Interest in the CFL is heating up, so putting ⅓ of the CFL teams on the sidelines is a curious decision.
ESPN2 is back with the very late Friday night game, even if not a school night. Ottawa goes a long way to Vancouver to battle the BC Lions.
The Saturday doubleheader has East going West. Hamilton is in Calgary for a afternoon contest with Montréal in the early evening in Regina. Hopefully, the game in Regina will last the full 60 minutes.
Edmonton, Toronto, and Winnipeg get to watch their fellow CFL players from a safe distance on TV.
ESPN2
Friday
Ottawa @ BC, 10p
TSN
Friday
Ottawa @ BC, 10p
Saturday
Hamilton @ Calgary, 4p
Montréal @ Saskatchewan, 7p
Bye week: Edmonton, Toronto, Winnipeg
Toronto defeated the BC Lions in Vancouver to end the 2017 regular season. That was the last Argonauts road win until Saturday in Ottawa. Toronto went all of 2018 and more than half of 2019 before posting a road win.
Ottawa looked pretty good in the first half. The RedBlacks didn't intercept too many passes and McLeod Bethel-Thompson hadn't thrown too many recently. Yet Ottawa had 2 interceptions in the first half. The Argos had the halftime lead and increased that lead in the second half.
The 29-point difference in the 46-17 win was the largest margin for the Argos since a 38-6 win over Montréal in 2017.
Vernon Adams Jr. as an individual has 10 rushing TDs. Toronto snapped a 12-game streak of having no rushing TDs as a team. Derel Walker got Toronto's first rushing TD of 2019, a 1-yard run in Ottawa. James Wilder Jr. added a rushing TD later, one of 3 touchdowns for him on the day.
The Argos are only a game behind Ottawa for third place in the East.
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The Banjo Bowl did wonders for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The split over the week with Saskatchewan kept Winnipeg in first place with Andrew Harris returning next week.
Chris Streveler had 186 passing and 70 rushing yards. He threw for 2 majors and ran for 2 more. Johnny Augustine only had 44 yards on the ground but had a 58-yard touchdown reception.
The Blue Bombers now have a 1½ game edge on Calgary and Saskatchewan and are still perfect at home.
CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage
Edmonton has a 2½ game lead on Ottawa for the crossover. The Esks other consolation is that the team doesn't have to play Calgary anymore this season. Edmonton is 6-3 against the rest of the league but 0-3 against the Stampeders.
Trevor Harris suffered an upper body injury. Logan Kilgore filled in for Harris. The Esks have a bye so we'll know more next week about whether Kilgore or Harris will start.
Mike Reilly stands alone in taking the vast majority of snaps for a CFL team.
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BC had won 4 straight in Montréal and the last 7 overall versus the Alouettes but this is a different Montréal club. They did just enough to get past the Lions for the team's third straight win. The Lions had 4 scores vs. 3 for the Alouettes but the Montréal scores were all major plays.
Both teams were coming off the bye and played a sluggish first quarter. The play was so bad that Chris Cuthbert made a Packers-Bears joke that Glen Suitor found very funny.
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Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor got plenty of travel miles with a stop in Montréal and a quick turnaround the next day to Edmonton.
Rod Black and Matt Dunigan drew the lucky straw and got to call the Banjo Bowl in Winnipeg. Gord Miller made his 2019 CFL debut with Duane Forde in the nation's capital.
For those scoring at home, Dustin Nielson is ahead of Gord Miller 2-1 in appearances.
Cuthbert and Miller will be busy over the next 2 weeks splitting 6 Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators preseason games (4 telecasts for each team and they play each other twice).
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