Safimod’s 2018 Power Rankings – Week 1

Safimod’s 2018 Power Rankings – Week 1

Published: Monday, Jun 18th 2018, 2:06pm

By: Stephen Safinuk (@Safimod)

1 – Edmonton (1-0)

2 – Saskatchewan (1-0)

3 – Calgary (1-0)

4 – Winnipeg (0-1)

5 – BC (1-0)

6 – Toronto (0-1)

7 – Hamilton (0-1)

8 – Montreal (0-1)

Unranked – Ottawa (0-0)

Let’s talk about why teams are ranked where they are. This season, my power rankings will be based entirely on how good a team is. Now how good they could be, but how well they have actually been playing. For instance – Ottawa was on a bye week, so I will not give them a spot on this week’s power rankings.

Edmonton beat a pretty strong Winnipeg team (albeit without a starting QB) with several members of their defensive backfield out to injury. Mike Reilly showed us why you cannot leave him with the ball and any time on the clock, or he will make you pay more often than not. The Eskimos may have lost Adarius Bowman (0 catches for Winnipeg) and Brandon Zylstra, but they will not skip a beat with Derel Walker and D’haquille Williams.

Saskatchewan’s defense alone puts them high up on the power rankings, holding Ricky Ray to under 60%, while newcomer Nick Marshall collected a pick 6. I wonder if it was the fear of a the defensive line that saw the Argos only rush the ball 5 times with James Wilder Jr, but he was held to 16 yards on those 5 carries. Charleston Hughes took advantage of teams double teaming Willie Jefferson, to the tune of 3 sacks in the first half, including the 100^th of his career.

Calgary’s late interception of Jeremiah Masoli sealed the win for the Calgary Stampeders who did not look like the regular season world beaters we have come to expect in the regular season. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Masoli spent 58 minutes of that game hushing his critics who were calling for Johnny Manzeil, but with one ill-timed interception he gave them all the ammo they needed. This isn’t going away anytime soon. Masoli will be looking over his shoulder all season long.

BC comes in to the power rankings at number 5, after a decisive win over the Montreal Alouettes. Until the Als show me something, wins against that team are an expectation and not something to reward with a jump up the rankings.