.5, Tyson Philpot Over 97.5 yards

Toronto Argonauts at Hamilton Tiger-Cats — Saturday, July 18 at 7:30 p.m. EDT

These are two Ontario teams looking to rebound after disappointing losses last week.

The Ticats haven’t been able to pass the ball since Bo Levi Mitchell got hurt, and the Argos have the last-ranked passing defence in the league. It’s like an easily stoppable force meeting an incredibly moveable object.

It’ll be interesting to see which struggling unit can get the better of the other. My thought is that Toronto’s pass rush should be enough to throw off what Hamilton will be trying to do.

On the other side, the Argos offence should be an intriguing (and better quality) matchup against the Ticats defence.

Hamilton gave up 38 points last week, but they weren’t put in the best spot defensively. Seven of those points came off a long pick-six for Saskatchewan, so it’s not a good summary of how that unit played.

Meanwhile, Toronto is coming off its lowest-scoring output of the season, but still has an offence that can be very difficult to deal with.

Even if Hamilton’s offence can limit Chad Kelly and the rest of this Argos team, I don’t believe their offence can do enough to get them the win in a low-scoring game.

Pick: Toronto -5.5, Under 55.5

Peter Klein is a Saskatchewan-born, Calgary-based CFL analyst. He is a lifelong fan who has been covering the league across multiple platforms for the last 17 years.