Today’s Bomber Report

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2009 (5922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WEEK 11 IN THE CFL WITH ED TAIT

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (5-4) at TORONTO ARGONAUTS (2-7)

When: Friday, 6 p.m.. TV: TSN

Streaks: Ham: 1W; Tor: 5L

Vegas line: The Tiger-Cats are favoured by 1 point.

The storyline: Not sure what the schedule-maker has against the Ticats and Argos and Stamps and Esks, but the four teams that suited up on Labour Day Monday are back at it again Friday night. The Argos are trying to stop their ship from sinking before the season even hits October and have been a mess over the last few weeks. This one is about the return of Arland Bruce III to Toronto and if he can continue to do his on-field thing for the Ticats, they’ll double their win total from a year ago with a victory here.

CALGARY STAMPEDERS (5-4) at EDMONTON ESKIMOS (5-4)

When: Friday, 9 p.m. TV: TSN

Streaks: Cal: 2W; Edm: 1L

Vegas line: The Stampeders are favoured by 2 points.

The storyline: Juicy week in the Alberta capital where defensive end Kitwana Jones was cut and offensive co-ordinator Rick Worman fired. Former Alouette assistant Kevin Strasser takes over from Worman and vows to offer different looks and more variety from the Eskimo offence. Funny thing is, it’s the Eskimo defence that has been sloppy — that unit is surrendering a league-worst 31.6 points per game.

B.C. LIONS (4-5)

at MONTREAL ALOUETTES (7-2)

When: Sunday, noon. TV: TSN/RDS

Streaks: B.C.: 1W; Mtl: 1L.

Vegas line: The Alouettes are favoured by 10 points.

The storyline: Overshadowing the Alouettes’ protest for the way last week’s game in Vancouver ended — when they were robbed of a potential game-tying TD — is the fact Montreal didn’t play very well. A team which was averaging 44 points over the first few weeks struggled to move the ball, managing only one TD — a special-teams score on a blocked kick, at that.

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (5-4) at WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (3-6)

When: Sunday, 3 p.m. TV: TSN. Radio: CJOB.

Streaks: Sask: 1W; Wpg: 1L

Vegas line: The Roughriders are favoured by 1 point.

The storyline: The Bombers looked awful in Regina, turning the ball over six times, looking asleep in the first quarter defensively and making enough mental and physical errors to fill a blooper tape. That said, they were in the game until the fourth quarter and left a ton of points on the field and that’s why there is still so much optimism in their locker-room. The Riders, meanwhile, were workmanlike in their win over the Bombers and were extremely well prepared scheme-wise to stop Winnipeg’s vaunted ground game. Saskatchewan doesn’t usually play well in Winnipeg, although they did rally in last year’s Banjo Bowl — led by current Bomber QB Michael Bishop — to sweep the back-to-back meetings.

THE PICKS

Bob Irving, CJOB: Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Winnipeg.

Gary Lawless, Free Press: Hamilton, Edmonton, Montreal, Saskatchewan.

Ed Tait, Free Press: Hamilton, Calgary, Montreal, Winnipeg.

Randy Turner, Free Press: Hamilton, Edmonton, Montreal, Saskatchewan.

Mitch Zalnasky, CJOB: Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Winnipeg.

Last week/overall: Bob Irving: 3-1/22-14; Gary Lawless: 3-1/20-16; Ed Tait: 2-2/19-17; Randy Turner: 1-3/18-18; Mitch Zalnasky: 2-2/18-18.