Weekly Predictor: REDBLACKS fuming for redemption

Jamie Nye

CFL.ca

@jamienye

After letting a lead slip away to the hands of McLeod Bethel-Thompson and the Argos in his first CFL start, the Ottawa REDBLACKS will be itching to get back on the field and redeem themselves as the top dog in the East Division with a matchup against the Montreal Alouettes.

Also, will Matt Nichols be the difference maker in the meeting between the Blue Bombers and Tiger-Cats? Afterall, he was still out on injury when the Tabbies enjoyed a 31-17 victory at home the last time these two teams met.

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With the first game tabbed to kick off on Thursday, here are my picks for Week 9 of the CFL season.

EDMONTON @ B.C.

Thursday | 10:00 p.m. ET

Travis Lulay will be needing to find a way to spark the Leos if BC hopes to be any serious threat in the West Division. (The Canadian Press)

The Edmonton Eskimos match up very well against the B.C. Lions as the secondary has had trouble for the Lions, while it’s well documented how well a season Mike Reilly has put together throwing the football.

With Vidal Hazelton back practising, it shows the tremendous depth the Eskimos have in the receiving corps even if Hazelton doesn’t crack the lineup in the first game of the season. The Eskimos offence took a dip with centre Justin Sorensen injured against the Riders but he is also back practising, which will be good news for this high powered offence.

Travis Lulay needs to find a spark for the Lions to start to threaten the other four teams in the division for a playoff spot. The Lions have also started the season 1-3 against the West. A losing record against your own division is almost guaranteed to keep you from the postseason.

PICK: EDMONTON (50% confidence)

HAMILTON @ WINNIPEG

Friday | 8:30 p.m. ET

The biggest difference between now and the previous meeting between the Bombers and Ticats was that Matt Nichols remained on the club’s injury list. (The Canadian Press)

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats got off their losing streak with a dominant win over an overmatched Alouette team with Johnny Manziel getting chewed up by the Tiger-Cats defence.

But I saw something else from the Tiger-Cats, more than just the interceptions. Alex Green‘s return to the lineup had them hand the ball off 15 times and have some success.

A strong run game is important and I think they can carry that over to this week’s game against the Bombers. The Bombers had trouble stopping the run game by Hamilton in Week 3.

The biggest difference from that game to this week is Matt Nichols was on the sideline in that 31-17 loss to Hamilton. I think we see some big points scored in this game.

My upset of the week is Hamilton winning on the road.

PICK: HAMILTON (15% confidence)

MONTREAL @ OTTAWA

Saturday | 8:00 p.m. ET

The REDBLACKS will still be fuming, maybe even sizzling after they let a lead slip away from them last week against the Argos. (The Canadian Press)

The REDBLACKS will be fuming after blowing that lead to Toronto last week and what a week to try and recover from a devastating loss.

Johnny Manziel looks like a raw rookie CFL quarterback and Ottawa has a stout defence, that deflated in the second half of the game against Toronto. I think aside from that brutal half, Ottawa has the best defence in the East Division and look at what Hamilton did to the Alouettes.

Will there be any improvement from Manziel? Of course. Will there be fewer interceptions? You’d hope so. But I still think it was apparent last week that it may be too much, too soon for Manziel.

PICK: OTTAWA (95% confidence)

TSN CFL Fantasy Picks

QUARTERBACK – TREVOR HARRIS – I’m guessing the REDBLACKS are able to put up some points against the worst defence in the league and I think they’ll do it through the air and on the ground.

RUNNING BACKS – WILLIAM POWELL AND ALEX GREEN – Powell’s reasoning is above. Green, I like in his second game back being better than his first. I think he is becoming one of the underrated backs in the CFL and could have a great season after missing the first six weeks with an injury.

RECEIVERS – GREG ELLINGSON AND CHRIS WILLIAMS – These are two flyers at receiver but Ellingson’s season has to pick up sometime, right? And against Montreal would be a great opportunity to spark his season. Chris Williams will test the Bombers deep and you know that Masoli is good from 300 yards passing. I think a high scoring game in Winnipeg has the makings for a lot of players to pick up good fantasy points. Williams is also a great budget flyer.

FLEX – EUGENE LEWIS – An offensive player from Montreal on a fantasy team may surprise you but Lewis appeared to be among the favourite targets of Manziel and if a new quarterback has some chemistry, look for him to keep throwing it his way and needing to, down by plenty with time to spare.

DEFENCE – OTTAWA – You don’t actually need an explanation here do you? I hope not.

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