Week 9 brought us one division-shaking upset out west, a near-miss for the Ottawa REDBLACKS and plenty of #TotalPickEm action.
There is a new player atop the global leaderboard — reminder: $5,000 end-of-season grand prize for the winner — in Burzmiester5, who went 3-0 on the week and holds an incredible 29-5 record overall.
Let’s take a look at how things shook down in Week 9.
Confirmed: Travis Lulay has rejuvenated BC’s offence.
Also confirmed: Edmonton is still its own worst enemy when it comes to discipline.
Can you hear that? Those are the sobs of 83 per cent of pick’em players.
With Toronto (2-5) and Saskatchewan (3-4) on the schedule, the Lions are starting to look like a viable play moving forward. Especially if the offensive line tightens up and Jeremiah Johnson gets back to full health.
While we and plenty of others pegged the Ticats as a strong upset pick, the Bombers pulled through and had IGF rocking throughout.
Neither Winnipeg nor Hamilton instilled confidence with their performance over 60 minutes.
Winnipeg has Ottawa (5-3) and Calgary (7-0) ahead on the schedule, and should be treated with caution in both those matchups.
Hamilton, meanwhile, continues to under-perform despite a solid roster and persistently high expectations. They head into a bye week at 3-5, and will likely be heavy underdogs against Edmonton in Week 11.
It wasn’t the blowout many expected — Ottawa was favoured by 14 points — but the REDBLACKS got the job done against a game Alouettes team.
Saturday’s result promises excitement in the East: Ottawa looked far from a dominant, first-place outfit, while Montreal looked markedly better on both sides of the ball than in previous weeks.
The Als led by six in the fourth quarter, and that would have thrown a big-time wrench into the plans of; luckily for over 90 per cent of pick’em players, William Powell sprinted into the end zone with 15 seconds left to save the day.
Still, the power balance in the East is far from set in stone.
Week 9: 1-2
Season: 22-12 (.647)
