Chiu the Fat: Battle rages on

Montreal @ Winnipeg MON 32, WPG 26; Recap

The battle for first place in the East, again.

What an exciting ending to this game.

Let me start by saying this: there were some questionable penalties called on both teams.

The Als got off to their customary fast start. Their defence forced a big turnover off a tipped ball thrown by Alex Brink. This gave the Als possession inside the Winnipeg 20-yard line. As a result, Calvillo connected with Jamel Richardson for his 10th TD of the season. This gave the Als huge momentum going into halftime with a 15-3 lead.

Going into the third quarter, this is when the penalties really started to hurt the Bombers defence. It enabled Montreal to sustain their drives and before you knew it, the Als had a huge 29-6 lead.

I honestly felt that this game was essentially over. Once again, I was wrong.

The Bombers made a huge special team play at the end of the third quarter by blocking a Montreal punt and returning it for a touchdown.

This definitely shifted the momentum of the game, and the Bombers were finally getting on a roll.

Alex Brink really settled down and led his team to two fourth quarter touchdowns.

On the second touchdown, it was a gutsy call by the Bombers. On third and three they elected to hand the ball off to Garrett, and he took it up the gut for a 33-yard touchdown run.

With the Bombers trailing 32-26 with 14 seconds left to play, on third and 10, Brink threw what was essentially a Hail Mary pass to Greg Carr. My first thought was that this game is over. But out came a penalty flag for pass interference.

This put the Bombers on the one-yard line with eight seconds left to play.

The Bombers had two cracks at the end zone, and failed both times. Being a former offensive lineman, you love those situations where the game is on your shoulders. You EXPECT to get one yard, especially when the defensive line has to be one yard off the ball.

The Als d-line did a fantastic job getting off the ball! They pushed the Bombers' o-line backwards and stuffed them on both attempts.

What a great ending. The Als and Bombers will meet again in Winnipeg in Week 17.

I can't wait.

Edmonton @ B.C. BC 33, EDM 24; Recap

The newly renovated B.C. Place stadium looks fantastic. I know that as a player, I hated playing there because of the air-supported roof. It made it very difficult to breathe when you were on the field playing.

It used to be a very dark, unwelcoming place for both teams.

It has now become a very fan-friendly stadium. It is bright, has a huge video board hanging in the middle of the field, and a retractable roof. Simply amazing!

The game was very entertaining. Both offences took a little time to get going, and as a result, the score was fairly low after the first quarter.

The first thing I noticed about Travis Lulay was that he did a great job extending drives by using his feet to avoid the pass rush. He always kept his eyes down field as he was scrambling. It becomes almost impossible for any defensive back to cover the receivers for a long period of time. Breakdowns in coverage are inevitable.

Winnipeg native Andrew Harris had a brilliant game. He was truly a dual threat in this game. He ran the ball for 60 yards, and caught five passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

The biggest improvement for the red-hot B.C. Lions over the last six weeks has been the play of the offensive line. They are really starting to come together.

As for Edmonton, I really think they are in trouble. After an amazing start to the season, they have been slowly losing momentum throughout the past six-to-eight weeks.

The biggest thing I noticed about the Eskimos was a lack of effort on both sides of the ball. I saw guys simply jogging when the play didn't go their way. That is simply unacceptable.

When the Lion's Harris took a short swing pass into the flats, you could see that there were numerous Eskimo defenders jogging to the ball, expecting someone else to make the tackle.

As a result, Harris broke three tackle and scored on a 63-yard catch-and-run play.

I'm not saying the entire team is lazy, I'm just stating that every player must go 100 per cent on every play. There are a handful of plays that will dictate the outcome of the game. The thing is, nobody knows when those plays are going to happen. Effort and hard work are contagious, and so is lack of effort.

The Eskimo's need to re-group and get back to the basics. Right now they do not look like the same team that started the season 5-0. Let's see if Kavis Reed can get his team back on track.

Calgary @ Saskatchewan SAS 40, CGY 3; Recap

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have been outscored 82-8 in their past two games.

This team is on a roller coaster ride.

Initially, the return of Ken Miller had a huge impact on the team. He had the guys believing in each other.

The past two weeks, however, this team has seemed lost. The players don't seem to be responding against their opponents.

In this game, the Riders had all sorts of miscues such as bobbled snaps, bad snaps, sacks, fumbles and penalties.

The Rider defence had serious problems trying to stop John Cornish and the Stamps.

It is shocking that Ken Miller isn't able to get his players going. There is no doubt he has the respect of all his players. Is it time to question who the Riders quarterback should be next week?

I'm starting to feel that Durant might not be the answer.

As for the Stamps, they played a solid football game. They ran the ball effectively, and the defence made several huge plays, including the fumble recovery for a touchdown by Charleston Hughes.

They are now starting to pull away in the West division. They just need to focus on getting a little better each week.

They will be a force in the playoffs.

Hamilton @ Toronto HAM 27, TOR 12; Recap

This was a must-win game for the Argos. Unfortunately they didn't get the memo.

The Argos essentially dressed 41 players. Andre Durie, who is injured, was dressed for the simple reason that the Argos had no more Canadians to dress.

In the biggest game of the season, they played a man short.

Ridiculous!

There was no sense of urgency throughout the game. It really seemed like the Argos have thrown in the towel on the season.

Steven Jyles has yet to get comfortable with his teammates. Now he's hurt again. The Argos did make a few plays with interceptions. However, the biggest one was by Lin-J Shell.

As the Ticats got into the red zone, Glenn threw a pick to Shell and he proceeded to run the other way. However, he fumbled the ball back to the Ticats.

The Ticats scoreed a touchdown a few plays later, essentially putting the game away.

For a must-win game, the Argos made way too many mistakes.

The Ticats played some very tough football. Yes, Kevin Glenn threw three picks, but their defence was able to hold the Argos.

Terry Grant has become a serious threat in their offensive backfield and Chris Williams is continuing to get better every game.

The race for first place is heating up in the East. The Als, Ticats, and Bombers all have a legitimate shot of finishing first.

It's going to be a lot of fun to watch as we head down the stretch.

Bryan Chiu is a seven-time CFL all-star and will file weekly for sportsnet.ca.