CFL Previews - September 16-18, Week Twelve

Football Betting Lines

09/14/2011 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -

EDMONTON ESKIMOS (6-4) AT HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (5-5)

DATE & TIME: Friday, September 16, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: A couple of teams trying to bounce back from disappointing showings during Week 11 action hit the field on Friday night, as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats entertain the Edmonton Eskimos.

For the Eskimos, everything seemed to be going so well through the first five weeks of the season, undefeated each time out, but since then the rest of the field has caught up to them and the victories have been hard to come by. Last Friday, Edmonton sized up Calgary for the second time in a span of just four days, but after capturing a 35-7 triumph on September 5 on the road, the Esks were brought back to reality in a 30-20 setback at home.

The Edmonton offense simply could not get into gear through three quarters, posting just single field goals in each of those periods and a single by Damon Duval in the third. Quarterback Ricky Ray converted 21-of-34 passes for a lofty 345 yards, but he failed to direct any one of his passes into the end zone and was sacked three times to add injury to insult. Adarius Bowman turned four receptions into 133 yards, with a long of 56 from Ray

Backup quarterback Kerry Joseph didn't attempt a pass, but he did record the lone touchdown of the night for the Esks on a one-yard run late in the fourth frame.

Ray, who is hitting an impressive 65 percent of his pass attempts, hasn't done as much damage in the last few games as he did early on when he was hitting receivers without fear of interception. Now the signal-caller is stuck on 13 majors and has tossed seven INTs as the offense has stalled a bit.

After the final stats came out from last week, it is clear that Edmonton needs to get more production from the rushing attack which contributed a mere 42 yards on 15 attempts versus Calgary. Jerome Messam was responsible for a team- high 19 yards on six totes, nothing that will cause defenses to stand up and take notice really.

In fact, at this stage of the season Edmonton is last in the league in rushing with a mere 90.7 ypg, averaging only 4.2 yards per attempt which in turn puts even more pressure on Ray who probably feels he has to do it all himself.

In Hamilton's case on Sunday, the team had just come off a 44-21 thrashing of Montreal at home on September 5 and thought it was in a strong position to make it back-to-back wins over the two-time defending Grey Cup champs, but no one told the Alouettes as the hosts ripped through the Tiger-Cats in a 43-13 barrage.

The 'Cats controlled the ball for just under 22 minutes which meant Hamilton could not waste time and effort running the ball, which they did to the tune of just 39 yards on eight attempts. Instead, the ball was put in the hands of Kerry Glenn who proceeded to hit just 13-of-30 passes for 151 yards before giving way to Quinton Porter who connected on 6-of-9 attempts for 50 yards in the lopsided setback.

Hamilton failed to score a single major in the event, instead relying on kicker Justin Medlock to put points on the board as he converted 4-of-5 field goals and finished with 12 points. Medlock, who is second in the league in scoring with 109 points, is as solid as they come at the position, but any CFL team will tell you that you cannot win consistently without getting the ball into the end zone.

What the Tiger-Cats need to do is get back to their strength and before last week that appeared to be their running attack which accounted for a league- high 12 touchdowns. After 11 weeks of action, Hamilton is still second in the league in scoring behind only Montreal, putting up 27.3 ppg, and while it is essential for Glenn to be able to move the ball efficiently, running back Avon Cobourne can't get lost in the shuffle.

Cobourne is third in the league in rushing with 623 yards and he has scored six times, but his former team made it so Hamilton had to forfeit running the ball for the most part, something the Tiger-Cats need to get back to this week if they also want to get back into the win column.

Edmonton won the first meeting of the season back in early July, 28-10, at home which means the all-time, regular-season series between the teams now stands at 51-28-1 in favor of the Eskimos.

If the Tiger-Cats can get their running game in gear and keep the ball away from Ray and the Eskimos they'll have a fighting chance, otherwise expect Edmonton to bounce back in a big way on Friday.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Edmonton 31, Hamilton 20

TORONTO ARGONAUTS (2-8) AT SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (3-7)

DATE & TIME: Saturday, September 17, 4:00 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: A couple of teams bringing up the rear in their respective divisions get together at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday afternoon, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders entertain the Toronto Argonauts.

The Roughriders are actually enjoying a brief winning streak at the moment, capturing back-to-back meetings against Eastern Division-leading Winnipeg, after opening the 2011 campaign with just one win in eight opportunities. Ironically, the team's only other victory this season came against Montreal (27-24), the two-time defending Grey Cup champs, on the road back in late July, which means Saskatchewan knows how to get up for the big games but has trouble getting motivated to take on the rest of the league.

Against Winnipeg last weekend, the Saskatchewan defense knocked out Blue Bomber quarterback Buck Pierce, sacked him three times, and picked off five of his passes to send Winnipeg, which leads the Eastern Division by a game heading into play this week, to a second loss in as many meetings.

Offensively, the star for the Riders was Darian Durant who completed 14-of-27 passes for 230 yards and four touchdowns, shaking off an interception and three sacks along the way. Chris Getzlaf caught just two passes, but turned both into majors, while Weston Dressler finished with four receptions for 97 yards and a TD himself. On the ground it was Wes Cates who compiled 50 yards and a TD on 11 attempts.

As for the Argonauts, life after Cleo Lemon began last week, but unfortunately the results were strangely similar as they produced a season-low six points thanks to field goals of 16 and 21 yards by Noel Prefontaine in the third quarter in a 22-point setback at British Columbia.

In making his Toronto debut, quarterback Steven Jyles completed 18-of-33 passes for 220 yards, but was kept out of the end zone and was sacked four times. Chad Owens made himself available to Jyles down the field, catching six passes for 55 yards in the setback.

On a positive note, the defense actually played rather well for the Argos, despite what the final score indicated, halting many drives by the Lions and forcing the hosts to resort to four field goals instead of extending drives.

Toronto, which has settled into last place in the Eastern Division with just four points on the campaign, has struggled all season with turnovers, causing too few and being forced into far too many and that now has the team last in the CFL in that department by a wide margin, showing a minus-15 in turnovers at the moment. Second-worst in that area is Saskatchewan of all teams, but its issues are not nearly as great with a minus-five in turnover ratio.

Matching up against the Roughriders might be just what the doctor ordered for Jyles right now, seeing as how Saskatchewan's pass defense has been rather lax in 2011 by allowing opponents to convert on two-thirds of all their pass attempts. Conversely, Toronto as a whole has completed just 61.5 percent of its pass attempts so far this season, mostly with Lemon at the helm, so something has to give.

Thanks to last week's performance Durant has vaulted into second place on the CFL's list for passing touchdowns this season with 17, his more than 2,500 yards ranking him fifth in the league at this point in the campaign. However, what cannot be overlooked is Durant's penchant for throwing interceptions as well, something he's done a total of 10 times in 2011 which is second-most through 10 outings.

Saskatchewan has won five of the last seven meetings between the two teams and is now ahead in the all-time, regular-season series by a count of 43-35-1 dating back to 1945. However, it was Toronto that won the most recent meeting, 24-18, back in August and has taken two in a row from the Roughriders.

Seeing as how Toronto has just five interceptions as a unit so far this season, this might be the sort of opportunity that Durant has been waiting for as he and the Roughriders try to generate some momentum to propel themselves through the second half of the campaign.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Saskatchewan 31, Toronto 13

BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS (4-6) AT CALGARY STAMPEDERS(7-3)

DATE & TIME: Saturday, September 17th, 7:00 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Back on top in the West Division standings, the Calgary Stampeders settle in at McMahon Stadium on Saturday evening as they welcome the British Columbia Lions to town.

Calgary, which is tied with Winnipeg for the best record in the league overall at 7-3, has dominated on the road this season by winning all five dates away from home, seven in a row overall in such situations, after capturing a 30-20 triumph over Edmonton last week.

The rushing attack for the Roughriders took center stage against Edmonton as Joffrey Reynolds (80 yards), Henry Burris (44 yards) and Jon Cornish (44 yards) all played a major part in the squad generating 182 yards on the ground and taking some of the pressure off Burris in the pocket. Nonetheless Burris, who had the lone rushing score of the game for Calgary, still put up strong passing numbers as he completed 16-of-30 attempts for 316 yards and a major to Nik Lewis who continued his streak for consecutive games with at least one reception.

Ken-Yon Rambo was also a key contributor for the Stamps as he reeled in seven passes for 121 yards, placing him second now on the season in terms of receptions (38) and yardage (492) behind Lewis who leads the program with 53 catches for 757 yards and four majors.

Getting the ball to those guys demands that Burris stay in the pocket as long as he can and refrain from trying to make something happen with his feet. So far, so good for Burris in 2011 as he's second in the league in passing yardage (2,910) and is tied for third with 15 TDs while completing 62 percent of his attempts. However, in addition to tossing eight interceptions the signal-caller has also had a tough time holding onto the ball, suffering seven fumbles to this point in the campaign.

Over on the other side, the Lions are slowly regaining some respectability following an 0-5 start to the campaign which again shook the foundations of the club. British Columbia has now won three straight and four of the last five outings, thanks to a 28-6 romp over a Toronto squad last Saturday that had just dumped its starting quarterback.

In reality, the margin of victory for the Lions should have been much greater, but stalled drives demanded that the team call on kicker Paul McCallum who knocked through all four of his field goal attempts, finishing with 14 points overall as he earned CFL Special Teams Player of the Week honors. It also didn't hurt that McCallum, when out of field goal range, booted four punts for an average of 45.3 yards.

Quarterback Travis Lulay paced the offense for the Lions by completing 19- of-29 passes for 263 yards and a score, to go along with one interception, adding a spectacular 53-yard run for himself as well. Receiver Arland Bruce collected five passes, but those resulted in just 34 yards, certainly a far cry from what he is used to.

Ahead of Bruce on the receiving list last week was Geroy Simon who posted six catches for 117 yards, including a 33-yard TD in the fourth quarter to cap a four-play, 78-yard drive for the hosts who moved closer to .500 in their own building with their second victory in five opportunities. For Simon, now second in the league with 812 yards and four TDs on 48 receptions, his TD catch against the Argos was his 88th as a member of the Lions, establishing a new franchise record.

Simon, an import from the University of Maryland, is closing in on his ninth straight 1,000-yard campaign as he averages just under 17 yards per catch this year.

While Simon and Bruce give Lulay options down the field, the Lions still must address the fact that they have one of the weakest rushing attacks in the league at this point, averaging just 96.2 yards per outing, something the Stampeders would be smart to focus on as they prepare their defensive game plan for the meeting.

BC has actually won two of the last three meetings between the teams, but it was Calgary that put up a narrow 34-32 triumph in the most recent encounter back in early July in Vancouver. With that victory the Stamps moved to 94-73-5 in the all-time series.

Obviously the Lions have figured out and fixed some of their problems from earlier in the season, but to expect the team to upend Calgary on the road this weekend would be asking quite a bit from the group from British Columbia.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Calgary 35, British Columbia 20

WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (7-3) AT MONTREAL ALOUETTES (6-4)

DATE & TIME: Sunday, September 18, 1:00 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: After a sub-par effort to kick off the month of September, Montreal's Anthony Calvillo appears to be back in stride now as he and the Alouettes prepare for the arrival of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday afternoon.

Calvillo, who now dominates the CFL record books, was held to just 215 yards and failed to throw even one TD pass for just the second time back on September 5 on the road versus Hamilton, rebounded in a big way this past Sunday as he connected on 31-of-45 passes for a season-high 421 yards and four touchdowns in the team's 43-13 romp over the same Tiger-Cats. The victory snapped a two-game slide by the two-time defending Grey Cup champs and drew them to within two points of the Blue Bombers who still sit atop the Eastern Division with seven wins in 10 chances.

Once again the top producer for Calvillo and the Als down the field was slotback Jamel Richardson who, with his seven catches for 113 yards and a score, registered his fourth straight 100-yard game and his sixth of the campaign. Easily the league leader in receiving with 1,015 yards and eight TDs on 65 grabs, Richardson is now enjoying his fourth straight 1,000-yard campaign, all of them coming with Montreal and with Calvillo at the helm.

While Calvillo, who was named the CFL's Offensive Player of the Week for his recent exploits, continues to thrive and defy logic in his 18th season out of Utah State, the same cannot be said for Winnipeg gunslinger Buck Pierce who not only lost to Saskatchewan at home last week, 45-23, but also suffered countless hits and is now dealing with bruised ribs which have him listed as day-to-day.

Pierce finished the outing against the Roughriders roughed up ironically, and while he did complete 21-of-33 passes for 287 yards, he failed to toss a single TD pass, was sacked three times and picked off on five occasions. The Blue Bombers did get running back Fred Reid back from injury and while he did record a major, he gained just 46 yards on 11 attempts.

Not only do the Bombers have to concern themselves with whether or not Pierce will be ready for this weekend, but they're also coming to grips with the fact that fourth-year linebacker Joe Lobendahn will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee. Lobendahn, who was placed on the nine-game injured list, had 32 tackles and two sacks this season.

If Pierce is unable to go, Alex Brink would be the logical option under center. Brink, who converted 8-of-11 passes for 59 yards and a score after relieving Pierce last week, has just 30 completed passes in his two seasons with Winnipeg, but at this point the club has little choice but to turn to him if a fill-in is indeed needed.

No matter who is handling the passing chores for Winnipeg, Terrence Edwards will have to continue to fit into the equation after he turned six receptions into 123 yards and a score for the team last week. Edwards leads all Winnipeg receivers with 655 yards and seven majors on just 36 catches, his 18.2 yards per reception being one of the highest in the league at the moment.

But as good as Edwards can be, the difference between him and Richardson for the Als is that the latter also has someone like S.J. Green to attract some defensive attention as well. Calvillo has turned Green into a legitimate, top- flight receiver with his 53 catches for 770 yards and three scores, using him to stretch the field and then turning back to find Richardson who leads the league in receiving TDs.

As far as the all-time, regular-season series between these two clubs is concerned, Montreal has taken four straight meetings and now leads the Bombers by a count of 42-32-2. The Als won all three matchups last season, although in the most recent two encounters Montreal won by just a combined seven points

These two squads are slated to meet once more this season near the end of October on Winnipeg's home field.

It is not so much the unknown with Pierce that will likely have the Blue Bombers losing their grip on first place in the division, it will be the play of Calvillo and his troupe who generally spring to life under pressure.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Montreal 38, Winnipeg 21

Overall Sportsbook Betting Lines Predictions: 26-14. Last Week's Predictions: 3-1.