The CFL season is a marathon. There are many times when teams catch fire and others sputter and in a blink the roles can be reversed.
Sometimes it’s an injury or it’s a coach tweaking something to put players in better situations. And at the third point of the season is when we usually see teams start to rise and others that were hot start to fall.
When you’re making your picks, sometimes you can’t go on the collective of a teams’ five games but on the recent trends on what is happening on their roster and on the field.
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BC AT EDMONTON
Friday, July 17
9:00 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS2/CFL+
The rematch from a few weeks ago when the Lions got their first win is intriguing. The Elks bounced back with Justin Rankin’s hat trick against Ottawa, but the REDBLACKS were right in the thick of it before the fourth quarter got away from them.
The Lions got the game plan to successfully halt Rankin in the rushing game and made the Elks one dimensional. It will be next to impossible to repeat that effort and the Elks will make adjustments on their end for this game.
What I’m intrigued by is what the Lions look like out of the bye week. Last year they were 3-5 until their bye week and then after that they were 8-2 and nearly got into the 112th Grey Cup.
I believe the Lions are going to repeat that effort. It’s time that Nathan Rourke and company turn up the heat on the rest of the West Division to punch themselves back into the fight.
PICK: BC
MONTREAL AT CALGARY
Saturday, July 18
4:00 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS/CBSSN/CFL+
The Stampeders are back home after a battle in Montreal that saw the Alouettes able to hold off a potentially impressive Stamps comeback.
Throughout the game, the Stamps just couldn’t find the opportune stop or turnover to flip the game. The defensive line will need to be better with Travis Theis nearly going for 100 yards rushing on 13 carries. Oh, and Calgary needs to find an answer for Tyson Philpot. He had another epic performance and continues to threaten some CFL records later this year as Philpot is already over 700 yards receiving following five games. That means he’s on pace for well over 2,000 yards.
I’m feeling that Calgary’s defensive line will start to bring the heat as players work their way back from injury. I thought that would be the different last week, but now that they’re at home on the second half of a home-and-home, I’ll go with the Stamps… again.
PICK: CALGARY
TORONTO AT HAMILTON
Saturday, July 18
7:30 p.m. ET
TSN/CFL+
The Tiger-Cats without Bo Levi Mitchell looked uneven. And you can understand why, as they lost their first ballot Hall of Famer quarterback.
Jake Dolegala or Tre Ford will need to be a lot more efficient than Dolegala was in game one. But after Kiondré Smith’s passionate post-game interview and his defence of Dolegala, I feel that this is not good news for Toronto this week.
The Argonauts are also facing Wynton McManis, who brought his toothpick with him to Hamilton and I’m sure would like to get one over on the Argos.
The smart money is on Chad Kelly and the Argonauts handling business, but the Argonauts defensive line does get hurt by being unable to provide a constant pass rush. Jake Dolegala or Tre Ford with more time means they’ll have an easier time picking the opponents apart.
The Tiger-Cats are going to have a bounce-back this week against their rival.
PICK: HAMILTON
WINNIPEG AT OTTAWA
Sunday, July 19
7:00 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS2/CBSSN/CFL+
Whether it’s Jake Maier or McLeod Bethel-Thompson for Ottawa and whether it’s Zach Collaros or Dru Brown, overall we’re seeing how good Winnipeg’s defence is.
The offence in Winnipeg is having trouble scoring, but Ottawa is also having a hard time generating offence.
That’s why I’ll side with the better defence on the road in Ottawa. Then you add in the possibility of Brady Oliveira and Nic Demski having big games and I have a hard time predicting that Ottawa gets the job done at the third point of the season.
PICK: WINNIPEG
