Edmonton @ Hamilton
The Canadian running backs for the Eskimos played great. Calvin McCarty and Jerome Messam combined for 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
Edmonton’s offence was able to dominate the entire game, running the ball effectively and passing at will. Fred Stamps was absolutely awesome, catching 14 passes for 130 yards.
Hamilton looked very lacklustre throughout the game. They were unable to score a TD until the last minute of this game, which was very disappointing considering their previous week’s performance (no TDs). Hamilton’s biggest play came on the first play of the second half courtesy a Chris Williams kick-off return.
Hamilton was a team that had hopes of getting into first place two weeks ago. Now they are in third place, six points back of the Bombers.
Their schedule doesn’t get any easier as they host the Stampeders next week.
Toronto @ Saskatchewan
The Riders are back!
This is the third-straight win for Ken Miller in his return to the sidelines – he has his team believing.
Chris Getzlaf had a fantastic game; it didn’t seem like any Argo defender could cover him.
The Riders defence also finally stepped up. Not only are they creating turnovers, they are also putting points on the board.
The Argos may have taken an early lead, but when they kept settling for field goals, you knew it would eventually come back to haunt them.
Steven Jyles showed some positives, but it was noticeable that he hasn’t played in a while. He had an opportunity to lead his team downfield on the last drive of the game for the win or tie, but he threw a costly interception that was taken back to the house for a pick-six.
This team is in serious trouble. I just don’t see the urgency and effort of a team that wants to make the playoffs.
B.C. @ Calgary
The Hall of Fame Game. You knew it was going to be a rough day for the Stamps when Henry Burris was picked off on the first offensive play.
Calgary has had plenty of trouble winning at home. They are only 2-4 at McMahon Stadium, compared to 5-0 on the road. With this loss, the Stamps are now tied for first with Edmonton in the West Division.
The B.C. Lions are playing great team defence. Going into this game, their defence had not allowed a TD in three games. That is amazing.
This game was pretty entertaining and had a little bit of everything: A punt block, fake punt (intercepted) and the best play, Arland Bruce’s TD. He took a short pass and eluded all of the Stamps defenders. It showed his pure determination to get into the endzone.
B.C. has now won four-straight games and is right back into the playoff race in the West Division — their chance to host a home playoff game is getting better with every win.
I’m sure that the thought of playing for the Grey Cup at home is in the back of their minds… even though they won’t admit it.
Winnipeg @ Montreal
This was the battle for first place in the East and I was very concerned about how the Bombers would respond after two-straight losses to the Riders.
They had every excuse not to win this game: Their QB is being held together with band-aids; their defensive leader, Joe Lobendhan, is out for the season; they had four guys miss the team flight to Montreal.
But they responded great to all the adversity. The defence played solid, the defensive backs were all over the Als receivers. The fact Jamel Richardson didn’t have a catch in the first half says a lot.
Buck Pierce stood in the pocket and delivered some great passes.
Fred Reid was able to run right through the heart of the Als defence for a TD and Cory Watson took a short catch and turned it into a 92-yard play. Wow! The only thing negative about the Bombers’ game was the penalties. You can’t do that too much against good teams – it will catch up to you.
As for the Als, they seemed out of sync from the start with numerous dropped balls, fumbles and penalties. Even with all those mistakes, they still had an opportunity to win this game.
The most frustrating thing for me as a former O-lineman is when your team stops running the ball.
When your opponent has great pass rushers, it always helps when there is a balance on offence. It makes the D-linemen respect the run, rather then having them tee off on you with all their pass-rush moves. The defining moment in this game for me was on their last drive. It was second down with two yards to go and instead of trying to run the ball twice to get those two yards, they tried to throw it both times and failed.
The Als have the most success when they use RB Brandon Whitaker. They didn’t do that; they chose to air it out and it didn’t work. The great thing is that these two teams will get to face each other a few more times this season. Let’s see if the Als learn from this loss.