Week 17 action in the Canadian Football League brings you a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday on TSN.
The excitement kicks off on Friday when the Calgary Stampeders travel to Montreal to take on the Alouettes, followed by a showdown between the Toronto Argonauts and BC Lions.
Continuing into Saturday, the East Division-leading Hamilton Tiger-Cats battle the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a game with massive playoff implications, and the day is wrapped up with a clash between the West Division-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Elks.
You can catch all of the action on the TSN Network and streaming on the TSN App and TSN.ca.
Stampeders meet Alouettes as both sides try to chase down division leaders
The Stampeders are trying to shake off a short two-game losing streak, including a 52-23 thumping at home against the Lions a week ago.
Calgary’s defence, which ranks tops in the league with 22.8 points allowed per game, was overwhelmed by the Lions offence that accounted for seven touchdowns.
“Hard to watch because it doesn’t look like us,” Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson said after the game. “Give them credit. They were more prepared, and they beat us up and they kicked our ass.”
The Stampeders also lost star quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. to a rib injury in the defeat. His status for Friday’s game is still up in the air.
On the other side, Montreal enters this game riding a two-game winning streak that has vaulted the team firmly into the playoff race following a five-game losing streak.
“At this time of year, all of the wins are big,” said Montreal head coach Jason Maas after their win over the Argos last weekend. “For us, what we’ve gone through in August to get into September and win a couple of games in a row, it’s feeling pretty good.
“It doesn’t matter [if a win is ugly] at this time of year, in fact all year it doesn’t matter how you win just that you win. You’ve got to learn from them and move on quickly.”
Argonauts, Lions meet with both teams fighting to stay alive in playoff race
The Argos had their three-game winning streak snapped against Montreal a week ago, and at 5-9, their playoff hopes remain slim.
Argonauts coach Ryan Dinwiddie pointed to the team’s urgency when speaking following their loss against the Alouettes.
“I just told the guys ‘Great fight, we’re not dead yet,’” Dinwiddie said. “We’re down, that was a tough loss.
“But at the same time I think it kind of bonded us together a little bit. We’ve got four games, we’ve probably got to win all four.”
The Lions (7-7) have won two in a row and will try to keep the good times rolling in this one after the offence was firing on all cylinders against Calgary a week ago.
“Versus a defence like that, that really rallies to the ball, runs to the football well, are very sound, don’t give up a lot of big plays,” Lions coach Buck Pierce said. “It all starts up front and I thought our [offence] did a fantastic job tonight.”
It figures to be another high-scoring affair when these sides meet on Friday – Toronto won the first matchup 52-34 in August – as BC enters with the league’s highest-scoring offence (30.7 points per game) against Toronto’s defence which is allowing the most points per game (31.3).
Tiger-Cats seek to extend East Division lead in battle against Blue Bombers
The Tiger-Cats (9-5) have won three straight to establish a strong two-game lead in the east Division standings. Now the remaining four games are about maintaining that lead to earn a bye into the East Division final.
It starts on Saturday in a showdown with the Blue Bombers – who Hamilton defeated 32-21 just two weeks ago. But cleaning up some mistakes from last week’s win is the first order of business for Tiger-Cats coach Scott Milanovich.
“I’m still steaming [about penalties],” Milanovich said. “Usually when you make as many mistakes as we did tonight it ends up biting you.”
The Ticats are boosted by a leading Most Outstanding Player candidate in QB Bo Levi Mitchell, who leads the league in passing yards (4,194) and passing touchdowns (28).
“Having Bo … I just have total faith in [the offence],” Milanovich said.
The Blue Bombers (7-7) snapped a three-game skid with a 26-18 win over the Ottawa Redblacks last week, and the top storyline entering Saturday’s game is the health of QB Zach Collaros.
The veteran signal caller has missed Winnipeg’s last two games with a neck injury, but he was leading first-team reps in practice this week and is expected to make his return to the lineup against Hamilton.
West Division-leading Roughriders conclude Week 17 action in battle against lowly Elks
Saskatchewan (10-3) has earned wins in six of its last eight games, but the defence was throttled in a 48-31 loss to the Alouettes in their last game two weeks ago.
“There were too many explosive plays given up on defence,” Roughriders defensive back Rolan Milligan said after the team allowed 530 yards of offence against Montreal.
“We talked about it early in the game too, after the first one. We’ve got to limit the explosions. If not, it always gets bad for us, and we weren’t able to do it.”
Prior to that game, Saskatchewan owned the top scoring defence in the league, allowing 21.5 points per game. They’ll have a chance to return to that form against the Elks on Saturday night.
Edmonton (5-9) has sunk to the bottom of the West Division for a second consecutive year, owed to struggles on both sides of the ball. The Elks have dropped two consecutive games by a combined total of three points – a walk-off field goal by Marc Liegghio gave Edmonton a 29-27 loss against the Ticats last week, preceded by Lirim Hajrallahu kicking the Argonauts to a 31-30 victory on the final play of the game two weeks ago.
“I think we’re taking steps but I don’t have a lot of words after that one,” Elks head coach Mark Kilam said after last week’s loss. “That was a tough loss against a good team at their place. That’s two weeks in a row.”