Safimod’s Week 4 CFL Power Rankings

Safimod’s Week 4 CFL Power Rankings

Published: Wednesday, Jun 28th 2023, 3:06pm

by: Stephen Safinuk (@Safimod)

• 1 – BC (3-0) LW: 3
• 2 – Toronto (2-0) LW: 2
• 3 – Winnipeg (2-1) LW: 1
• 4 – Montreal (2-0) LW: 5
• 5 – Saskatchewan (2-1) LW: 4
• 6 – Calgary (1-2) LW: 6
• 7 – Ottawa (0-2) LW: 8
• 8 – Hamilton (0-3) LW: 7
• 9 – Edmonton (0-3) LW: Unrated

 

Through the first 2 weeks of the season, BC had played fantastic, but a lot of people were hesitant about them because they hadn’t played any real competition yet. That changed on Thursday night in Winnipeg as the BC Lions walked all over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30-6. BC has it all right now. A solid offence, a good running game and a top tier defence. They are the clear top dog in the CFL right now.

Toronto took care of business in Edmonton, extending the Elks home winless streak in the process. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t always a guaranteed win, but they got the job done, and are sitting atop the East at 2-0.

Is it just me, or do the Blue Bombers almost seem human this year. A tough battle against the Ticats, a tight game versus Saskatchewan and now they got shellacked by the BC Lions. The season is early yet, and they have plenty of time to regain their footing, but something seems different over at IG Field. Is their reign of terror over, or will they bounce back?

Cody Fajardo and the Montreal Alouettes might just be for real. After a slow start versus Ottawa, Montreal came out and dominated the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton’s home opener on Friday night. Like Alex said in his Tuesday Take’s article, Cody looks like the guy we saw under center in 2019, and that’s great news for the Alouettes and the CFL. A tough battle versus the aforementioned Winnipeg Blue Bombers will be a great test for this new look Als team.

Despite the win, Saskatchewan drops a spot in the rankings this week. While good teams find a way to win, and they did, the Riders were helped throughout the night by the inaccuracy of Jake Maier. I lost count of the number of wide-open receivers that Maier couldn’t connect with. Their 2 wins so far this year have come against Taylor Cornelius and Jake Maier. Not saying temper expectations but let’s not start planning the parade just yet.

Ottawa moves up from 8^th to 7^th this week. Or rather, Hamilton moves down from 7^th to 8^th allowing for another bye week move that is sure to make Greg happy.

Alex had the Hamilton Tiger-Cats listed as contenders on his weekly pretenders/contenders article up until this past week. Watching them get absolutely dismantled by the Montreal Alouettes, likely their challenger for playoff spot, shows just how far they need to go to compete this season.

What else can we say about the Edmonton Elks at this point? At least their offense looked better than it has through the first 2 weeks. Jarret Deoge looked decent in limited action and looks to get the start vs Ottawa. On the plus side, they are playing Ottawa in Ottawa this week, so either one of the home winless streaks breaks or Victor Cui’s Elks get their first win of 2023.