Welcome to the first post-Labour Day CFL weekend aka revenge games. Well, some of them are revenge games. CFL traditionalists are not happy.
The last 2 games of the Saturday tripleheader are pure revenge games. The Banjo Bowl in Winnipeg is in the middle with the Battle of Alberta in Edmonton in the late slot.
Toronto and Hamilton don't get a revenge game. The Argos are in Ottawa, a team coming off a Labour Day bye. Hamilton gets to rest up.
The Friday Night game has the other teams with the Labour Day bye as the BC Lions are in Montréal.
TSN
Friday
BC @ Montréal, 7:30p
Saturday
Toronto @ Ottawa, 1p
Saskatchewan @ Winnipeg, 4p
Calgary @ Edmonton, 7p
Bye week: Hamilton
The Labour Day weekend intensity was in form in Hamilton with multiple skirmishes. In the most significant skirmish, James Wilder Jr. (Toronto) appeared to start the matter with Simoni Lawrence (Hamilton). In the end, the referees ejected a pair of Tiger-Cats secondary members – Frankie Williams and Tunde Adeleke – along with a net 25 yards in penalties against Hamilton.
The Argonauts built up a 13-point halftime lead similar to the first half against the Montréal Alouettes in Moncton the previous week. However, the Argos only got 3 points off 4 Hamilton turnovers and 12 points off turnovers for the season.
Dane Evans threw 19 straight completions to start the second half. The Tiger-Cats had 0 turnovers in the second half and outscored the Argonauts 27-3 in that time.
Hamilton has now won 6 straight Labour Day contests over Toronto. The Argos now have gone 12 straight games in a row without a rushing TD, a CFL record.
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Winnipeg held its own in Regina for the Labour Day Classic. The Blue Bombers struggled early. Both defences dominated the first half. The teams went silent for most of the second half with 10 total points in the final 3 minutes.
Johnny Augustine had a 55-yard run but otherwise didn't produce much for the Blue Bombers. William Powell had a great last drive for the Roughriders though Saskatchewan took awhile to call his number.
Saskatchewan has now won 6 straight in the regular season and 14 of the last 15 Labour Day Classic games against Winnipeg.
The expectations for Winnipeg were a split against Saskatchewan. A win in the Banjo Bowl would make that happen.
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Bo Levi Mitchell returned for Calgary and made things look pretty easy in the win. Trevor Harris and the Edmonton offence made life easier for the Stampeders by continuing the field goals over touchdowns route.
Reggie Begelton now has 5 touchdowns in the last 2 games. Calgary jumped into 3rd place and now has the tiebreaker with Edmonton. Mitchell and his teammates know the Grey Cup is a "home game" in 2019 so the second-half opponents should be ready.
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In the bye week, Montréal signed receiver Chris Matthews, who was released by Winnipeg.
Bryan Chiu didn't last long as the offensive line coach for the BC Lions. The Lions hired Kelly Bates to replace Chiu. The offensive line in Vancouver has been offensive as in allowing a lot of sacks in failing to protect Mike Reilly. The team might be more upset that Chiu can't suit up and block like he did for Anthony Calvillo in Montréal.
Chiu previously coached with Ottawa and Toronto. Good luck to Bates.
Jonathon Jennings will start for Ottawa at quarterback against Toronto.
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The announcers followed the traditional path for the Labour Day weekend.
Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor were in Regina on Sunday and Calgary on Monday. Rod Black and Duane Forde spent the holiday in Hamilton.
This is from a few weeks ago: this Awful Announcing article on the Rod Black drinking game is a fun read. The drinking game centres around things Black often says during CFL telecasts on TSN.
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