The 112th Grey Cup Playoffs are here and the story of the post-season is parity.
The best team in the playoffs has 12 wins, and the teams with the fewest wins (Montreal and Winnipeg) are at 10.
There isn’t much to separate the Roughriders at the top of the standings and the rest of the five teams who will vie for the two spots to play for the Grey Cup.
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The Tiger-Cats and Roughriders get to spend the week using their time to scout their potential combatants as they host the Eastern Final and Western Final, respectively.
As for the other four teams, there are some great storylines to get us ready for the Division Semi-Finals.
WINNIPEG AT MONTREAL
Saturday, November 1
2:00 p.m. ET
TSN/CTV/RDS/CFL+
Two years ago the Alouettes upset the Bombers in the 110th Grey Cup, and after finishing the regular season off playing a bundle of backups, they’ll have their full cast ready to go on Saturday.
Davis Alexander has still yet to lose as a starting quarterback in the CFL, but this will be his first playoff start. Meanwhile, the opponent is the cagey veteran Zach Collaros, who has quarterbacked teams to six Grey Cup appearances.
The Alouettes have a new running back in Stevie Scott III and, of course, the Bombers counter with the reigning Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian Brady Oliveira.
Okay. There is no doubt how much experience many of the Bombers have going into this Eastern Semi-Final, but let’s look at these 10-8 teams.
The Alouettes are 7-0 with Davis Alexander at quarterback, and both losses to the Bombers came without Alexander in the lineup.
Overall, we’ve been waiting for the Bombers to have a stretch of games where you think, here they come, but whenever they had a step forward there was a step back, which is why the Bombers are 10-8. Although, they have won four of their last five coming into the playoffs even if their last two wins won’t be anything you’d say is a sign of playoff success.
My impressions of these two teams heading into the playoffs are entirely different. The Alouettes had a five-game win streak before last week’s loss to the Bombers. It started off with an impressive win in Saskatchewan.
I like how Scott III has added another dimension to this Alouettes offence, and Davis has one of the most talented groups. Their defence is better than Winnipeg’s defence and I think has far more playmakers to make Collaros’ life difficult.
PICK: MONTREAL
CALGARY AT BC
Saturday, November 1
5:30 p.m. ET
TSN/RDS/CFL+
The Calgary Stampeders were quick to act to pull Vernon Adams Jr. away from the BC Lions, as BC was clearly running with Nathan Rourke at quarterback.
Rourke and Adams Jr. have been everything both organizations were looking for. Rourke is definitely going to be the face of the league in the next few years, while Adams Jr. may turn into the new face of the franchise in Calgary.
We’ve recently seen these two teams battle, as the Lions swept the two-game season series, which is why the Western Semi is being hosted in Vancouver.
The Lions have been deadly at home. In five of their last six games at Save-on-Foods Field at BC Place, they’ve scored over 30 points, including a 38-24 win over Calgary three weeks ago.
The Stampeders had a rough stretch defensively through September and early October. They allowed over 30 points in many blowouts, but the defence has tightened up a bit over the last few weeks.
I just don’t see the Stamps defence being able to contain Rourke on the fast track at BC Place. If this game was a cool game in Calgary with a 40 km/h wind, I think the Stampeders have a fighting chance, but not out West. Not against the likely league MOP.
PICK: BC