The CFL goes west this weekend, not playing a game east of Winnipeg.
ESPN2 jumps back in with more of the CFL Thursday as the Montréal Alouettes are in Winnipeg. Friday Night Football also airs on ESPN2 with BC in Edmonton. ESPN3 and TSN carry the Saturday night doubleheader with the Argonauts in Regina early and Tiger-Cats in Calgary late.
After 4 games in 17 days. Ottawa gets its only bye week before the final 2 in the last 3 weeks of the CFL season.
ESPN2
Thursday
Montréal @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Friday
BC @ Edmonton, 9:30p
TSN
Thursday
Montréal @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Friday
BC @ Edmonton, 9:30p
Saturday
Toronto @ Saskatchewan, 6:30p
Hamilton @ Calgary, 9:30p
Bye week: Ottawa
ESPN2 had the game lined up. Perhaps Toronto's biggest crowd of the season (not saying much). And the guarantee of Doug Flutie going in as an all-time Argonaut.
The celebration was about the 1996-1997 Toronto Argonauts but the spotlight was on Doug Flutie and not just because Flutie was the subject of a bobblehead doll. Flutie was in the TSN booth during the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately for the TV audience, the people running audio decided crowd noise was more important than what Flutie, Chris Cuthbert, and Glen Suitor had to say.
The casual fan would have to be really patient to sit through the interview. Some fans might wonder if the audio mix was designed to make a Toronto crowd sound louder than they actually were. Even so, the time with Flutie deserved a better sense of priorities in the audio mix.
ESPN2 probably would have wanted a better audio mix but the feed control is up to TSN.
Marc Trestman had limited success as a head coach in the NFL but Trestman looks like he hasn't lost his touch with veteran CFL quarterbacks. Ricky Ray has thrown 5 consecutive 300-yard games for the first time since 2006 when Ray was in Edmonton.
The Argonauts offence looks a lot smoother and knows that points can come rather easily. The team could have been disheartened by the Ottawa comeback. The last-minute drive was a lot smoother than it might have been in recent seasons.
The team will be tested as Monday's game was the first of 3 games in 11 days.
The Ottawa RedBlacks start was the subject of much criticism. This ignored a few factors in the reality of the RedBlacks start to 2017.
The team played home-and-home with the team with last year's best record by far. Ottawa also played a tough road game in Edmonton. The RedBlacks played 4 games in 17 days. The team was figuring out chemistry now that Trevor Harris is the permanent starter. The team went 8-9-1 last year and won the East. In 2017, the RedBlacks still play in the East. They'll be fine.
Losing and tying games after blowing wins and not winning by tiny margins are always reasons for concern. Ottawa has a lot of relatively easy games left. Calgary did lose in Montréal a couple of weeks ago but the Stampeders still have 5 games against the East. Calgary will do some damage in the East.
The RedBlacks won't win a tiebreaker against Toronto but Ottawa can still be a force in the East but the team has to start winning the close games.
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Justin Medlock is a very talented kicker and punter. Winnipeg pulled off a fake field goal attempt and Medlock shifted the kick so that his teammate Mike Miller could pick up the ball on the run. The play led to a Blue Bombers touchdown.
Miller was able to advance the ball because he lined up behind Medlock on the play. Nothing is truly certain in the CFL.
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Edmonton and BC pulled off late comeback wins. Hard to say any team is in or out of the playoff picture, but Hamilton looks pretty safe to not make the playoffs. The Tiger-Cats have had their injury woes but that was a game for Hamilton to win. The team got off to an excellent start at Tim Hortons Field but other teams find their road woes can end in Hamilton.
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Nik Lewis passed 1,000 catches to become the 4th all-time catch leaders in the CFL. Kevin Glenn has now passed for more than 50,000 yards in his CFL career, 7th on the all-time list. This is CFL history we are watching. All but one of the top quarterbacks in passing yards are still alive: Ron Lancaster being the exception.
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photos credits: TSN via ESPN2/CFL
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