Another week has come and gone, and what a week it was or was it? Some will say it was a boring week, only one game was close, the rest were blow outs. Well let’s take a closer look and see what really happened…….
BC at Winnipeg
Obviously, being a BC fan, this game was high on my watch list. Everyone was expecting the Bombers to beat the Lions. When I say EVERYONE, I mean all the so-called media experts. When Hughes Sports Podcast put out their power rankings, people lost their minds. Smurf mafia on the interweb went ballistic. “How can you put BC as # 1 you don’t know football” “you are just homer’s trying to get clicks” “Morons” and those were the nice comments. Well, it was obvious after the 1st quarter that BC was by far the better team. I have watched football for over 50 years, and I have to say I don’t think I have ever seen a better defence performance. 7 sacks for a loss of 60 yards, only allowing 81 yards rushing and keeping the so-called best offence in the league to under 250 yards total and ZERO touchdowns. Zach Collaros was only 15/26 (58%), his worse game in a few seasons. Lots of folks are saying “Oh Winnipeg made BC look good” That’s BS talk…. BC dominated from start to finish! Vernon Adams Jr went 20/29 (69%) and racked up at total of 305 yards total offense. Top to bottom this was BC’s best performance in years. Looking forward to seeing what they will do when our Offense is healthy.
Montreal at Hamilton
If you were to look just at the stats, this game should have been Hamilton’s. 361-yard total offense to Montreal’s 349. Matthew Shiltz going 25/47 (53%) for 345 yards. Then you look at the score board and you see the final score of 38 to 12 for Montreal. With Bo Levi on the shelve AGAIN, Hamilton must rely on Shitlz to take the reins. 53% efficiency is not going to win you games. On the other side, we have Cody Fajardo out to prove he is one of the top QB’s in this league, he went 19/25 (76%) for 292 yards. As you can see Shiltz had more yards but just couldn’t finish. Pay attention to Shiltz as he will be factor in many games this year. Montreal sits on top of the east with Toronto both at 2 and 0. With Hamilton and Ottawa struggling to get wins it looks like it will be a two-team race for the remainder of the 2023 season.
Saskatchewan at Calgary
The much anticipate battle of the prairies started of rather slow with both team trading field goals in the 1st qtr. and then the Stamps adding a 2nd FG in the 2nd to take a 6 to 3 lead into halftime. The 2nd field goal was Rene Paredes’ 500th of his incredible career. I was at the game and found it totally bizarre that the in-stadium host did not even mention it till half time when most fans were in the concourse at McMahon. (I could go on a rant about the stadium but will leave that for another day). The 3 of third qtr. was when this game pick-up intensity as the teams combined for 3 touchdowns and the Riders jumping out to a 17 to 13 lead. In the 4th the team again combine for 3 FG with the 3rd coming off the foot of Paredes from the 53-yard line to tie the game at 23. The Riders had a chance to go up by 6, prior to the game tying drive, but coach Dickinson (Rider version) Choose to go for it on 3rd instead of taking the easy FG attempt from the 9-yard line. The ball was turned over on downs and as mentioned Calgary has 1:18 left on the clock to try and get into FG range. OT was even more bizarre, in the 1stt of 2 mini games both teams scored a FG, then to start the 2nd mini game Saskatchewan was able to again kick a FG. Stamps ended up 2nd and 6, I said out loud “OK do not do anything stupid like throw a Interception” Sure enough, instead of running the ball or even dropping back with options, Maier rolls to his right and goes for it all with a toss into the endzone, PICKED OFF, END OF GAME Rider’s win in double overtime. Both teams also used their challenge flags in the OT mini games. 1st Coach Dickinson (Stamps Version) in the 1st mini game on a roughing the passer call which was obviously not a penalty then Coach Dickinson (Rider Version) in mini game #2 on a PI that wasn’t even close to being interference. My son and Host of Hughes Sports Podcast messaged me that the CFL needs to put in place a 5-yard delay of game penalty when in OT if you lose a challenge. Check out his article that will be posted soon in Hughessports.ca. This game showed two things Both of these team will be battling for playoff spot #3 and both teams have a lot of work to do if they want to be a challenge for either the Lions or Bombers come play off time.
Toronto at Edmonton
To be honest I did not watch this game as I was watching AEW Forbidden Door PPV (which I might add had probably the best pro wrestling match I have ever seen that story for another day), I did however catch the highlights. Edmonton came into this game not winning at home since they changed their team’s name from the Eskimos to the Elks. Well, the horror continues for the elks as they have now not won at home in 19 games. That is 1352 days since they last won at home. That is tied for 2nd worse home record in all pro sports. Lots of calls for the firing of head coach and GM Chris Jones floating around today but as Rod Pedersen said in his commentary today “Firing Jones’ isn’t the answer”. Jones is a proven winner and knows what it takes to get there. It will take some time, and I am not sure time is on Jones’ side as I am sure the owner, Victor Cui, wants to see the team start winning NOW. We will have to wait this one out to see if Jones can turn the ship around, or should I say bail the sinking ship fast enough to keep himself afloat. The Argos, lead by Chad Kelly won this one 43 to 31. Edmonton Kept it close in the 1st half only being down by one pt (18-17) buuuuuuut in the 3rd Chad Kelly and the Argos manage to put up 18 unanswered points to take a commanding lead into the final quarter and hang on to that lead to push their undefeated streak to 2 games.
Week 4 is going to be interesting.
We now have 3 teams yet to lose a game and 3 teams yet to win a game. Going into the Canada Day long weekend we only have 3 games on tap. Friday night starts off with 2 of the three winless teams matching up as Edmonton heads to Ottawa for the Friday night tilt. Honestly, this one is a toss up. I going to stick to west and pick Edmonton by 3.5 for no other reason than if the lose 4 in a row Jones will be looking for a new job by Canada Day. Saturday nights game is going to be a good one, as Winnipeg travels to Montreal to take on the Alouettes. Once again, the west will prevail as I can not see the talented Bomber squad losing 2 in a row. Take the Blue Bombers by 6.5. No Sunday games this week, as we see BC at Toronto on Canada Day. Once again, the Lions will take on another undefeated team. I have a feeling this one will be the game of the week. I do not see the Lions dominating like they did this week against the Bombers (yes, I had to say it again). I am taking the Lions to win this one, but it will be close.
My picks have been spot on this year going 11 right 1 wrong so far, lets see if I can make it 14 and 1 Till next week Take in a game live, bring a friend and let’s build this league back to what it once was!!!!
Ep 68 – Canucks can Hang with the Oilers Plus Our Game one Expereince Plus It's the Old Man Vs Jeh – Was it a High Stick? – Hughes Sports Podcast- HSP
- Ep 68 – Canucks can Hang with the Oilers Plus Our Game one Expereince Plus It's the Old Man Vs Jeh – Was it a High Stick?
- Ep. 67: Can the Canucks Close the series? Plus the rest of the NHL Playoffs
- Ep 66: Arland Bruce IV Joins the Show Prior to the NFL Draft PLUS breaking down the Canucks Series
- Ep. 65: NHL Playoff Preview Extravaganza! Plus Catching up on all the NHL News with Special Guest Darren Dupont
- Ep. 64: Canucks Playoff Bound! Who's the Matchup? Ft. Kelly Kellner (Cool Bets)
