CFL Beat: Playoffs – Division Semifinals

The playoffs are upon us! With three weekends left in the CFL calendar year, just five games remain to sort out the Grey Cup. With Ottawa and Calgary waiting in the wings to host their respective division finals next weekend, there’s two semifinals taking place on Sunday with plenty of intrigue on their own.

In other CFL news, the major award nominees have been released, but I’ll only be touching on those once the full slate of games has concluded after November 27th. A great mixture of players are up for awards, but the MOP race this year is the most interesting one – from the West, the Stampeders QB Bo Levi Mitchell is up for contention, after leading his team to 15 wins and 32 touchdowns this season, the most by a fair margin. In the East, REDBLACKS receiver Ernest Jackson is up for the award – in his second season in Ottawa, Jackson had 88 catches, 1225 yards, ten touchdowns, and most remarkable, not a single drop on the season – not one. The MOP race will be an interesting addition to all the news coming out of Canadian football this November!

WEEK 20 RECAPS

Winnipeg 33 vs. Ottawa 20: With the East already locked up, Ottawa elected to rest most of their starters, while Winnipeg, pushing to secure a home playoff game, dressed theirs and pushed hard all night. Ottawa had an initial lead in the game when DB Nick Taylor intercepted Matt Nichols on his second pass thrown, and took the ball to the house; Winnipeg came back in the second quarter with a big connection from Nichols to Weston Dressler to tie it up. The Bombers were up 13-10 at the half, and ultimately pulled away en route to the win. Ottawa used a combination of Brock Jensen and Danny O’Brien at quarterback, rotating them on a quarter-by-quarter basis, to give both of them snaps and keep them fresh for any potential spot duty moving forward in the playoffs. With the win, Winnipeg finished 11-7 on the year, their best result in a season since 2011, where they finished 10-8 and lost in the Grey Cup to the BC Lions. Ottawa, despite winning the East, saw their home record drop to an abysmal 2-6-1, which probably can’t bode well for their fortune in hosting the East Final on November 20th.

PICK: Winnipeg

RESULT: Winnipeg

Montreal 32 vs. Hamilton 25: Montreal may have missed the playoffs this year, but they ended their season on a high note, with rookie starter Vernon Adams throwing three touchdowns in his first solo CFL win. After a difficult year that saw the team go through a lot of change, including the trade of veteran QB Kevin Glenn and the release of receivers Duron Carter & Kenny Stafford, there’s reason for the Alouettes to be looking up for 2017. Longtime GM Jim Popp, who oversaw the franchise’s return to Montreal from Baltimore and spent 21 years with the team, will be stepping down, and his successor is not yet known. For the Ti-Cats, two receivers – Brian Tyms and Anthony Woodson – both scored their first career touchdown passes, and third-stringer Jeff Mathews threw for 201 yards in the second half in relief of starter Zach Collaros. Hamilton managed to get a little bit of rest in for their starters in the second half, but still head into the playoffs pretty beaten-up, with many key offensive weapons remaining on the shelf.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Montreal

Toronto 17 vs. Edmonton 41: With a playoff berth already secure, the Eskimos gave Mike Reilly, the league’s passing yards leader this season, a week off, and elected to go with backup James Franklin, 2013 Mizzou grad, under centre. Franklin didn’t disappoint, throwing for four first-half touchdowns alone. For the Argos, the defense remained terrible, and the offense was equally inert as well; Ricky Ray, only just back from injury, went 24-30 for 252 yards and a touchdown. Drew Willy, apparently the Argos’ heir apparent at QB, didn’t even play, as Toronto elected to go with Dan LeFevour as backup. Though there’s no final decision as of yet, Ricky Ray may have played his final game in the CFL; his injuries woes and inability to keep throwing a deep ball are notably affecting his game, and a decision may be coming sooner rather than later on what Ray wants to do about his CFL career. The Eskimos get set to take on Hamilton as the crossover team, while Toronto ends their season having lost seven games in a row and 11 of their past 12.

PICK: Edmonton

RESULT: Edmonton

Saskatchewan 18 vs. BC 41: The Lions swept the season series against the Roughriders, finishing the year on a two-game win streak and locking up second place in the West. Jon Jennings passed the 5000-yard mark in passing, joining former BC quarterbacks Doug Flutie, Casey Printers, and current Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson as the only Lions to hit the mark. Manny Arcenaux had a huge game for BC as well, going for 180 yards and two touchdowns, and finished the season with 105 receptions, the first Lion to cross over 100 catches since 2006. The Roughriders played without starter Darian Durant at quarterback, with platoon duty between Mitchell Gale and Canadian Brandon Bridge; the lack of offensive flow showed as the Lions took a 24-4 lead into halftime. A couple late garbage time rushing touchdowns by Brandon Bridge and Greg Morris appeared to make the score look slightly more respectable, but in truth, this game was all BC, right from the get-go. The Lions will host the Blue Bombers in the West semifinal on Sunday.

PICK: BC

RESULT: BC

BYE: Calgary (15-2-1)

DIVISION SEMIFINAL PREVIEWS

East Division Semifinal

(Crossover) Edmonton vs. (2) Hamilton, Sunday, November 13th, 1:00 PM EST: We saw a sneak preview of this matchup in Week 19, with the Eskimos winning a close one, 29-26, making a big second-half push before holding off the Ti-Cats late in the fourth. Hamilton has Zach Collaros back, but lost Andy Fantuz in this game, a big blow to their receiving corps that still has Chad Owens and Luke Tasker on the shelf. With a rested Mike Reilly, and with an improving defence, Edmonton has a very good opportunity to keep rolling, though with Zach Collaros and home field advantage, Hamilton still has a chance, despite their numerous injuries. All the same, there’s a reason that this offence propelled the Eskimos to the Grey Cup last year – when it’s firing, it’s lethal.

PICK: Edmonton

West Division Semifinal

(3) Winnipeg vs. (2) BC, Sunday, November 13th, 4:30 PM EST: Winnipeg swept the back-to-back season series against the Lions in two extremely close games, back in Weeks 16 and 17. A few better throws here and there from Jon Jennings, a couple defensive stops here and there, and this could’ve ended extremely differently for both teams. BC had the pleasure of dismantling the lowly Roughriders twice to end their regular season, while Winnipeg had their hands full against the REDBLACKS, which beat them soundly at Investors Group Field, and had their backups give them a run for their money back home at TD Place. If BC can keep from turning the ball over, I think they’ll come out on top; if Winnipeg can make sure to get a healthy Andrew Harris involved in the offence, that should be an added dynamic to keep the Lions secondary guessing. Harris remains probably the most elite pass-catching back in the league this season, and his versatility is essential to Winnipeg’s continued success. With both previous games ended extremely close, this third matchup of the season should likely be another one for the ages.

PICK: B.C.

STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

Team Games Wins Losses Ties Points For Points Against
y-Ottawa 18 8 9 1 486 498
x-Hamilton 18 7 11 0 507 502
e-Montreal 18 7 11 0 383 415
e-Toronto 18 5 13 0 383 568

West Division Standings

Team Games Wins Losses Ties Points For Points Against
y-Calgary 18 15 2 1 586 369
x-BC 18 12 6 0 545 454
x-Winnipeg 18 11 7 0 497 454
c-Edmonton 18 10 8 0 549 496
e-Saskatchewan 18 5 13 0 350 530
y: clinched division
x: clinched playoff spot
c: clinched crossover berth
e: eliminated from playoff eligibility

Passing Yards

  1. Reilly, EDM – 5554
  2. Mitchell, CGY – 5385
  3. Jennings, BC – 5226

Passing TDs

  1. Mitchell, CGY – 32
  2. Rielly, EDM – 28
  3. Jennings, BC – 27

Rushing Yards

  1. Messam, CGY – 1198
  2. Whitaker, TOR – 1009
  3. Harris, WPG – 974

Receiving Yards

  1. Bowman, EDM – 1761
  2. Walker, EDM – 1589
  3. Arcenaux, BC – 1566

Sacks

  1. Hughes, CGY – 16
  2. Chick, HAM – 14
  3. Lemon, TOR – 14

Interceptions

  1. Leggett, WPG – 7
  2. Heath, TOR/WPG – 7
  3. Davis, HAM – 5

Field Goals

  1. Medlock, WPG – 60
  2. Paredes, CGY – 56
  3. Milo, OTT – 47

Game picks this week: 3-1

Game picks this season: 45-36

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The Maestro
The Maestro is a mystical Canadian internet user and New England Patriots fan; when the weather is cooperative and the TV signal at his igloo is strong enough, he enjoys watching the NFL, the Ottawa Senators & REDBLACKS, and yelling into the abyss on Twitter. He is somehow allowed to teach music to high school students when he isn't in a blind rage about sports, and is also a known connoisseur of cheap beers across the Great White North.
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WCS

What the crap is a “crossover berth”?

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

WOOOOT!

Mr. Ayo

Contract the east!

entropy

The east! It’s INFECTIOUS!!

blaxabbath

Winnipeg and BC played each other in two of the last three games of the season AND are going to face off in the playoffs?

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ONLY IN THE CFL!