{"id":952618,"date":"2026-10-31T02:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T02:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/952618\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T02:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T02:32:10","slug":"5-things-to-know-about-the-eastern-semi-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/952618\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things to know about the Eastern Semi-Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eastern Semi-Final presented by Wegovy has been much discussed over the final two months of the CFL season. That was largely because we were all wondering which West Division dancing partner would decide to hop over and tangle with the Argonauts, who had long since staked their claim as the second-best team in the East after Montreal ran away in the distance and both Hamilton and Ottawa struggled to find success.<\/p>\n

It turns out Winnipeg will fill the role tomorrow at BMO Field in a game that should create some lasting memories as most playoff duels do. The question becomes whether those memories are positive or negative for the home Argos with such a dangerous crew staring them down with playoff experience and the belief they are still very much in a championship window.<\/p>\n

Here are five things to know before the Bombers and Argos collide for a spot in the Eastern Final.<\/p>\n

Related Content<\/a>HOME…FINALLY<\/p>\n

The Argos spent much of the first half of their campaign anywhere but home due to their pitch playing host to the FIFA World Cup, so it\u2019s poetic that they now come home with the opportunity to punctuate a season on the road with a big playoff win. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the Argos’ fifth time hosting a playoff game in six seasons, and Toronto has a 33-17-1 playoff record at home. While either matchup next week in Montreal will be tantalizing, I\u2019d be lying if I didn\u2019t say Chad Kelly against Davis Alexander in the Eastern Final has been on my mind for months.<\/p>\n

REFUSING TO GO QUIETLY<\/p>\n

Since quarterback Zach Collaros was acquired in 2019, Winnipeg has been special year over year. They\u2019ve now made the playoffs for 10 straight seasons as part of that Collaros run and have a much-discussed veteran core of Stanley Bryant, Patrick Neufeld, Willie Jefferson, Nic Demski and more who it seems as though every other CFL team has been hoping will quietly retire and be out of the picture so someone else can take a run at multiple Grey Cups.<\/p>\n

The Bombers bunch above refuse to just fade, but with Collaros out this week<\/a>, the chance is there for this to be a turning of the page moment. If Dru Brown leads Winnipeg to success, perhaps he starts to establish his own core of future Bombers triumphs.<\/p>\n

ROOKIE SHOWDOWN<\/p>\n

While they might not see a ton of each other directly in this game, two of the best young players in the CFL will be featured when Toronto has the ball Saturday as receiver Tyler Kahmann and defensive back Major Williams will line up. Williams boasts a 60 per cent allowed completion rate, which is fourth-best in the CFL, while Kahmann ranks first in rookie catches (77), receiving yards (1,092) and receiving touchdowns (eight). <\/p>\n

These are two great players with bright futures who should have a direct impact on how this playoff matchup unfolds.<\/p>\n

DEJA DRU?<\/p>\n

Okay, I stole that line from our exceptional CFL on TSN stats man Jon Perlberg, but now that Brown is getting the start, you HAVE to flash back to 2024 when then REDBLACKS quarterback Dru Brown went to Toronto for that season’s Eastern Semi-Final. <\/p>\n

This game lingers in my head as a classic clash of styles. It was Brown\u2019s first playoff start and the 96 points combined between Chad Kelly and Brown\u2019s teams tied a playoff record. The problem was that Brown was a whopping 46-of-61 passing for 487 yards and still lost by 20 points, as the Ottawa defence couldn\u2019t do anything to slow down the Argonauts.<\/p>\n

BIG MONEY, BIG PRESSURE <\/p>\n

Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock this week, you know that Chad Kelly signed an extension that runs through<\/a> the next five seasons. With money comes expectation and that\u2019s clearly something the Argonauts quarterback embraces and welcomes. <\/p>\n

In a league where turnovers matter dearly, the 24 interceptions Kelly threw this season loom large entering a playoff scenario where possessions get squeezed and each game-changing play has massive ripple effects on the outcome.<\/p>\n

Does Kelly win big as he did in 2024 throwing it all over the place, or does Winnipeg make him pay on the week he got PAID?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eastern Semi-Final presented by Wegovy has been much discussed over the final two months of the CFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-952618","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\/952618","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=952618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}