CFL Previews - July 22-24 - Week Four

Football Betting Lines

07/21/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (1-2) AT MONTREAL ALOUETTES (2-1)

DATE & TIME: Thursday, July 22, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Ranked fifth in the most recent power rankings in the CFL, the Montreal Alouettes hope to move up as they contend against the Hamilton Tiger- Cats in their 2010 home opener at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium this Thursday evening.

After getting off to a rough start in the season opener, a meeting with Saskatchewan that resulted in a 54-51 overtime setback, the Als appear to be back on the right track after putting up consecutive wins against Edmonton (33-23) and British Columbia (16-12). At 2-1, Montreal matches the surprising Toronto Argonauts at the top of the Eastern Division standings.

Quarterback Anthony Calvillo, who is making a run at many of the all-time passing records in Montreal history, completed 30-of-47 for 297 yards against the Lions in a close call last time out. Calvillo failed to throw a touchdown pass in the contest and in fact, it was kicker Damon Duval who saved the day for the Als with four field goals and a couple of singles, accounting for the majority of the team's point production.

As for the Tiger-Cats, they dropped their first two outings of the regular season against Winnipeg and Calgary before hitting the win column with a convincing 28-7 romp over the Blue Bombers in week three of the campaign. In that meeting, Kevin Glenn hit on 29-of-36 passing for 340 yards and three touchdowns, with Maurice Mann turning half of his four catches into scores. Running back DeAndra' Cobb began the meeting with a two-yard touchdown catch and finished it with a six-yard run into the end zone as well.

From a defensive standpoint, Hamilton limited the Blue Bombers to less than 24 minutes of possession and 290 yards of offense overall, while knocking starting quarterback Buck Pierce out of action in the third quarter with a right knee injury.

As well as the defense played for the Cats last week, there has to be some concern with the squad's inability to stop opponents on the ground, given that they are second-to-last in the league with an average of 146 ypg given up to opposing runners. Even though he is far off the pace he set a season ago, Montreal running back Avon Cobourne might use this opportunity to get well and improve upon his mere 4.8 yards per carry thus far.

As a unit Montreal, which is second in the league in scoring at 33.3 ppg, has just two rushing touchdowns thus far and has sputtered since the loss in the opener when the offense erupted for significant gains. Calvillo ranks second in the league with his 902 yards through the air, leading to six touchdowns and just two interceptions, yet it still feels as though he is not nearly as precise as he was last season.

On the other hand, Glenn currently ranks third in the CFL with his 889 yards passing and has completed a league-best 70 percent of his attempts. Add to that his five TDs and just a single INT and it is easy to see why he ranks second in efficiency rating with a mark of 110.0 after three games.

With an average of just 79 yards rushing per game the Tiger-Cats are the least likely club to take advantage of the Montreal defense, but don't tell that to Cobb, who ranked fifth last year in rushing with 1,217 yards. However, even though Cobb put up three more yards overall than Cobourne, it was the latter who led the CFL in rushing touchdowns with 13, while Cobb was credited with only five rushing scores in 2009.

Last year the Als made a clean sweep of Hamilton, taking all three contests, which means Montreal now owns an 83-74-7 regular-season mark versus the Tiger- Cats going back to 1946.

The teams are set to meet two more times this season, with both of those contests being played on Hamilton's home field on September 11 and October 22.

Cobourne needs a breakout effort in order to restore his confidence and give Calvillo an additional weapon that he can count on consistently. Glenn has certainly picked up his game, but the Hamilton defense will have its toughest matchup yet against the Montreal offense.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Montreal 31, Hamilton 20

BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS (1-2) AT TORONTO ARGONAUTS (2-1)

DATE & TIME: Friday, July 23, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: The surprising Toronto Argonauts try to match their win total from all of last season as they host the British Columbia Lions at the Rogers Centre on Friday night.

In 2009 the Argos posted a dismal 3-15 record, the team's worst since putting up a similar mark in 1993, so to have two wins after three games is somewhat remarkable for the club at this stage. Since losing to Calgary in the 2010 opener (30-16), Toronto has played a pair of tight matches against Winnipeg and again the Stampeders, taking those two contests by a combined five points.

As for the Lions, they began with a 25-10 win over Edmonton, a team which at this point is winless on the season, and then suffered back-to-back losses against both Saskatchewan and Montreal. The setback against the Alouettes was a particularly tough one to swallow however, as BC kept Montreal and quarterback Anthony Calvillo out of the end zone yet still bowed in the 16-12 decision. With the loss, the Lions dropped two places to sixth in the most recent power rankings, just ahead of Toronto which lost one spot to seventh.

The BC offense against the Alouettes last week was miserable, especially on the ground as the unit ran the ball a total of nine times and came away with just seven total yards. Not only was it an ugly way to lose, it also marked the first time the Lions had fallen to Montreal at home in a decade. Quarterback Casey Printers tossed a 14-yard TD pass to Jamal Robertson in the first half and kicker Paul McCallum knocked through a 14-yard field goal as well, but that was it for the offense for the Lions.

Printers finished the contest 20-of-40 for 253 yards and two interceptions, the team suffering three fumbles and losing possession of one of them. Printers has been mediocre this season with just a 56.8 percent completion percentage and a mere two touchdowns on 88 attempts. Of all the regular starters, Printers is ahead of only Cleo Lemon who has just one touchdown pass for the Argos thus far.

Toronto has been winning in spite of Lemon's play actually, the team using a club record three safeties to remain in contention against Calgary last week before securing the three-point win on a one-yard TD run by Jeff Johnson. Lemon did add to the last scoring drive by tossing a two-point conversion to Chad Owens, but still he finished the night hitting only 18-of-37 passing for 187 yards and an interception, while being sacked two times.

Coming up with a huge effort for the Argonauts was Cory Boyd who gained 142 yards on 20 carries, a considerable step up from the first meeting of the season with the Stamps when he gained just 32 yards on eight attempts in a loss. Boyd is now second in the league in rushing with his 283 yards on 47 attempts, although he still has just the one scoring run.

The defense also played big for Toronto as the unit came up with four interceptions, two by Kevin Eiben as the team snapped a six-game slide against the Stampeders and won back-to-back games for the first time since putting together a seven-game win streak back in 2007.

For the moment, the Argos rank first in the league in interceptions with six while, coincidentally, British Columbia has yet to record a single pick in three games. In 2009 the Lions ranked third in the league with 21 INTs, the Argos dead last with a mere 11 picks.

In terms of the history between these two squads, dating back to 1945 the Lions own a 46-30-2 mark versus Toronto. The teams played twice last year, with BC capturing a 36-28 victory on the road in the middle of August and then posting a 23-17 win at home the following month.

At some point Lemon is going to have to take control of the Argo offense if the team is really going to start believing in itself. However, Toronto is a team that many thought would again struggle this season so perhaps anything positive that comes out of the Lemon experiment is simply icing on the cake.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: British Columbia 24, Toronto 17

EDMONTON ESKIMOS (0-3) AT WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (1-2)

DATE & TIME: Saturday, July 24, 6:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: The Edmonton Eskimos try once more to pick up their first win of the 2010 campaign this weekend as they pay a visit to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for an interleague matchup at Canad Inns Stadium in Manitoba.

Now losers of four straight, dating back to a 24-21 setback against Calgary in the middle of November last year, Edmonton is the last team in the CFL without a win in 2010. Except for the 25-10 loss to British Columbia in the opener, the Eskimos have actually been in contention for the most part. Most recently the team suffered a 24-20 loss to Saskatchewan on the road last Saturday, the team's first road trip of the season.

Unfortunately for Edmonton, the offense started off slow last weekend and then floundered after halftime as quarterback Ricky Ray converted 22-of-31 passing for 319 yards, but was sacked three times and failed to get the ball into the end zone. Fred Stamps did everything he could to change the outcome as he collected 12 passes for a staggering 213 yards, but still it made no difference.

Running back Arkee Whitlock logged the only touchdown of the game for the club with a two-yard run in the second frame, part of his team-best 49 yards on 13 carries. However, the Edmonton rushing attack was a far cry from that of the Roughriders, who galloped for an astounding 234 yards on just 22 attempts.

As for the Blue Bombers, they too lost during the third week of the season, bowing in a 28-7 final on the road versus Hamilton, but in their case they lost something much more important than a single game as quarterback Buck Pierce went down with a right knee injury. While early reports have the signal-caller missing "limited action," it is expected that Steven Jyles will be making the start this weekend against the Eskimos.

Upon stepping in for Pierce, Jyles completed nine of his 13 pass attempts for 85 yards and was sacked once in the setback. Fred Reid tried to shoulder some of the load with his eight rushing attempts for a game-high 84 yards but it wasn't enough to keep the Bombers in contention.

As a unit Winnipeg has the third-best pass efficiency rating (104.2) in the league at this stage, but much of that has to do with the fact that the Blue Bombers have opted to run the ball due to their early success. Winnipeg, which is led by Reid, who now has 209 yards on 28 carries, is second in the league in rushing with 446 yards. Unfortunately, a large part of that has come from Pierce who ranks seventh in the league with his 192 yards on 13 carries. The danger of Pierce getting hurt because of his propensity for leaving the pocket has been realized and now the offense must figure out a different mode of attack in order to remain competitive.

For as much as Ray has passed the ball this season for the Eskimos, hitting 65.5 percent of his 110 attempts, the end result has not been all that encouraging. Ray has but a single passing touchdown thus far and the team as a whole has a total of just three touchdowns in as many games. Strangely enough, for a team that has seen the end zone the fewest times and is last in the league in scoring with just 17.7 ppg, Edmonton is actually second in time of possession, controlling the ball for almost 34 minutes per outing.

Ray has the potential to deliver at any time, as evidenced by his league- leading 4,916 yards through the air a season ago, but until he finds another outlet other than Stamps it might not make a difference. Granted, Stamps had a huge game last week and was the leading receiver in the CFL a year ago with his 1,402 yards on 85 catches, but he still needs his teammates to draw more attention. Kelly Campbell could be that person with his 21 receptions for 301 yards over three games, but after that there is a huge drop in productivity among Edmonton receivers.

Edmonton holds the advantage in the regular-season series between the teams dating back to the 1945 campaign, showing an 89-77-3 mark. However, the clubs split a pair of meetings in 2009, which each winning on their own turf. The Eskimos posted a narrow 19-17 win in the season opener and then Winnipeg picked up a 27-17 decision the first week of October.

Winnipeg went out and signed former Purdue quarterback Joey Elliott as a precaution on Tuesday but still this matchup is one for Jyles to handle. A former Eskimo himself, Jyles has just five touchdown passes in his career so to expect him to dominant in this meeting would be asking a lot. Nevertheless, Edmonton might be the perfect opponent for Jyles to go up against right now, needing something to give him confidence as the current leader of the Winnipeg offense.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Winnipeg 24, Edmonton 17

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (3-0) AT CALGARY STAMPEDERS (2-1)

DATE & TIME: Saturday, July 24, 9:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: The last of the unbeatens in the Canadian Football League try to keep their record unblemished this weekend as the Saskatchewan Roughriders clash with the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium in Alberta.

As is the case with many successful teams, Saskatchewan has managed to make it to the top of the Western Conference by surviving tough trials and difficult matchups along the way. First, the team dismissed Montreal in a rematch of the Grey Cup Championship from last year, taking a thrilling 54-51 overtime decision in the season opener. The squad's 37-18 win over British Columbia was academic, but the Roughriders almost got caught off guard by Edmonton last week in what turned out to be a 24-20 win for the undefeated squad.

Saskatchewan actually trailed heading into the fourth quarter before putting up 11 unanswered points and sending the Eskimos to their fourth straight loss dating back to last season. Quarterback Darian Durant hit just 15-of-28 passing for 238 yards and a score, while working through one interception and a couple of sacks. The big boost for the team came from Wes Cates, who carried the ball 12 times for 112 yards, his 83-yard romp in the second quarter surpassing his previous best of 64 yards when he was a member of the Stampeders during his first year in the league.

Kicker Luca Congi was also a critical part of the outcome as he made good on all three of his field goals. the conversions placing him in a three-way tie for second among scorers with 32 points after three games.

The only kicker ahead of Congi at the moment is Calgary's Rob Maver who has 35 points, although he had just one field goal opportunity in the loss to Toronto last week. While this matchup was sizing up to be the meeting of the unbeatens, the Stamps couldn't keep up their end of the bargain during the third week of the season when they surrendered to the Argos on the road, 27-24.

In that meeting Calgary held a 24-13 lead late in the third quarter, but for the third time in the game, punter Burke Dales conceded in the end zone, making the margin just nine points heading into the final frame. Quarterback Henry Burris was under pressure the entire night, converting only 20-of-40 passing for 207 yards and three touchdowns. Unfortunately, the gunslinger was also taken down for three sacks and tossed four interceptions along the way as well.

Joffrey Reynolds carried the ball nine times for 44 yards, the team coming up with 71 yards rushing on 13 attempts, but that was still far off the pace set by Toronto which generated almost seven yards per carry on 27 attempts in the contest.

Burris, who finished second in the league in pass yardage a year ago with 4,831, yet completed less than 60 percent of his attempts, has attempted the second-most passes so far this season and has five touchdowns to show for his efforts. However, the seasoned signal-caller also has six interceptions, three times as many as any other starter in the league after three outings. Chances are Burris is not going to have another poor outing as he did last week, but still it had to shake his confidence somewhat, knowing that defenses may have figured him out.

Nik Lewis and Romby Bryant have combined for 30 receptions, 422 yards and four touchdowns through the air for the Stamps, but after those two the production drops off considerably. Reynolds can be a horse for the group coming out of the backfield, averaging better than six yards per carry, but the key will also be how well Burris maintains possession of the ball when he breaks out of the pocket and decides to go off on his own.

Cates currently leads the league in rushing with his 317 yards on 41 attempts, but take away his long run last week and you get a better picture of what the Roughrider running back can contribute on a regular basis. Second only to Burris in rushing among quarterbacks last year, you can expect to see Durant make his way down the field as well if and when the opportunity presents itself this weekend.

In news off the field this week, the Stamps announced that they signed receiver Jabari Arthur to the practice roster. Arthur is back with Calgary after being traded to Winnipeg last season, although he didn't see any action due to injury.

Accounting for games played during the regular season between these teams, dating back to 1945, Calgary has a 111-86-9 advantage over the Roughriders, the win total being the most for the Stamps against any other team in the league. However, last season Saskatchewan won twice during the regular season over Calgary and also posted a 44-44 overtime tie in the middle of October on the road. In the playoffs the Roughriders picked up a 27-17 win over the Stampeders in order to advance to the title game against Montreal.

These division foes are set to square off against each other two more times this season with the Roughriders entertaining Calgary in both September and October.

Don't expect Burris to be gun shy about putting the ball in the air this weekend after being shaken up last week. In fact, if he puts all the pieces together you can see him and the Stampeders playing well enough to cause a minor upset.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Calgary 34, Saskatchewan 28

Sportsbook Betting Lines Season Predictions: 7-5; Last Week: 2-2.