Games Picks 2-1 23-13 Player Props 1-0 6-6 Total 3-1 29-19\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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The season doesn\u2019t start until Labour Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fun to say and it’s\u00a0everybody\u2019s favourite CFL clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Of course it\u2019s not true. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Those of us who\u2019ve amassed a winning a record over the summer should be insulted at the suggestion.\u00a0Sometimes the clich\u00e9 is used as a reminder to an 8-2 team like the Saskatchewan Roughriders, or a team like the Calgary Stampeders who\u2019ve beat them twice, not to lose focus.\u00a0Though, it\u2019s more often used to make a losing squad feel better about themselves rather than dwelling on the approaching weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll bet Edmonton Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo wishes the season started Labour Day.\u00a0Just imagine a clean slate, rather than being tasked with trying to dig the Elks out of a 1-6 deficit. \u00a0<\/p>\n
That said, he\u2019s almost done it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Elks have won three in a row and covered the spread in all five of Fajardo\u2019s starts. It seems far-fetched for them to catch both the BC Lions\u00a0and Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the final West Division playoff spot, until you realize they don\u2019t have to.\u00a0 They\u2019ve already surpassed the Ottawa Redblacks and Toronto Argonauts’ win totals.<\/p>\n
What if we amend the Labour Day clich\u00e9 to say: \u00a0When the crossover is in play\u2026?<\/p>\n
Either way, we\u2019re in mid-season form.\u00a0Thanks to our resident betting guru Domenic Padula for his kind words about this column in Morning Coffee.\u00a0I can\u2019t wait for his daily NFL insights that are always ahead of the curve. Until then, one more week for the CFL to soak in the spotlight before four down football forces its way onto the stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Happy Labour Day.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Saskatchewan Roughriders\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The Roughriders are world beaters against everybody but the team they lost to again last week.\u00a0Calgary is the only team to get the better of Saskatchewan this season, and it\u2019s been by at least two touchdowns each time.\u00a0 Sometimes, a team has your number, and the Riders better change theirs if they want to represent the West in the 112th Grey Cup game in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But first it\u2019s the annual Labour Day classic against the Blue Bombers. It’s a game the Riders lost last year, before losing the following week in the Banjo Bowl, and again to the Bombers in the West Final.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coming off another loss to the Stamps, Saskatchewan will have a snarl beyond the already elevated emotion that comes with rivalry weekend.\u00a0The Bombers have strung together back-to-back wins, albeit against lesser than opponents. They\u2019re expected to get receiver Dalton Schoen back, which is a boost for Zach Collaros. Maybe they can deliver a vintage performance next week at home, but amongst the watermelon helmets at Mosaic, I like the Riders to roll.<\/p>\n
THE PICK: ROUGHRIDERS -4.5<\/p>\n
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Toronto Argonauts at Hamilton Tiger-Cats <\/p>\n
Are the Argos finally pulling together?\u00a0 It is their slogan after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It feels like it took a couple days for Nick Arbuckle\u2019s performance last week to sink in.\u00a0Over 400 passing yards and four total TDs without his stud receiver?\u00a0If you weren\u2019t watching, and are aware of the CFL stats issue, it would have been easy to assume that his numbers were confused with Nathan Rourke\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arbuckle\u2019s now the fifth choice to win MOP with 19-1 odds after ruining a 4-0 week for yours truly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Ticats were watching and\u00a0waiting. They are coming off their worst loss of the season and after a much-needed bye to stew about it, they\u2019ll be ready for the Argos in front of a horde of hostile Hamiltonians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe the film shows something sneaky, but I saw the Argos running wide open down field, wondering where are the Lions? Are they in line for the sizzler over at that the CNE?\u00a0 Not to diminish Arbuckle\u2019s arm or Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie\u2019s reputation as a quarterback whisperer, but let\u2019s not get over excited.\u00a0 Maybe being ripped in the media by their head coach for the second time this season lit a spark under the Argos? \u00a0They\u2019ll have to show me they can sustain it.<\/p>\n
THE PICK: TIGER-CATS -4.5<\/p>\n
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Edmonton Elks at Calgary Stampeders <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve telegraphed this pick throughout the column.\u00a0In addition to what I\u2019ve already written about the Elks, pivot Cody Fajardo plays his best football late games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They haven\u2019t lost by more than four points since he took over as the starter.\u00a0They only lost by three in Saskatchewan and\u00a0Edmonton\u2019s defence is flying under the radar, allowing just 22.2 points a game in its last five.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As mentioned, the Stamps have seemingly shocked the world, going from Grey Cup long shots when the season started to being the current favourite at FanDuel. Yes, they\u2019ve beaten the Riders twice.\u00a0 They\u2019ve also lost to the Redblacks twice, and to the Als with McLeod Bethel-Thompson at quarterback.\u00a0 Two of those losses were at home.\u00a0 Granted, starting quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was injured for one of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Stamps continue to be stingy on defence, allowing the fewest points per game in the league.\u00a0 On top of that, their pass rush has come alive of late. Instead of a player prop, since the selection is limited at print time, I\u2019ve got my eye on the total.\u00a0 Points should be hard to come by in the Battle of Alberta.<\/p>\n
THE PICKS: \u00a0\u00a0ELKS +7.5\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0UNDER 52.5 TOTAL POINTS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Games Picks 2-1 23-13 Player Props 1-0 6-6 Total 3-1 29-19\u00a0 \u00a0 The season doesn\u2019t start until Labour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-119005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}