Weekly Predictor: Expectations high for Round 2 of cat fight

Jamie Nye

CFL.ca

@jamienye

What an incredible Week 15 we just had.

The Tiger-Cats had a late lead slip away in the literal final seconds, watching the Lions force overtime with an incredible series of plays, and frankly unbelievable as well. Can the Ticats and Leos come up with as much excitement again in Week 16 as the back-to-back series shifts to the Hammer?

Matt Nichols and the Blue Bombers are looking desperate as they try to ensure their playoff berth as time ticks away at their season. They’ll be facing a likely confident Edmonton Eskimos team who is sitting with a 5-1 home record and are likely wanting to quickly correct the blemish that took place in Ottawa last week.

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With the first game tabbed to kick off on Friday, here are my picks for Week 12 of the CFL season.

TORONTO @ CALGARY

Friday | 9:00 p.m. ET

McLeod Bethel-Thompson and the rest of the Boatmen head to McMahon Stadium on Friday, the place where nobody has been able to knock the Stamps off of their pedestal. (The Canadian Press)

The Toronto Argonauts go where no one has won before. The Calgary Stampeders are 6-0 at home so far this season. The talk in Calgary is over how they are going to survive all the injuries in the receiving corps. Kamar Jorden and Davaris Daniels are out but Eric Rogers may be ready to return.

Calgary also has seen Reggie Begelton rise into a big play role with the team and others have stepped up as well. Romar Morris has run well with Don Jackson out.

Toronto is trying to bounce back after a heartbreaking loss to Saskatchewan after kicker Zachery Medeiros missed two late field goals. Bear Woods is also out and the Toronto defence continues to struggle.

PICK: CALGARY (95% confidence)

B.C. @ HAMILTON

Saturday | 4:00 p.m. ET

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are expected to have Brandon Banks back in their lineup after he returned to practice this week leading up to the tail end of a back-to-back series against BC. (Johany Jutras, CFL.ca)

The second half of a back to back and the default is to go with the home team after they just lost on the road. Hamilton blew a late lead with a questionable coaching decision. The Lions also forced overtime with a ridiculous Bryan Burnham catch along the sideline.

What do these two teams have for an encore after a classic? I hope more of the same.

I’m interested to see how both teams respond after an emotional game. Do the Lions continue their rise after three straight wins? Can the Tiger-Cats end a two-game losing streak.

The Lions have only won one game on the road and that was against the struggling Montreal Alouettes.

PICK: HAMILTON (50% confidence)

WINNIPEG @ EDMONTON

Saturday | 7:00 p.m. ET

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will be desperate for a win against the Eskimos, and leaning on Andrew Harris‘ grit might just keep this one close. (The Canadian Press)

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have to play desperate football as they begin a tough five-game stretch to finish off the season. The Bombers play games against teams above .500 mark. They’re 0-5 in games already played against their final opponents.

The Edmonton Eskimos won’t make it easy on them as they are 5-1 at home. Mike Reilly and company will be trying to erase that loss to Ottawa last week as the Eskimos try to chase down Saskatchewan for the second spot in the West Division as they will play the Riders next week.

The Bombers are also banged up with some potential big names that may not be able to play on Saturday.

PICK: EDMONTON (66% confidence)

SASKATCHEWAN @ MONTREAL

Sunday: 1:00 p.m. ET

Johnny Manziel has faced nothing like the Saskatchewan pass-rush, and may just be in for a long afternoon when Sunday’s game gets underway. (Johany Jutras, CFL.ca)

I fear for Johnny Manziel in this game. His offensive line gave up five sacks last week against Winnipeg and now they have Willie Jefferson and Charleston Hughes to contend with. Good luck.

William Stanback will need to have a big part to try and slow down that pass rush. William Powell and James Wilder Jr. have been able to pile up some yards against the Riders defence in the last two weeks.

The Riders defence also is fast and it’ll be tough for Manziel to extend plays with his legs. The Riders offence also started scoring touchdowns last week, with Zach Collaros throwing multiple touchdowns for the first time of the season. I think we see that carry over into this weeks game against Montreal.

PICK: SASKATCHEWAN (95% confidence)

TSN Fantasy Picks

QUARTERBACK – ZACH COLLAROS – OK, this is the last time I’m going with Collaros due to his favourable price tag. Two touchdowns last week for Collaros and the drops continue to mount with his receivers so it’s limiting what Collaros can do. I think those things are cleaned up and Collaros carries momentum from last week into this week’s game.

RUNNING BACKS – WILLIAM STANBACK / ROMAR MORRIS – Stanback is the ultimate dump-off target for Johnny Manziel so he could pick up some decent PPR without necessarily the yards. His price tag is still decent to be able to make some big investments elsewhere. Romar Morris looks good running the ball for Calgary. You’ll want to watch for the depth chart in case Don Jackson returns.

RECEIVERS – DUKE WILLIAMS / NIC DEMSKI / REGGIE BEGELTON – Williams is so tough to cover and I think this is a favourable matchup for the big target, who can also move well for his size. As I mentioned about the injuries in Winnipeg, one of those is Andrew Harris. If he’s out and maybe Darvin Adams there will be targets to go around for Nic Demski to pick up. And Reggie Begelton has back to back 150-yard receiving games. C’Mon! He is clearly the next one to become a favourite of Bo Levi Mitchell and that is dangerous, while his price is cheap.

DEFENCE – SASKATCHEWAN – Against an offence that turns over the ball and allows as many sacks as Montreal does. Saskatchewan defence should have a big Sunday.

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