Zach Collaros is back and Edmonton is rolling \u2014 Friday’s West showdown at Commonwealth could shake up the division race.<\/p>\n
This Week’s CFL Schedule<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Blue Bombers<\/a> at Edmonton Elks<\/a><\/p>\n WhenFriday, August 21 at 9:30 PM ET This one’s got real playoff-seeding weight. Edmonton sits second in the West at 7-3 and just hung 42 points on Toronto last week, while Winnipeg comes in at 5-4 off a win over Ottawa. These two split a physical Week 4 meeting that Edmonton took 23-18, and the Elks haven’t actually won the season series against Winnipeg since 2018 \u2014 a stat that should have Bomber fans feeling okay about their chances despite the spread.<\/p>\n Winnipeg’s defense has been the story of their season, allowing a league-low 269.9 passing yards per game, but Edmonton counters with the league’s best opponent passer efficiency rating (90.8). Something has to give, and with Cody Fajardo throwing it around and Brady Oliveira trying to run through arm tackles, this feels like a game decided in the trenches.<\/p>\n Players to Watch:<\/p>\n Cody Fajardo (Edmonton Elks, QB) \u2014 Sits at 3,109 yards and 17 TDs, five passing yards from 25,000 for his career, and just one TD shy of matching his career high, but he’s 5-9 lifetime against Winnipeg. Injury Watch:<\/p>\n Brady Oliveira (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, RB) \u2014 Ankle, Questionable. Pick: Edmonton Elks 27-20. Winnipeg is 3-5-1 against the spread this season and dealing with a banged-up backfield and receiving corps, while Edmonton just rolled through Toronto and gets this one at home. The Elks are 5-4 ATS and this number feels fair \u2014 take the home team to cover.<\/p>\n CFL Standings<\/p>\n TeamWLPFPA<\/p>\n Montreal Alouettes91367263 Quick Hits<\/p>\n Zach Collaros is back off the six-game injury list for Winnipeg, giving the Bombers a veteran option under center if Fajardo’s Elks defense sells out to stop the run. Standings<\/a> | Full Schedule<\/a> | League Leaders<\/a><\/p>\n Who wins this week? Drop your picks in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zach Collaros is back and Edmonton is rolling \u2014 Friday’s West showdown at Commonwealth could shake up the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-866786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866786","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=866786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhereCommonwealth Stadium, Edmonton
\nTVTSN
\nStreamWatch live on CFL+<\/a>
\nLineEdmonton Elks -5 | O\/U 59<\/p>\n
\nBrady Oliveira (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, RB) \u2014 He’s rushed for 309 yards at 7.0 yards a carry over his last three games and dropped 122 yards from scrimmage on Edmonton in Week 4, if the ankle cooperates.
\nJustin Rankin (Edmonton Elks, RB) \u2014 Sits at 698 yards on the ground and needs just 24 more to hit 2,500 for his career.<\/p>\n
\nNic Demski (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, WR) \u2014 Ankle, Questionable; he’s 152 receiving yards away from becoming the 15th Canadian to reach 7,000 for his career.
\nEthan Ball (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, DB) \u2014 Achilles, Out.
\nKenneth Logan Jr. (Edmonton Elks, DB) \u2014 Knee, Doubtful.
\nRoyce Metchie (Edmonton Elks, WR) \u2014 Hamstring, Doubtful.
\nJoseph Robustelli (Edmonton Elks, WR) \u2014 Hamstring, Doubtful.
\nBen Sangmuah (Edmonton Elks, DB) \u2014 Knee, Doubtful.<\/p>\n
\nEdmonton Elks73301260
\nSaskatchewan Roughriders63293241
\nWinnipeg Blue Bombers54237264
\nToronto Argonauts45265291
\nBC Lions<\/a>45244251
\nCalgary Stampeders<\/a>46378327
\nHamilton Tiger-Cats46237280
\nOttawa Redblacks010223368<\/p>\n
\nEthan Ball just got transferred to the six-game injury list for Winnipeg, thinning out an already banged-up secondary heading into a game against a red-hot Edmonton offense.
\nFantasy players should lean on Justin Rankin over the air-it-out guys here \u2014 Winnipeg’s pass defense is the league’s stingiest, but Edmonton’s ground game has been humming with eight rushing touchdowns from Rankin alone.
\nWillie Jefferson<\/a> is one pass knockdown away from joining Eddie Davis and Adrion Smith as the only players in league history to reach the century mark \u2014 worth watching every time Fajardo drops back.<\/p>\n