July 27, 2022

Weekly Predictor: Siding with the Stampeders

Jason Halstead/CFL.ca

There’s nothing better than going perfect during a prediction week.

Why? Because it’s rare form around here to be honest.

However, this week is a week where you can make a reasonable case for all eight teams to win. There should be no big under dog and it’s great to have all four games be division rivalries.

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I know it’s only late July but with how the season is shaping up, these games could have serious implications come November when it comes down to who is in and who is out.

Montreal at Hamilton
Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET

The Ticats will be looking for win number 2 this week against the Alouettes (Geoff Robins/CFL.ca)

I don’t know what it is about the Hamilton Tiger-Cats but you feel like it’s going to click soon. They’re right there with games against Calgary, Edmonton and BC.

Or maybe it’s the recent history of success for Hamilton and it’s hard to believe they’ve fallen off as the back-to-back East champs. Dane Evans still has to protect the ball better but he also needs to start leading this offence into the end zone. The Tiger-Cats have one of the lowest drive to touchdown ratios.

The Montreal Alouettes, however, are quite proficient at getting the ball into the end zone and Trevor Harris is coming off a week as the league’s top performer.

The momentum should be on Montreal’s side after winning for the first time with Danny Maciocia as the head coach and the team should be coming along with the new direction on offence and defence.

A little twist to this game is the hiring of Khari Jones by Hamilton two weeks ago as a football ops consultant. I’m sure he’ll be offering some consulting on his former team this week.

I do believe Dane Evans will settle down with this offence and the touchdowns will start to come and this is the week.

PICK: HAMILTON (50 confidence bonus)

BC at Saskatchewan
Friday, 9:00 p.m. ET

Can the Riders bounce back after two-straight losses against the Toronto Argonauts? (Riderville.com)

The Roughriders receiving group this week will include Duke Williams and the quarterback is once again Cody Fajardo. Right there should give Rider Nation a nice warm feeling going into Friday’s game. And if you’re wondering about a short week, well, the Riders do get a bunch of players back who weren’t playing on Sunday so they shouldn’t be too warn down.

Fajardo and the head coach admitted the QB is impacted by a damaged MCL, so we’ll continue to see a limited Fajardo when it comes to running the football but you know offensive coordinator Jason Maas will be running a far deeper playbook this week.

BC comes to Regina with a trend they’ll want to correct. They’ve scored fewer points than the week previous all season. Last week was 17 points. Are CFL defensive coordinators finding out how to defend against Nathan Rourke? Or has this just been a weird anomaly that will correct itself soon?

All I know is, it’s terribly difficult to beat the Roughriders at home and even more rare to watch the Riders lose back-to-back games at home in consecutive weeks, let alone five days.

PICK: SASKATCHEWAN (25 confidence bonus)

Winnipeg at Calgary
Saturday 7:00 p.m. ET

Calgary is back from their bye and will be looking to hand the Bombers their first loss of the season (The Canadian Press)

I know I’ve declared I’m not picking against Winnipeg until they actually start losing football games. But I also never listen to myself when I give myself good advice.

I also know the Stampeders are 12-2 after a bye week with Dave Dickenson as the head coach. Now, it doesn’t help they have some key players out this week due to illness after returning back from their week of rest, so you see how torn I am on this prediction already.

However, this will be the eighth-straight week for the Bombers without a bye. They’re starting to wear down as injuries pile up each week for Winnipeg, including three offensive linemen missing for the Bombers at their first practice of the week.

Bo Levi Mitchell is getting more and more comfortable and confident as the weeks move on and the quick release of Mitchell should slow down the pass rush of the Bombers, although Willie Jefferson may also get a half dozen knockdowns if he can’t get to Bo.

Dalton Schoen and Malik Henry are having breakout seasons for both sides and we’ll see if their impressive start to the season continues.

But this will also be a battle of the defences. This matchup features two of the best defences in the league through the first seven weeks and while Mitchell and Collaros have been great to start the season, this could be a low scoring slug fest.

PICK: CALGARY (50 confidence bonus)

Ottawa at Toronto
Sunday, 5:00 p.m. ET

Andrew Harris had a monster game against the Riders last week – will he do it again this week? (Riderville.com)

The Toronto Argonauts’ back-to-back wins against Saskatchewan could spell doom for the rest of the East Division. You could see the Argonauts gaining confidence in the fourth quarter of last week’s game and Andrew Harris and the offensive line found their legs of moving opponents off the ball.

However, Toronto is a -8 in turnover ratio and it’s hard to believe they got out of Saskatchewan with a win after five turnovers on the day.

The biggest difference for me in this matchup is the Argonauts know who they are and who they want on the field to win. Ottawa is trying to still figure some of those things and get the chemistry as a cohesive unit on both sides of the ball.

Ottawa is 0-6 and only have one loss that is by more than a touchdown. I know this isn’t horseshoes or hand grenades but at some point the bounce/break will fall their way. But I don’t think it’ll be this week.

PICK: TORONTO (75 confidence bonus)

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