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Week 5 brings us another Mike Reilly rematch against his former team in Edmonton and a chance for the Alouettes to slide into second place … or maybe a three-way tie for first in the East Division.
The week starts in BC with Reilly’s second chance against the Eskimos after Edmonton’s Trevor Harris three touchdowns in an impressive performance in Week 2.
The Lions got a taste of victory, albeit against the struggling Toronto Argonauts. And they won on a rouge. But a win is a win and it gives the Lions a little bit of confidence that the work they’re putting in is paying off.
We’ll see if it’s enough to pull off an upset at home.
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The Bombers and Argonauts tangle in a undefeated vs. winless matchup. The Bombers have already shown they’re the class of the CFL. Toronto is having trouble making anything work in the early portion of the season. There aren’t many betting on Toronto, for good reason.
Saturday’s doubleheader on TSN starts with the Alouettes’ William Stanback and company trying to follow up an impressive win over Hamilton with an equally impressive win over Ottawa.
The REDBLACKS were brought back down to earth by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last week. They’ll know what’s coming this week and be much more prepared for Stanback than maybe the Tiger-Cats were last week.
And the finale is against two of the top teams in the CFL and likely the best matchup this week as the Stampeders beat up on Saskatchewan and Hamilton will be highly motivated following their loss in Montreal.
Nick Arbuckle showed the Stamps won’t miss a beat without Bo Levi Mitchell, while the Tiger-Cats are trying to replace their top performer of the first three weeks, Sean Thomas Erlington.
Here are my picks for Week 5.
Edmonton at BC
Thursday | 10:00 p.m. ET
Can Mike Reilly and the Lions make it two-straight with a win on Thursday? (Geoff Robins/CFL.ca)
Mike Reilly will be motivated to show that the player in Edmonton that looked completely off their game is much more prepared. After missing Bryan Burnham last week, he gets him back this week. And the Lions have started to showcase John White out of the backfield.
White is another former Eskimo that may want to stick it to his former team. It is a shorter week for the Lions after playing in Toronto on Saturday, while Edmonton is coming off a bye week.
Harris chewed up the Lions defence and the Eskimos are clearly the favourite coming in. A fresh team who have had mixed results coming off a bye week with a 4-3 record under Jason Maas.
PICK: BC (25 confidence bonus)
Toronto at Winnipeg
Friday | 8:30 p.m. ET
Will the Argonauts get their first win of the season against the red hot Blue Bombers? (Geoff Robins/CFL.ca)
Toronto still has a long way to go, while the Winnipeg Blue Bombers biggest battle this week may have to battle against the mental challenge of taking on an 0-3 team.
Toronto did keep BC to only 18 points last week, but the Bombers offence brings with it a different challenge as Winnipeg has been a pretty well oiled machine this season, while the Lions are still trying to find their game.
Maybe Toronto takes a page out of Montreal’s book and tries to run they way to a win with James Wilder Jr. It feels like someone is going to have to takeover and take the Bomber fans out of it.
PICK: WINNIPEG (95 confidence bonus)
Montreal at Ottawa
Saturday | 4:00 p.m. ET
William Stanback will be looking to build on his three-touchdown performance against Ottawa this week (The Canadian Press)
The REDBLACKS are coming off a game where they saw Harris and Chris Streveler from Winnipeg run wild on them after Matt Nichols was hurt.
Enter William Stanback and another running quarterback in Vernon Adams Jr. and it may not be the matchup best suited for his Ottawa defence.
Dominique Davis will prove this week if the Bombers showed the world that Davis isn’t a bonifide number one quarterback or if he indeed can make his three touchdown performance against Saskatchewan more of the norm.
PICK: MONTREAL (35 confidence bonus)
Calgary at Hamilton
Saturday | 7:00 p.m. ET
Can Masoli out-duel Stampeders QB Nick Arbuckle? (The Canadian Press)
The Riders only win of the season was a dominant showing against Toronto. They gave up three touchdowns against Dominique Davis and Nick Arbuckle had a great day.
So is the Riders defence an easy target this season? Hamilton definitely is not. It will be a much better test for Arbuckle to state his case as a future number one guy in this league.
But, boy oh boy do the Tiger-Cats still have great playmakers on offence. Even without Sean Thomas Erlington running the ball, Anthony Coombs has shown an ability to not only run but he can come out of the back field in the receiving game and test the Stampeders linebackers.
I give the edge to the more proven quarterback with a much more motivated group than the one that seemed has no steam in Montreal.
PICK: HAMILTON (50 confidence bonus)
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Week 5 lineup:
