Safimod’s 2019 Power Rankings – Week 1 Edition

Safimod’s 2019 Power Rankings – Week 1 Edition

Published: Monday, Jun 17th 2019, 6:06pm

By: Stephen Safinuk (@Safimod)

1 – Winnipeg Blue Bombers (LW: 1)

2 – Hamilton Tiger-Cats (LW: 4)

3 – Edmonton Eskimos (LW: 5)

4 – Calgary Stampeders (LW: 2)

5 – BC Lions (LW: 6)

6 – Saskatchewan Roughriders (LW: 3)

7 – Ottawa REDBLACKS (LW: 8)

8 – Toronto Argonauts (LW: 7)

9 – Montreal Alouettes (LW: 9)

 

Week 1 of the CFL season is over, and we watched a ton of movement already in my power rankings. The only constants were the 1 and 9 spots, as Winnipeg looked solid in their opening season win, and Montreal lost yet again. There is some hope in Montreal after the way they lost, but in the end an L is an L.

The Eskimos move up two spots to 3rd^d overall. Yes, they only beat Montreal. But it was more the way they did it. We thought it would take their offence time to gel, but Trevor Harris walked in and through for 450 yards on opening week.

Hamilton moves up two spots from 4^th to 2^nd. Two seems like the appropriate number after Simoni Lawrence was suspended two games after two blatant headshots, but I digress.

Calgary drops two spots from 4^th to 2^nd after an opening week loss to Ottawa. Their biggest concern was going to be how their defence would look this year, and if week one is any indication, they will be just fine. A failure to take advantage of four interceptions thrown by Dominque Davis is hopefully a sign of their impending descent, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

BC decided that running the ball was completely over-rated in their loss to Winnipeg, rushing a whopping 4 times all game for 4 yards. That isn’t going to do it against anyone in the CFL.

The Riders drop from 3^rd to 6^th this week, after their loss to Hamilton. Their defence performed well, but there are now obvious concerns both offensively and on special teams after week one. Who will lead the offence this week in Ottawa? Will Brett Lauther bounce back from a couple of misses in Hamilton?

Ottawa moves up from 8 to 7, after their win in Calgary. While Ottawa did get their first win in Calgary as the REDBLACKS, it was about as ugly a win as you can ask for. The biggest wonder was how their offence would look in the post Trevor Harris era, and the answer is… not all that good. He did show some poise on the game winning drive, so there is some potential. We will see  in the coming weeks, just how good or bad they are.