Picture yourself on an NBA court about 25 years ago. Allen Iverson is in his prime, and he has the ball. You\u2019re scrambling to defend the top of the key as he slows his approach. The ball bounces in his left hand. When it reaches the apex of its arc, he nods to the gods, and the ball hangs in the air for a split second longer than gravity should allow. It\u2019s coming but there\u2019s nothing you can do to stop it now. Just like the Argos and Redblacks, you\u2019re left spinning, victimized by THE CROSSOVER.<\/p>\n
The crossover rule was established in 1996, and this will be the 13th time it has come into play. It was a regular occurrence not that long ago. There was a crossover six times in eight years between 2012 and 2019. But whether it\u2019s Winnipeg, Calgary, or even Edmonton this time, it will be an uphill climb. A crossover entry has yet to reach the Grey Cup Game. <\/p>\n
We know a Western team will be travelling East in a couple of weeks, and it won\u2019t be to Toronto or Ottawa. Beyond that, there is still a lot to be decided entering week 19. At first glance, the Thanksgiving Day Game on Monday isn\u2019t great. I\u2019ll be staying away from the massive 13.5-point spread. But I\u2019ll be watching, and so will the rest of the league. Not only is the crossover likely to start in Montreal, but Davis Alexander doesn\u2019t lose. In the league\u2019s rich history, he\u2019s the only quarterback to start his career with 9 straight wins. The odds suggest he\u2019ll make it a perfect ten. I\u2019m tempted to eat the points, but I\u2019ll save my appetite for the harvest spread. Gobble Gobble. Happy Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
Toronto Argonauts at Saskatchewan Roughriders<\/p>\n
The Argos made a valiant effort for much of the season. Their Grey Cup-winning squad from a year ago was picked apart in free agency and then decimated by injuries. Despite all the adversity, the Argos showed to be a better football team than their record suggests. But unlike the Redblacks, the core pieces and the coaching staff are secure going into next season. Whereas the Redblacks\u2019 effort might reflect a group that has something to prove and is auditioning for next season, I expect the Argos to be pulling together at a gentler pace. Riders head coach Corey Mace was the defensive coordinator for the Argos for two years prior to joining the Riders, winning a Grey Cup in 2023. I don\u2019t expect Ryan Dinwiddie to do too much to derail his former DC\u2019s efforts to win a division title. The Riders offence underperformed in Ottawa last week. It\u2019s a good \u2018get right\u2019 spot for the offence to run it up in front of their home fans.<\/p>\n
THE PICK: ROUGHRIDERS -11.5<\/p>\n
Calgary Stampeders at Hamilton Tiger-Cats<\/p>\n
The wheels have fallen off the chuckwagon. The stamps have lost four in a row, allowing almost 40 points per game since the start of September. Vernon Adams Jr is publicly questioning his own confidence. The defensive front hasn\u2019t been able to get pressure since Flo Orimolade\u2019s injury, and now the secondary has been bitten by the injury bug. They\u2019re still very much in the playoff mix, but must get it fixed, and fast. Unfortunately for the Stamps, Hamilton is next on the schedule. The Ti-Cats can clinch first in the East with a win and Bo Levi Mitchell\u2019s case for MOP isn\u2019t going to end quietly. <\/p>\n
THE PICK: TIGER-CATS -2.5<\/p>\n
PLAYER PROP: GREG BELL OVER 68.5 RUSHING YARDS<\/p>\n
Ring the Bell. Greg Bell is 87 yards shy of his first 1,000-yard season. The second year back has gone over this number in five straight games and he\u2019s going up against what is now the worst run defence in the league. The Stamps\u2019 losing streak started when they allowed over 200 yards to Justin Rankin, they then gave up 156 to BC\u2019s Zander Horvath, who was starting in place of James Butler. With Hamilton\u2019s arsenal of receiving weapons, the Stamps can\u2019t sell out to stop the run. There should be lanes, and I expect the Ti-Cats to be playing with the lead.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Edmonton Elks<\/p>\n
It was thought the Elks would be long gone by the time the hunt started. Instead, it\u2019s peak season and they\u2019re still very much alive. Edmonton is 5-5 since Cody Fajardo took over at quarterback after starting the year 1-4. But against the spread, nobody\u2019s been better at 8-2 with Fajardo under centre. Of their five losses straight up since week 8, only one of them was by more than four points, and a combined five points have decided their last three games. The Elks have shown a strong survival instinct. Meanwhile, the Bombers answered a lot of questions in Zach Collaros\u2019 return to the lineup before last week\u2019s bye, putting up a forty burger at home to Hamilton. This week, Collaros will be without his leading receiver in Nic Demski and Edmonton is expecting weather. It won\u2019t come as easily in the elements. I\u2019m tempted to take the under 53.5 points, but in any weather condition, and regardless of game script, the Elks can keep it close.<\/p>\n
THE PICK: ELKS +3.5<\/p>\n
RecordLast Week SeasonGame Picks2-132-23Player Props0-19-8Total2-241-31<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Picture yourself on an NBA court about 25 years ago. Allen Iverson is in his prime, and he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-204909","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\/204909","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=204909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}