The divisions intermingle this week so no progress on tiebreakers. The axis tilts east with 3 of the 4 games east of Hamilton.
Calgary travels to Ottawa to start off a Friday Night Football doubleheader.
The Tiger-Cats are in Edmonton to take on the Elks in the nightcap. This is the singular long post Labour Day trip for Hamilton. The awkward starting time could be a minor headache.
The Saturday doubleheader has healthy start times. BC gathers near Lake Ontario as the Argos welcome the Lions in a late afternoon start.
Saskatchewan travels its longest road trip with a stop in Montréal opposite Hockey Night in Canada. The Roughriders finally play a team other than Calgary for the first time in a month.
Winnipeg gets ready for a Halloween without football.
TSN
Friday
Calgary @ Ottawa, 7p
Hamilton @ Edmonton, 9:45p
Saturday
BC @ Toronto, 4p
Saskatchewan @ Montréal, 7p
Bye week: Winnipeg
#DefendTheCup | 12.05.21
— y - Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) October 24, 2021
>> https://t.co/yk8KW6J5dF#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/VQKBOpxsqc
There are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and then there is the rest of the CFL. The West Division has a new champion in Winnipeg.
A 10-1 mark with only a road blemish in Toronto, the Blue Bombers have dominated the league in 2021. Winnipeg posted a rare CFL shutout last week 45-0 over BC. Edmonton had the last CFL shutout 26–0 on July 25, 2019 at home against Toronto.
Zach Collaros has had plenty of time and targets for passing. Andrew Harris, out with a leg injury, will have time to recover. Brady Oliveira is a very capable replacement.
While the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have won 7 East Division titles (1987, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2011), this is the team's first West Division title since 1972. The 2019 team finished in 3rd place and won the Grey Cup, the team's first since 1990.
The team can't do much to help or hurt its fellow division teams in their scramble for a playoff spot. After this week's bye, Winnipeg has a home-and-home with the Montréal Alouettes before going to Calgary in the final week. Backup quarterback Sean McGuire might get more work in the next few weeks.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will host the West Final on December 5 at 4 pm Eastern. The time of the game has been moved earlier by 30 minutes, as has the East Final. The time shift is due to the Winnipeg Jets hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs, a game that has been moved back from 7 pm Eastern to 8 pm Eastern.
The CFL East Division has a new leader in the Montréal Alouettes. The Als 21-point second quarter helped the team dominate 37-16. Those points were important because Montréal has the tiebreaker thanks to the point differential in the season series against Toronto.
Each team came into last week's game with 3-game winning streaks. William Stanback, back from an injury followed by food poisoning, ran for 203 rushing yards; Matthew Shiltz had 212 passing yards. Stanback had major runs of 65 and 41 yards.
The Als defence made trouble for McLeod Bethel-Thompson, forcing 4 interceptions (which tripled his interception output for the season). Toronto hasn't won in La Belle Province since 2015.
The teams are tied at 6-4. The Alouettes has the tougher schedule with Saskatchewan followed by back-to-back games with Winnipeg. Hamilton is a game behind at 5-5.
The last time the Roughriders traveled to Montréal, the weather was so rough on August 10, 2019 that Saskatchewan won a rain-shortened game. Here's hoping for better weather.
The CFL still has this rule. The summer weather in the Prairies wasn't a factor this season. Ottawa has had a lot of rain but no thunder or weather delays.
The extended November play might produce weather issues out west, except for Vancouver.
2021 CFL Week 12 preview
Hamilton didn't lose a late lead at home against a division foe last week. Then again, Ottawa was the opponent, a team now at 2-9 that is winless in the CFL East Division.
The Duck made his CFL debut in Ottawa. Quarterback Devlin "Duck" Hodges relieved Caleb Evans, going 8 for 16 or 49 yards in his CFL debut with 13 rushing yards.
Hamilton's Jeremiah Masoli went 25 for 28 with 320 passing yards.
The Ottawa RedBlacks are eliminated from playoff contention. The team then on Monday relieved Marcel Desjardins of his general manager duties. Desjardins was the team's original general manager from the start of the franchise.
Desjardins had spent 10 seasons with Montréal as assistant GM under Jim Popp with 3 Grey Cups (2002, 2009, 2010) and as GM for Hamilton (2006-2007). If you go by the buzz in Edmonton, the Elks may have a general manager search as well.
2021 CFL Week 11 preview
The CFL has 9 teams: 2 of them coached by the Dickenson brothers, Craig (Saskatchewan) and Dave (Calgary).
Dave had always defeated Craig on this level. Calgary took 2 straight over Saskatchewan and added a 3rd game against BC for a 3-game winning streak.
Now Craig can claim a win in the Saskatchewan Roughriders comeback 20-17 win. Saskatchewan outscored Calgary 14-7 in the second half. Cody Fajardo threw for 222 yards, including a pair of second half touchdowns. Duke Williams had 48 of those yards in his return to the CFL.
Despite the tumble, Saskatchewan is in second place all alone in the West Division.
Getting to BMO Field in Toronto should be a good experience
The CFL 2021 trade deadline came this week. Toronto QB Nick Arbuckle had been rumoured to go somewhere. Going from the backup on a team heading to the playoffs to a starter on a team that won't make the playoffs is not a fun ride.
Arbuckle goes to the Edmonton Elks for a 3rd round pick and rights to a player (QB Chad Kelly) on the Elks negotiation list. The pick gets upgraded to a 2nd rounder if Arbuckle extends with Edmonton.
Arbuckle is still the only Canadian QB to lead a team to a win over Winnipeg in 2021.
Antonio Pipkin is now the Argonauts backup QB.
2021 CFL Week 10 preview
If you have followed the CFL in recent seasons, you might assume the crossover is a requirement in the CFL where the 4th place West team makes the playoffs with a better record than the 3rd place East team. Since Ottawa returned to the CFL in 2014, the 2015 season where the 3rd place East team has made the CFL playoffs. In 2015, 3 of the 4 East teams had double digit wins while the BC Lions made the playoffs in 3rd place with a 7-11 record.
As of now, Hamilton would make the playoffs at 5-5, beating out the 4-6 BC Lions (4th place). The crossover team needs a better record to qualify in the playoffs.
Tiebreakers may be crucial in 2021. Saskatchewan has a tiebreaker with BC but not with Calgary. Hamilton-Toronto and BC-Calgary tiebreakers will be known at the end of November 12.
CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage
CFL Commissioner Randy Ambroisie downplayed the new rule on how many quarterbacks can be on the game day roster. "Nobody is prevented from having a third quarterback on their roster. It just eliminated that third quarterback rule. So nobody should be concerned that we won’t see teams carrying three quarterbacks — that's a decision the teams will make."
Funny thing: CFL teams are only dressing 2 quarterbacks. Only Winnipeg and Saskatchewan have not had a serious injury to their starting quarterbacks. Ottawa played a wide receiver in a game because both quarterbacks were injured.
Ambroisie is technically correct. Teams can have a third quarterback but have to take someone else off the roster. Teams aren't making those moves.
We saw Trevor Harris not in uniform because the Elks only dressed 2 quarterbacks.
The CFL should seriously consider a system where teams are encouraged to have 3 quarterbacks in uniform, especially with all the quarterback injuries of 2019 and 2021.
Short-term solutions for TSN to replace Chris Cuthbert on CFL telecasts
Rod Smith and Duane Forde teamed up in Montréal on Friday. Smith and Forde got on different airplanes to go west for the Saturday tripleheader. Forde landed in Winnipeg for the middle game with Dustin Nielson. Smith went all the way to Calgary to hang out with Glen Suitor in the nightcap.
Marshall Ferguson did his 3rd game for TSN with Matt Dunigan in Hamilton to start the tripleheader.
The logic is to have at least one of the broadcast team members on site the day before the game. Nielson and Suitor laid the groundwork for Forde and Smith, respectively.
Jim Barker sat in for Dunigan at the main desk.
logo credit: CFL
Twitter capture: @Wpg_BlueBombers
photo credit: TSN/CFL
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