Around the CFL – Week 6 Preview

Around the CFL – Week 6 Preview

Published: Thursday, Jul 18th 2019, 1:07pm

by Sheldon Jones (@sheldonjones83)

 

Week 6 CFL Preview

Week 6 of the CFL kicks off in Calgary on Thursday night when the Toronto Argonauts face the Stampeders at McMahon Stadium. Toronto stayed out west this week after another disappointing loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last week. Offensive Coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine finally got All-Star free agency signing Derel Walker involved in the offense last week and will need to continue to target the explosive receiver if they hope to be able to stretch the field against the Stamps. Calgary is coming off a loss against Hamilton and will look to avoid losing their second game at home against an eastern opponent. The Stampeders have continued to show everyone who follows the CFL that they will always have a “next man up” mentality and refuse to go down without a fight. This game should not be close as Toronto is by far the worst team in the league and Calgary is a more than formidable opponent, especially at home. Stamps should win by double digits. Calgary 35 – Toronto 17.

 

Game number 2 has Ottawa heading west to battle the only undefeated team left in the CFL, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Only Hamilton has scored more points that the Bombers this season and the includes the 64 that they put on the board against Toronto. Winnipeg continues to be the best team in the league and are facing the REDBLACKS at a time when they are coming back down to earth after arguably overachieving in the first 2 games of the season. QB Dom Davis is out with an injury so that means free agent signings Jonathon Jennings will make his debut for the Rouge et Noire. Can Jennings regain some of his promise seen at the beginning of his career with the BC Lions, or will he continue to be the turnover machine he has been more recently? Again, this game should not be close, I expect much of the same as when Winnipeg and Ottawa played in week 3 when the Blue Bombers won by 3 scores. Winnipeg will continue to pound the ball with Andrew Harris and look for Darvin Adams, Nic Demski and Lucky Whitehead to go deep. Winnipeg 34 – Ottawa 18.

 

Game 3 kicks off the Saturday double header with the Montreal Alouettes traveling to Edmonton to take on the Eskimos. The league owned Als have been in the news a lot this week, first by firing GM Kavis Reed, signing a couple of players recently cut by Reed and finally, releasing returner Stefan Logan. The CFL decided that consequences were necessary in Montreal for the way Reed was running the Alouettes, including finding out that he had a plan in place for circumventing the salary cap. Word has it that the new potential owners of the Montreal football club wanted this to happen before they take over the team. The timing was suspect as the Alouettes have looked improved over the last two games that they won but, apparently the CFL has wanted to relieve Reed of his duties in the offseason but could not wait any longer. Montreal’s offence has exploded scoring 36 points in each of the last two games. Vernon Adams is showing what a lot of CFL fans were waiting for, that he could be a legitimate starting QB. The questions for Montreal in this game are; can the offence keep this momentum up against a tough Eskimo defence and can their defence withstand the aerial assault that Trevor Harris has been responsible for all season. The Eskimos have lost OL Matt O’Donnell to injury and he has been placed on the 6-game injury list. This will be a big loss for the Esks as they look to keep Harris upright after his own injury scare last week vs the Lions. This game will be a lot closer that the two games before on the schedule. Edmonton 26 – Montreal 23.