Free Live Odds - Scores and Odds - Sports News - Sports Information - Live Scores - Sports Statistics - Sports Articles - Sports Standings - Live Scor

O&N HOME | NFL MLB NBA NHL NCAAF NCAABk Nascar Golf Soccer Tennis Boxing Horse Racing All Sports

CFL Previews - August 19-20 - Week Eight

Wed 18th, August 2010

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) -

WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (2-5) AT MONTREAL ALOUETTES (5-2)

DATE & TIME: Thursday, August 19, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Hoping to bounce back from just their second loss of the season, the Montreal Alouettes entertain the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at McGill Stadium on Thursday night.

According to the most recent power rankings in the CFL, this matchup pits the second and third-strongest clubs against each other, despite the Blue Bombers having just two victories on the season thus far.

Last week the Bombers were handed their third straight loss and the fifth in the last six attempts as they bowed to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by a final of 39-28. In a matter of just seven weeks, the matchup marked the fourth time the two division foes had met and left Hamilton with a 3-1 season series advantage as a result.

Buck Pierce was back in as the starter at quarterback for the Blue Bombers, but he failed to make much of a difference as he completed just 7-of-12 passes for 63 yards, leading to one touchdown and one interception. Head coach Paul LaPolice felt Pierce had trouble moving and his lack of mobility was throwing off his accuracy, so the head coach decided to insert Steven Jyles back into the lineup. While the backup signal-caller didn't lead his team to victory, he did manage to convert 14-of-22 passes for 227 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The other problem that arose for the Blue Bombers just before the game started was an injury to kicker Louie Sakoda, thus causing the team to change its game plan.

As for the Alouettes, a team that was leading the Eastern Division with a 5-1 mark heading into its contest with Toronto last weekend, they were dealt a surprising blow in their 37-22 loss to the Argonauts on the road.

Quarterback Anthony Calvillo converted 37-of-49 passes for 450 yards and three touchdowns, to go along with one interception, but early in the game there was a question about his ability to hold onto the ball due to an injured finger.

The Als started off the meeting slow, failing to score a single point in a quarter for the first time this season as they were blanked in the opening frame. Calvillo did up his all-time touchdown total to 369 in the decision, leaving him just 25 behind the CFL's all-time leader, Damon Allen, but surely the signal-caller would have preferred the win instead. Heading into the matchup with Toronto the Als had dominated the series, winning seven in a row over the Argos.

Despite the setback, slotback Ben Cahoon continued his assault on the history books as he reeled in a game-high 10 passes for 99 yards. With the effort Cahoon moved into second place all-time on the CFL receptions list, moving past Darren Flutie who had 972 catches in his 12 seasons. Now in his 13th campaign Cahoon, who has advanced his streak of 134 games with at least one reception and is third all-time behind Don Narcisse (216) and Tony Gabriel (137), is up to 981 catches for his career and trails only Terry Vaughn who was responsible for 1,006 receptions during his amazing career.

Even though Calvillo had a huge game in terms of numbers last week, the situation with his hand is still a concern for the Als, not to mention the lack of productivity from running back Avon Cobourne who gained a mere 26 yards on 11 carries. It was the second straight week that Cobourne had posted a weak effort, having logged just 34 yards on seven attempts versus Saskatchewan. The Als were expecting Cobourne to have a game that was much like the effort he put together against Toronto at the end of July when he gained 115 yards on the ground and another 116 yards through the air, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Because of the last two weeks, Cobourne has dropped to seventh in the league in rushing with only 403 yards on 82 attempts, while someone like Winnipeg's Fred Reid is fifth in the CFL after seven games with his 499 yards, averaging better than six yards per attempt.

The big question for this game will be which quarterback will be seeing the most action for the Blue Bombers. But whether it is Pierce or Jyles, the main target down the field will remain the same. Averaging close to 20 yards per catch, Terrence Edwards has been eating up the yards for the Bombers and ranks second in the league with his 687 yards at the moment. His seven touchdown catches, two of which he made last week, have him pacing the entire league. The rest of the pass catchers on the Winnipeg roster have combined for only five TD receptions, so that says a lot about how valuable Edwards is to the success of this group.

Conversely, as big a game as Cahoon had for the Als last weekend, he has still not made it into the end zone in 2010 and is averaging barely half the yards (10.5 per catch) that Edwards is at the moment.

According to league records, Montreal maintains a 39-32-2 advantage over the Blue Bombers in regular-season meetings dating back to 1946, the most recent of those encounters taking place last November with Montreal posting a 48-13 win. A week earlier it was Winnipeg that thumped the Als in a 41-24 decision on its home field.

The teams are scheduled to collide two more times during the regular season, on September 24 in Winnipeg, and back here again in the middle of October.

The Montreal defense has slipped a bit lately and could find itself trying to keep up with the Blue Bombers, even if Winnipeg can't make sense of its quarterback responsibilities. However, Calvillo is not about to let his team have another rough outing and will do everything he can to get them back on track.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Montreal 34, Winnipeg 23

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (3-4) AT TORONTO ARGONAUTS (5-2)

DATE & TIME: Friday, August 20, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Currently tied for first place in the Eastern Division, the Toronto Argonauts try to continue their recent run of success as they face off against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a divisional showdown at the Rogers Center on Friday night.

Toronto is the surprise team in the league to this point in the season, putting up five wins in seven tries and taking all three of its home games in 2010. The squad remained perfect at home by knocking off Montreal in this same building last weekend by a final of 37-22, exacting revenge for a disappointing 41-10 setback at the Alouettes just a few weeks ago.

Cleo Lemon attempted just 19 passes on the night versus the Als the last time out, completing 13, yet he still accumulated 269 yards and logged three touchdowns in the victory, while Cory Boyd tacked on a game-high 63 rushing yards and a major of his own on 17 attempts coming out of the backfield for the squad.

Chad Owens put together a monster effort with his six catches for 163 yards and two scores and was consequently named the CFL's Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after rolling up 291 yards of total offense in the meeting. A unanimous selection for the weekly honor, Owens now leads the CFL in combined yards after seven weeks with 1,197 yards.

Another high point of the game for Toronto was kick returner Ryan Christian who, when the Als decided to kick away from Owens in the second quarter, collected a kick at his own goal line and then proceeded to race 110 yards for a touchdown, breaking the club's all-time record for longest kickoff return, surpassing the 109-yard effort by Terry Greer in 1981.

But not all the news was good for the Argos last weekend as Jeremaine Copeland went out with an injury that was later determined to be a dislocated left elbow and could have the wideout on the sidelines for as long as six weeks, following the results of an MRI taken on Monday.

As for the Tiger-Cats, they picked up their second win in as many games last Friday night when they topped Winnipeg on the road by a score of 39-28. It was the fourth matchup in the first seven games between the two clubs, with the Ti-Cats winning their third decision of the season versus the Blue Bombers.

Quarterback Kevin Glenn threw three touchdown passes in the first half, converting 18-of-26 passes for 274 yards, while working through a couple of interceptions to lead his team on to victory. Receiver Arland Bruce III, who had posted a couple of impressive efforts in the two weeks prior, tallied two catches for 64 yards and a score in the win.

While running back DeAndra Cobb registered both a rushing touchdown and a receiving score for the visitors, the bigger story for the Tiger-Cats was Marcus Thigpen who scored on a five-yard run on the first drive of the contest. While the run itself wasn't all that impressive, the scoring play represented the fifth different way (kickoff return, punt return, missed field goal return, pass reception) in which Thigpen has registered a major this year, becoming the first player in CFL history to achieve the feat in a single campaign and doing so in less than half a season.

From a defensive standpoint, tackle Matt Kirk made his presence known against Winnipeg by coming up with his first two sacks of the season, a performance worthy of being named the CFL's Canadian Player of the Week.

Thigpen enters this week ranked third in the league in combined yards with 1,016, one of only three players in the CFL to have already eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark. Adding to Hamilton's attack is Bruce III who is easily the league leader in receiving yards with 744 and has five touchdowns on 45 receptions thus far. It also helps that Dave Stala has posted 34 catches for 398 yards and two touchdowns and Marquay McDaniel has reeled in 33 passes for 435 yards and a couple of scores in order to give defenses something else to thing about as they arrange their pass coverages versus Hamilton.

Glenn has one of the best efficiency ratings (102.2) in the league after seven games, thanks to throwing 14 TDs and having tossed just six picks on 244 attempts. His yardage total of 2,164 yards, thanks in large part to the big- play ability of Bruce III, is third in the league at the moment.

Lemon started off the 2010 campaign rather quietly for the Argos, learning the ropes as he went along in this his first CFL season, but he has come on of late and has now completed 60.7 percent of his passes and is finally getting his squad into the end zone on a consistent basis. But Lemon's success hinges greatly on Boyd who is first in the league in yards from scrimmage with 785 after seven games. In his first professional season in the Great White North, Boyd has provided a huge spark for the team in most of their outings, gaining at least 100 yards in four of seven contests and averaging 6.1 yards per carry as he ranks first in the league in rushing with 711 yards on 117 attempts.

As well as the Toronto offense has performed thus far, there has to be some concern for an Argos defense that is ranked last in the league with a whopping 451.1 yards per game allowed. Granted, the team has had to face Anthony Calvillo and the Montreal Alouettes a few times, but still the numbers look rather daunting on that side of the ball and tell the story of a team that is bound to crack sooner rather than later. Yet, as bad as the yardage numbers might be for the Argos, the fact remains that the team is in the middle of the pack when it comes to points allowed (28.4 ppg) and Hamilton is actually further down the list with 29.0 ppg. Some of that has to do with the fact that Toronto's pass coverage has tied Calgary for the league lead in interceptions with nine, while the Tiger-Cats are last on that chart with just four.

In terms of the all-time series between the clubs, Hamilton is ahead by a count of 117-86-2, dating back to the 1950 campaign. The Tiger-Cats won the most recent meeting last year, 26-17, in Toronto, giving them two victories in the last three encounters. Following a bye next week, the teams are set to face each other again on September 6 in Hamilton, and will also be back at the Rogers Centre in the middle of October to complete their season series.

Taking out the Alouettes last week has to have given Toronto a ton of confidence, so much so that they should be able to take care of Hamilton even in a tight race this week at home.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Toronto 28, Hamilton 24

Sports Network Season Predictions: 18-10; Last Week: 2-2.