Weekly Predictor: Will the Riders, Stamps keep rolling?

TORONTO — The Riders’ overtime win in Ottawa; Winnipeg’s victory over the Lions; the Esks doubling up the Als in Montreal and the Stampeders trampling the Argos led to CFL.ca’s Jamie Nye to a 1-4 record last week.

This week Nye looks to turn his record around in his Weekly Predictor.

CFL Pick ‘Em returns with more up for grabs than ever before because this season more than $130,000 in combined cash and prizes are up for grabs.*

Pick 30 in a row, win $30,000; pick 40, win $40,000; think you can pick 50 straight? You’re looking at $50,000. *View rules regarding streaks and prizing.

Here’s Jamie Nye with his picks for Week 17:

» CFL PICK ‘EM: MAKE YOUR PICKS TODAY

OTTAWA @ HAMILTON

Will Henry Burris lead the REDBLACKS to a win in the battle for first? (CFL.ca)

The Ottawa REDBLACKS are going back to Henry Burris and the Tiger-Cats are going back to Jeremiah Masoli because Zach Collaros can’t play.

It’s the same matchup you saw in the Eastern Final last year when Burris ended it late with a miraculous touchdown to Greg Ellingson. (My apologies to Ed Gainey for bringing this up.)

The Tiger-Cats also had a busy week signing a few veterans as well as swinging a trade with the Roughriders for defensive end Justin Capicciotti and offensive lineman Xavier Fulton. How will all this change translate to the field, it shall be interesting. The offence in Hamilton hasn’t been great, scoring 21, 20, 18 and 17 points in their last four game respectively.

Ottawa seems to be consistently around the 30s, although Chris Williams is out for the season. However, with the other weapons they have in Ottawa, I think they’re unlikely to miss a beat.

» PICK: OTTAWA (25% confidence)

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WINNIPEG @ BC

Can the Bombers make it a sweep this week against the Lions? (The Canadian Press)

Friday night should be a fantastic night. A battle for first in the East and a battle for second in the West.

The Bombers and Lions went down the wire in Winnipeg and the Lions feel they got robbed because of a questionable challenge. These two teams are tied up with nine wins a piece and with home field on the line in the West Semi, this is going to be another fantastic playoffesque football game.

I’m going to side with the home field advantage and maybe a little bit of redemption on the mind of the Lions, who got off to a slow start against Winnipeg last week.

» PICK: BC (30% confidence)

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SASKATCHEWAN @ TORONTO

Can Darian Durant lead his team to their fourth straight victory? (The Canadian Press)

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have a lot of good things going on. The Toronto Argonauts do not.

The Riders were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs but I’m not sure that’s going to impact their effort. This team is starting to believe in one another and they’ve rattled off three straight wins.

The Argonauts are not believing in one another. In four straight games, the Argonauts have lost by two touchdowns or more. Drew Willy is still trying to find some chemistry with his new team and will now go up against the team that gave him his first chance, in Saskatchewan.

I think it’ll be his former mentor Darian Durant who comes out with the bigger day, although the team is scrambling a bit to fill the receiving corps. However, the Riders much improved defence could likely have the most to say about the result at BMO Field.

» PICK: SASKATCHEWAN (50% confidence)

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MONTREAL @ CALGARY

Will DaVaris Daniels’ Stampeders keep their winning streak alive? (The Canadian Press)

There is no doubt the Alouettes are in tough on in Calgary. Montreal has to drastically cut down on the unforced errors if they’re going to challenge the league’s best team.

It’s the number one offence in Calgary against the number nine offence in Montreal. So, it’ll be up to the Alouettes number two ranked defence to out duel the number one ranked Stampeder defence.

I’m not going to bet against the Stamps in this one.

» PICK: CALGARY (99% confidence)

CFL on DraftKings

With CFL now on DraftKings, Nye checks in with his weekly fantasy roster. Set your lineup today!

The matchup of the number one ranked team in the league against the Montreal Alouettes is one you can’t ignore. Bo Levi Mitchell, DaVaris Daniels, Calgary Stampeders defence. I won’t be surprised if a few go down the lineup and rely on the Stamps to have another big day like they did on Thanksgiving.

You could easily try to fit Jerome Messam and others in the lineup but for the sake of conversation for other games.

Andrew Harris returning to B.C. Place should be interesting. He’ll be motivated to leap frog his former team in the standings and with over 100 yards combined and a touchdown, I’m going back to Harris if I’m the Bombers.

There are a tonne of injuries to the Saskatchewan Roughriders receiving corps so going with Caleb Holley could yield some nice return, or Rob Bagg. Those two receivers have spent the most time with Durant during the team’s winning streak.

Brandon Whitaker had his worst game of the season, but he’s never had back-to-back below 10 point weeks this year. I trust a bounce back game as the Argos offensive scheme should revolve around him in the run game and pass game. He’s one of the few guys that know the offence inside out.

Finally, Juron Criner or Khalil Paden. Your guess is better mine on which player will be looked on the most after Chris Williams knee injury. Paden was released last week but has now returned, while Criner has most recently had a game of 91-yards and that’s who I’m going with this week.