Weekly Predictor: Who wins in Week 6?

Jamie Nye

CFL.ca

@jamienye

Any week that has a CFL fan winning $1,000,000 is a great week!

Week 5 was loaded with big plays and a big win by the Calgary Stampeders over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the inaugural Stampede Bowl!

The win should have every CFL fan perking up a bit to pay closer attention to the rebuilt Stampeders team, who I thought would take some time to gel and grow at the start of the season.

Instead, Calgary has come out of the gate with purpose and a 3-1 record as they’ll try to hand the Roughriders its’ first loss of the season on Friday Night Football.

Alberta teams won on the same week for just the third time since the start of the 2023 season with the Elks bringing down the REDBLACKS.

And a shoutout to Bo Levi Mitchell and Kenny Lawler, as Bo gets to experience what has made Zach Collaros so happy throwing the ball up to No. 89 for three of the last four seasons.

But that was last week. Let’s get to Week 6!

CALGARY AT SASKATCHEWAN
Friday, July 11
9:00 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS/CFL+

As mentioned, the Stampeders will be looking to hand the Riders ‘L’ No. 1 on the year like they just did to the Blue Bombers.

Friday night offers up the top two running backs in the CFL as AJ Ouellette and Dedrick Mills are both averaging over 75 yards per game, with AJ on a torrid 86.8 yards per game.

Both teams are clearly going to be setting the tone on the ground in what offers up to be a good ol’ Western clash at Mosaic!

These are also two of the better defences in the CFL off the start of the season and two of the top scoring offences as well!

Oh and I’m also curious on the special teams side because former Roughriders head coach and special teams guru Craig Dickenson has joined the Stamps and one of the lone hold overs from Dickenson’s staff in Saskatchewan has been special teams coordinator Kent Maugeri, who has continued to flourish as a special teams coach since learning from Dickenson. Do they know each other too well to attempt a fake or some trickery? We’ll see.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be the game of the week, but I’ll give the edge to the Riders coming off a bye week and with the home crowd on their side.

PICK: SASKATCHEWAN

OTTAWA AT HAMILTON
Saturday, July 12
7:00 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS/CTV/CFL+

You can’t triple team Kenny Lawler but if you’re Ottawa, you might have to. Lawler leads the CFL with 120 yards per game to start the season. If you want to pace that out for an entire 18 game season, that’s well over 2,000 yards receiving. Oh and he’s already caught five touchdown passes.

To add insult to injury from a defensive coordinator’s perspective, Bo Levi Mitchell has three 300-yard passing games in the first four games of the season.

The news gets even worse for the REDBLACKS, who have allowed the second most 30+ yard completions (12).

This is going to be a very tough road game to win for the REDBLACKS, who are playing their second straight road game after a tough loss in Edmonton in Week 5.

The good news is Dru Brown should be a little sharper after playing in just his second game of the year last week and they do have one of the best combinations out of the backfield in William Stanback and Daniel Adeboboye. If they can establish the run and keep Bo and Kenny chilling on the sideline, they definitely have a shot.

PICK: HAMILTON

BC AT EDMONTON
Sunday, July 13
7:00 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS/CFL+

The Canadian QB rematch should be a dandy this week as Tre Ford looks much more comfortable in Jordan Maksymic’s offence than he did in Week 1 in Vancouver.

For Nathan Rourke it’s been a bit of a struggle to get going this season, as he’s battled through an oblique injury to comeback last week and lead the Lions to a comeback win in Montreal. Rourke has shown flashes of his old self but has yet to put together an entire game.

The Elks have to be feeling a lot more confident after getting that first taste of victory against Ottawa last week and being able to find some footing. Now they have the chance to bring the Lions right back to them in the standings and try to keep some pace with the trio of teams in division who have started much stronger than the Lions and Elks.

The Lions have to be looking at this opportunity as well to put some space between themselves and the Elks.

The two major factors I’m trying to battle is the Lions inability to protect the football with a -9 turnover ratio and the Elks defence inability to make a stop. Even in the Elks win they allowed over 400 yards of offence.

But here’s my overall thought. The threat of Justin Rankin out of the backfield is just going to make the play-action and option of Tre Ford’s athletic ability that much tougher to stop. The Elks defence WILL get better as the season goes on.

Yes, I’m picking Edmonton for the third straight week. Here’s hoping I’ll be 2-1 with those picks.

PICK: EDMONTON

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