Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
TORONTO — We head into Week 5 of the CFL season with a pair of undefeated teams looking to extend their good starts and a pair of winless teams looking to start heading in the opposite direction.
The 3-0 Saskatchewan Roughriders kick things off on Thursday night, hosing the Toronto Argonauts, while the 0-4 Winnipeg Blue Bombers welcome the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Friday. The 4-0 Montreal Alouettes play hosts to the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday and the 0-4 Hamilton Tiger-Cats look for their first win of the season on Sunday against the BC Lions at Tim Hortons Field.
Of course, the dynamics aren’t as simple as picking the perfect records and picking against the winless ones. The Riders are without Trevor Harris and have Shea Patterson starting at quarterback, as they face an Argos team that’s coming off of its first loss of the season. All eyes are on Zach Collaros in Winnipeg, as he deals with a thorax injury that took him out of last week’s game against the Stamps (and kept him out of Tuesday’s practice). And the Als and Lions, while both favoured in their games this week, will need to be wary of a trap game. The Als are coming off of a high in handing the Argos a rare home loss and the Lions are travelling cross-country to Hamilton, after a walk-off field goal lifted them to a win over the Elks, who sit at 0-4 on their bye week.
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TOR at SSK
Shea Patterson takes on starting quarterback duties in Saskatchewan and will try to keep his team unbeaten as they host the Argos at Mosaic Stadium. While Patterson has been around the CFL since 2021, spending time with BC and Montreal before landing in Saskatchewan, this will be his first stretch starting at this level. With that comes a learning curve. Will the Argos’ defence be able to exploit that on Thursday? Ryan Dinwiddie and his coaching staff will hope so. Rider Nation is making its voice heard in Pick Em, but the Argos have the edge with pick makers right now, both the writers and the fans, by a slim majority.
PICK
Writers: 66% Toronto
Fans: 51% Toronto
OTT at WPG
Our writers are split down the middle on this one, even with the news that Collaros is dealing with an injury. Ed Tait at Bluebombers.com figures that we won’t know who will start at QB until the depth charts are released on Thursday. Should Collaros sit out, the Bombers know Chris Streveler well and there shouldn’t be any surprises or hiccups with him running the offensive show. Dru Brown makes his return to Winnipeg and will look to get his new team past his former one for the second time in three weeks. There are a lot of interesting QB dynamics in this one. While the writers are split on it, the fans think the Bombers have the edge.
PICK
Writers: 50-50 split
Fans: 73% Winnipeg
CGY at MTL
Saturday brings us into what we’ll call Trap Game Warning No. 1. The Als are 9.5-point favourites to down the visiting Stamps and are coming off of a win over divisional rival Toronto a week ago. The Als have been playing with confidence and swagger to start the season. There’s nothing to suggest that won’t continue this week, but from the Stamps’ perspective, this 2-1 team has the opportunity to go on the road and make a big statement this weekend. Is it possible? Eleven per cent of the fans playing Pick Em think it is.
PICK
Writers: 100% Montreal
Fans: 89% Montreal
BC at HAM
We close out Week 5 with Trap Game Warning No. 2. The Lions are on a three-game winning streak and head into Hamilton where the 0-4 Ticats made a coaching staff change on Tuesday. Save for their Week 3 loss to the Roughriders, the Ticats have been in position to win three of the games they played and Bo Levi Mitchell is playing at a high level. Could they take a game from the Lions and start a climb out of the East Division basement? Jamie Nye thinks so, and so do 12 per cent of the fans playing Pick Em.
PICK
Writers: 83% BC
Fans: 88% BC
