The Canadian Press
Three cross-division meetings this week give the East a chance to close the gap against West counterparts. Can Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton come through with victories?
Plus, BC and Saskatchewan launch a crucial home and home that’ll help determine the balance of the West early in 2017.
There’s one pick Nye is confident in but other than that, Week 7 is almost too close to call.
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Here’s Nye with his picks for Week 7:
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Calgary at Toronto
Thursday | 7:30 p.m. ET
Bo Levi Mitchell and Jerome Messam look to feast on the Argos’ defence in Week 7 (The Canadian Press)
The Calgary Stampeders are starting to look like the perennial powerhouse again. They made the Saskatchewan Roughriders look ordinary two weeks ago and then demoralized the Tiger-Cats with a 60-1 win.
Those Roughriders they made look average have just defeated the Toronto Argonauts last week by the way. It’s also another short week for Toronto.
After the Riders’ Cameron Marshall ran for over 100 yards, Kevin Glenn threw for four touchdown passes and Riders D-line sacked Ricky Ray five times, I’m thinking a Stampeders win isn’t too hard to pick.
PICK: CALGARY (75% confident)
Winnipeg at Ottawa
Friday | 7:00 p.m. ET
Greg Ellingson and the REDBLACKS search for win No. 2 coming off the bye (Patrick Doyle/CFL.ca)
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers played the role of Houdini coming out of last week’s game against Montreal on top. Everything worked in the final 1:40 of that game to get the win.
The REDBLACKS are coming off the bye week after a forgettable first third of the season.
Because the Bombers have given up a tonne of points, I think the REDBLACKS have more than a better chance to get their second win of the season.
Don’t think Ottawa will lay down like Montreal appeared to with a 12 point lead.
PICK: OTTAWA (33% confident)
Hamilton at Edmonton
Friday | 9:30 p.m. ET
Despite their injuries, the Eskimos remain the CFL’s only perfect team entering Week 7 (The Canadian Press)
Does much need to be said about who I’m picking with this game? Coming off a 60-1 pounding by Calgary and then staying out West to get set for Edmonton, the Tiger-Cats now get to take on the undefeated Eskimos.
No, the Eskimos haven’t blown many of their opponents away like the Stampeders did to Hamilton last week but I do believe the Eskimos have the power to frustrate the Tiger-Cats early.
PICK: EDMONTON (99% confident)
Saskatchewan at BC
Saturday | 7:00 p.m. ET
Duron Carter is coming off his best game as a Rider after hauling in two TDs (Arthur Ward/Riderville.com)
The game of the week in my opinion. The Lions are coming off a heartbreaking loss while the Riders were able to beat the Argonauts at home.
The teams also meet up well. The key to success for Saskatchewan is whether Cameron Marshall can match the balanced attack Vancouver will throw at them. Jeremiah Johnson is having a great season while Marshall is just coming off his biggest game.
The running backs could open up even more room for two all-star receiving groups.
That is also a great thing to watch: which receiving corps is better as both teams will likely lay claim to having the best receiving group in the league.
PICK: BC (25% confidence)
DRAFTKINGS: NYE PICKS HIS ROSTER
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| POS | PLAYER | TEAM | AVG POINTS | SALARY |
| QB | Trevor Harris | WPG@OTT | 23.4 | $9,600 |
| RB | Andrew Harris | WPG@OTT | 21.6 | $7,600 |
| WR | Greg Ellingson | WPG@OTT | 21.0 | $9,000 |
| WR | Darvin Adams | WPG@OTT | 16.1 | $7,400 |
| FLEX | Diontae Spencer | WPG@OTT | 19.2 | $6,400 |
| FLEX | Jeff Fuller | CGY@TOR | 12.1 | $4,500 |
| DST | Eskimos | HAM@EDM | 7.2 | $5,200 |
I’m liking one match-up for offence this week and that is the Ottawa REDBLACKS and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Both defenses have given up a lot of points this season and both offences can no doubt score!
Sorry if I’m a little bullish on this match-up to go with five of seven spots being taken up but sometimes you either have to go big or go home!
Trevor Harris is number two in passing yards and you have to think Ottawa is about to start picking up some wins after the way they started the season, right there with Calgary in back to back games. Greg Ellingson and Diontae Spencer should be the top two most likely to get a big benefit at the potential of a big day by Harris and the REDBLACKS offence.
As for Andrew Harris and Darvin Adams; Harris has become a huge part and almost an automatic 100-yard guy in combined run/pass. He is running hard and may have usurped Jeremiah Johnson as the #1 running back going forward.
I’m watching the Weston Dressler health closely because that could be another option to look at with Darvin Adams and Dressler evenly priced.
Jeff Fuller is a bit of a value play who picks up about six targets per game, which is more than enough to garner a chance at a score with Ricky Ray spreading the ball around.
And not much has to be said about taking the Eskimos defense against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Though they are the most expensive defense they are also the safest play to pick up some points!
