{"id":152703,"date":"2025-09-18T13:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/152703\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T13:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:23:08","slug":"3downnation-cfl-week-16-predictions-best-bets-for-als-at-argos-lions-at-stamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/152703\/","title":{"rendered":"3DownNation CFL Week 16 predictions: best bets for Als at Argos, Lions at Stamps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Montreal Alouettes<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Week 16 in the Canadian Football League, and we once again have a doubleheader of doubleheaders with a pair of games on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n

Our focus is going to be on the Friday games, where we\u2019ve got two huge divisional matchups to get the week started.<\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes at Toronto Argonauts \u2014 Friday, September 19 at 7:00 p.m. EDT<\/p>\n

The week kicks off at BMO Field in Toronto, where the Argos look to stay hot against the Alouettes.<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s recent winning streak has them within two points of the Alouettes for second place in the East Division, while Montreal came up with one of their biggest wins of the season in a dominant win over the Roughriders.<\/p>\n

While the Boatman should provide a little bit more resistance to Montreal\u2019s passing game than the banged-up Saskatchewan secondary from a week ago, it still looks like a plus matchup for Montreal.<\/p>\n

McLeod Bethel-Thompson and a talented receiving room in Montreal will be going up against a Toronto defence that has allowed big passing days to Dru Brown, Nathan Rourke, and Bo Levi Mitchell as of late. Those are some of the best QBs in the league, but the Alouettes have gotten a lot healthier at receiver lately and that should pose more problems for the Argos secondary.<\/p>\n

While Montreal is getting healthy at the right time, the Argos are dealing with an injury problem of their own. The league\u2019s leading passer, Nick Arbuckle, is out this week with a calf injury, so Jarrett Doege will take his place for only his second career start.<\/p>\n

It might be tough for the young passer to keep the momentum going for an offence that has hit its stride recently. Montreal\u2019s defence shut down Saskatchewan\u2019s passing attack last week with some fresh faces bringing a renewed energy to the unit.<\/p>\n

With these two teams going in opposite directions on the injury report, I expect the Alouettes to keep their momentum going against Toronto this week.<\/p>\n

PICK: Montreal -5.5
\nB.C. Lions at Calgary Stampeders \u2014 Friday, September 19 at 9:30 p.m. EDT<\/p>\n

The Calgary Stampeders are back at McMahon Stadium after their bye as they host the Lions.<\/p>\n

This is a big one for the Lions, who are tied with Winnipeg for the last playoff spot in the West Division, and two points up on Toronto in the crossover race.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of importance on the Stamps side as well, as Calgary is four points back of Saskatchewan for top spot in the West, though they have a game in hand on the idle Riders.<\/p>\n

There was a time when Calgary coming off a bye was automatic, and we might be back in those times again. The last time Calgary had a bye was August when they had a week off before a matchup with the Riders. They completely dominated that game en route to a 32-15 win.<\/p>\n

Now, Calgary is coming off a frustrating loss to Edmonton, and they\u2019ve had extra time to get ready for a Lions defence that has struggled this year. B.C. has given up 27 points or more in six of their last seven games. The Lions have allowed the third-most points per game in the CFL this season, so giving Dave Dickenson some extra time to prepare for that should bode well for the Red and White this weekend.<\/p>\n

It also gives Calgary\u2019s defence time to prepare for the tough test that is Nathan Rourke. The Canadian QB has thrown for over 300 yards in four of the Lions\u2019 last five games and he\u2019s gotten there with the help of some deep shots, with B.C. sitting second in big plays this season. They\u2019ll be going against a Calgary defence that is No. 1 against the pass and No. 1 against big plays this year.<\/p>\n

The Stampeders likely have the edge in this game to begin with, but you add an extra week to prepare, and this is a very steep hill to climb for the Lions on Friday night in Calgary.<\/p>\n

PICK: Calgary -5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Montreal Alouettes It\u2019s Week 16 in the Canadian Football League, and we once again have a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-152703","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\/152703","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=152703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}