CFL.ca
Each week, CFL.ca’s Jamie Nye weighs in on who he thinks will come away victorious by releasing his CFL Pick’Em selections. Can Ottawa pull off a second straight win? He seems to think so.
Hamilton at Winnipeg
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers certainly impressed in Week 1 with their first win at Mosaic Stadium in over a decade. Drew Willy was a top performer for the week and the same could have been said of Paris Cotton, who ran by and through Roughrider defenders. Defensively, however, there were still mammoth size holes for the Riders to find success on the ground.
For the Tiger-Cats it was a heart breaking loss to the Stampeders but they did hold their own and show why many have them as a Grey Cup contender once again. In this, the Tiger-Cats need much better balance as their run game was abysmal. I don’t however think the Ticats will allow Cotton to run as wild as he did against the Riders last week so they’ll be less room for the Bombers to go under neath and have success.
Ticats in a close one. Confidence in this pick 10 out of 100.
Calgary at Montreal
The Calgary Stampeders got by the Ticats by a horse hair. This time they’re going up against a team in turmoil with a young quarterback at the helm. Charleston Hughes and company are going to be throwing everything they got at the Alouettes defensively. Calgary had one of their worst games of the season in Montreal last year but didn’t have Jon Cornish or Bo Levi Mitchell in the lineup. Grey Cup Champs against a team with big time questions at quarterback… hmmm.
Calgary wins. Confidence is 95 out of 100
BC at Ottawa
The BC Lions start their season with an extra week of prep, while the Ottawa REDBLACKS have nothing to game plan against with the new offense being put in by Jeff Tedford and George Cortez. Travis Lulay returns to the place his season ended last year and looked solid in his pre-season performance. The REDBLACKS took advantage of some of their opportunities last week, but showed that they still have a lot of room for improvement. Henry Burris’ three interceptions in the first half have me a bit curious as to what we’ll see against the Lions. I’m taking Ottawa because they have a game to work out the bugs, while the Lions haven’t gotten that opportunity yet.
Ottawa wins. Confidence is 30 out of 100
Toronto at Saskatchewan
The Argonauts come into this game with so much momentum and a Top Performer of the Week outing from quarterback Trevor Harris.
The Riders come in without their leader Darian Durant for the remainder of the season. The Riders will have Tyron Brackenridge back on the defence, though they’ll be without middle linebacker Shea Emry. Is Brackenridge at game shape yet after missing all of training camp and Week 1? The Riders also get Weston Dressler back after missing Week 1.
You know Ricky Foley will be fired up to go against the team that traded him away and have a good day in front of a fan base who fell in love with him in his two seasons in Saskatchewan. The Riders do have a better run game to slow down the Argos pass rush than the Eskimos displayed last week. There was too much wrong with the Riders defence however to think they can shore it up in one week.
Toronto wins. Confidence is 25 out of 100.
