CFL Previews - Week Two - July 9-11

Football Betting Lines

07/08/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -

EDMONTON ESKIMOS (1-0) AT MONTREAL ALOUETTES (1-0)

DATE & TIME: Thursday, July 9, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Week two of the 2009 CFL slate kicks off on Thursday night as the Montreal Alouettes entertain the Edmonton Eskimos at Molson Stadium, pitting a pair of clubs that both won their respective season openers.

Montreal, which lost in the Grey Cup a year ago for the third time in the last four campaigns, kicked off the new season by claiming a convincing 40-27 triumph over the Calgary Stampeders, a rematch of the 2008 title tilt.

The Als were the only team in the East Division to post double-digit victories in 2008, which is one of the reasons why they have to be a favorite to return to the top of the standings again this season.

The 13-point triumph for the Alouettes in the opener may have been a bit misleading because the game against the reigning champs played much closer than the final score.

For Montreal, quarterback Anthony Calvillo managed to convert 24-of-32 passes for 255 yards, but all of those completions led to just a single touchdown. Avon Cobourne handled much of the running attack for the Als as he raced for 107 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Another crucial part of the offense turned out to be kicker David Duval who tied his career-best with six field goals, making good on each of his attempts.

Calvillo, who was also picked off once in the outing, had one of the more successful passing seasons in league history last year, throwing for 5,633 yards and a league-best 43 touchdowns, and he has his work cut out for him this time around if he hopes to approach those gaudy numbers.

As for Cobourne, the third-leading rusher in the league a year ago with 950 yards and six TDs, he is already off on the right foot for Montreal.

The defense for the Als had something to prove in the opener as well, handling Calgary signal-caller Henry Burris, the reigning Grey Cup MVP, by limiting him to less than 50 percent passing and just a single TD, all while sacking the gunslinger three times, intercepting him once and forcing a fumble along the way.

Considering Montreal's defense ranked second-to-last in terms of passing yards allowed last season, the 247 permitted Burris certainly gives the squad reason to be optimistic early in this campaign.

As for the Eskimos, their 19-17 win against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the opener was overshadowed by the shoulder injury suffered by running back Jesse Lumsden. Former Eskimo defender Siddeeq Shabazz was the one who sent Lumsden to the hospital for X-rays.

Lumsden, who has gone through a pair of operations to repair damage to his left shoulder previously, is expected to miss at least the next couple of months after being placed on the nine-game injured list on Tuesday.

With the tailback sidelined, that means even more pressure will be placed on quarterback Ricky Ray to carry the load. In the opener, Ray played well enough to provide rookie head coach Richie Hall with a victory in his first regular season matchup in the CFL. Ray converted 29-of-41 passes for 318 yards and a touchdown, adding a second score on the ground to offset his one interception.

Putting up huge yards passing is nothing new for Ray after he led the CFL a year ago with 5,663 yards on better than 67 percent completions. However, Ray has to learn from some of his mistakes from a year ago that led to 17 INTs, compared to 26 touchdowns.

With Lumsden on the shelf, Edmonton will be desperate to find someone to supply support on the ground for Ray, especially after the team ranked dead last in the league a year ago in overall rushing with just 1,533 yards. Obviously, the CFL has not been much of a running league for some time, but the Eskimos can't forge into the immediate future without at least giving the illusion that someone could take the ball in the backfield and gain positive yardage.

Edmonton will have to hang its hat on defense this year, a unit that held opposing quarterbacks to only 59.1 percent success through the air in 2008. While that may sound like a lofty number, one has to remember that that was the best effort of any team in the CFL.

The combination of Calvillo and Cobourne for the Alouettes, coupled with the loss of Lumsden for Edmonton should tilt this meeting in favor of Montreal, as the team tries once again to finish atop the East Division.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Montreal 28, Edmonton 17.

CALGARY STAMPEDERS (0-1) AT WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (0-1)

DATE & TIME: Friday, July 10, 7:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Winners of the 96th Grey Cup over the Montreal Alouettes last season, the Calgary Stampeders quickly found out what it is like being hunted by the rest of the CFL as the club dropped a rematch of that monumental contest in the 2009 opener. As a result, the Stampeders must now regroup as they face off against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Canad Inns Stadium this Friday night.

Against Montreal, the Stampeders were taken apart early in the game and found themselves trailing by 17 points after the first 15 minutes of action before managing to tie the contest at 27-27 heading into the final frame. Unfortunately, the offense for Calgary failed to make anything happen as the Als put up 13 points for the margin of victory.

Henry Burris, the MVP of the Grey Cup in 2008, completed 17-of-33 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown, adding another score on the ground for the home team. However, Burris also put his squad at a disadvantage by throwing one interception and accounting for a fumble in the losing effort.

Aside from the 35 rushing yards by Burris, the only other player to record any carries for Calgary was Joffrey Reynolds who picked up a mere 19 yards on six attempts. Last season, the Stampeders were ranked second in the league in rushing yards with 2,422 and were second in terms of first downs recorded running the ball with 140, so the performance in the opener fell far below expectations.

Similarly, Calgary was also first in the CFL in run defense a season ago with just 1,614 yards allowed, an average of 89.7 yards per contest, yet the team was thoroughly beaten to the punch by the Als as the visitors generated 176 yards on the ground.

As for the Blue Bombers, an 8-10 team from a season ago that finished second in the East Division, they appeared to have their game with Edmonton tied late as a result of a 47-yard field goal by Alexis Serna which would have locked the score at 19-19. However, the kick was disallowed and the play blown dead when the Eskimos called a time out, a move that left Serna's second try wide in what became a 19-17 final in the CFL debut of new Winnipeg head coach Mike Kelly.

Kelly's offense struggled to find a rhythm as Stefan LeFors assumed the starting quarterback job for the visiting team and ended up converting just 14-of-31 passes for 174 yards. LeFors didn't throw any interceptions, but he also failed to get one of his passes into the end zone.

Last season, the Bombers were near the bottom of the league in passing yards with an average of 281.8 ypg and while that's not a number that was really all that bad, the bigger concern for Winnipeg was improving on the fact that the squad was tied for last in the CFL with 28 interceptions thrown. Needless to say, even though LeFors failed to get his team into the win column in the opener, his accuracy and decision making still seemed to be ahead of the pace set by the Bombers a season ago.

Picking off just one of Ricky Ray's 41 pass attempts in the opener may not have been that impressive, but considering the Blue Bombers were last in the league in INTs a year ago with just 15 means that just maybe the defense is willing to take a few more chances this time around and has the talent to do so when called upon.

These two squads split a pair of regular-season meetings in 2008 as Winnipeg captured a 32-28 victory in the first outing in late July before the Stamps logged a 37-16 triumph in the middle of October.

As far as this week's encounter is concerned, the Stampeders have a lot going in their favor, perhaps nothing more powerful than the desire to show the rest of the CFL that they are still the team to chase even if they are on the road this time around.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Calgary 28, Winnipeg 17.

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (0-1) AT BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS (0-1)

DATE & TIME: Friday, July 10, 10:30 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Already saddled with their first loss of the new season, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats again face a stiff challenge in this the second week of the 2009 CFL campaign as they face off against the British Columbia Lions at BC Place Stadium.

For a team that led the CFL in rushing a year ago, it should have come as little surprise that the Tiger-Cats would keep the ball in the hands of someone who could do the most damage last week, even though the squad still bowed in a 30-17 final versus the Toronto Argonauts.

In reality, the game was never as close as the final score may lead you to believe given that the Argos raced out to a 20-0 advantage in the first quarter and were ahead 30-3 at the break before calling off the dogs. Quarterback Quinton Porter managed to convert 65 percent of his pass attempts for 229 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but he was also guilty of two interceptions which kept Hamilton from closing the gap even further.

Porter was also responsible for a team-best 62 rushing yards on nine attempts, an impressive number given that he produced just 203 yards on 33 totes a season ago and was charged with seven fumbles along the way.

Trying to give Hamilton a lift on the defensive side of the ball was Markeith Knowlton who posted eight tackles in the setback, the most stops of any defender in the first week of action in the CFL. A former member of the Lions, Knowlton registered 95 tackles, two sacks and four interceptions last year, his first with Hamilton.

As for the Lions, a club that logged an 11-7 record over in the West Division a season ago, their meeting with Saskatchewan in week one did not turn out as planned as they fell behind in the first quarter, trailed by double digits at the break and never fully recovered in a bit of a surprising 28-24 win for the Roughriders.

In a game that was fraught with miscues and turnovers, BC quarterback Buck Pierce had a hard time staying vertical, getting knocked down time and time again by the Riders. Pierce did manage to convert 17-of-33 passes for a modest 186 yards, the second-fewest of any signal-caller who saw significant action in the first week of the season, and a touchdown, but he was also picked off twice and fumbled the ball an alarming four times.

Pierce did come up with a single rushing touchdown as well in the event, but that did little to offset all of the times he put the ball on the turf and proceeded to pick himself up off the ground and amble back to the huddle.

But for all the knock downs and turnovers, Pierce kept his head in the game and nearly led the Lions back in the fourth quarter, but a pass that would have put the team in a strong position for a late score failed to connect with wideout Ryan Grice-Mullen as he lost the ball over his shoulder.

Linebacker Anton McKenzie, in addition to logging one of the team's three sacks in the contest, also forced a fumble in the setback, while Javier Glatt contributed with a fumble recovery and an interception.

Defensive back Ryan Phillips accounted for two picks for the Lions, a team that led the CFL in interceptions a year ago with 27, while Hamilton placed second on the list with 23

Last season, the Lions swept both contests in the series, first by claiming a 35-12 decision in early September and then an even more lopsided 40-10 final later the same month.

Considering how dominant the Lions were in this series last year and the fact that BC was taken down in the 2009 opener, the Ticats may just be the perfect sacrificial lamb for the home team this week.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: British Columbia 45, Hamilton 17.

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (1-0) AT TORONTO ARGONAUTS (1-0)

DATE & TIME: Saturday, July 11, 1:00 p.m. (et).

GAME NOTES: Last season, the Toronto Argonauts won a total of just four games, but already the squad is off to a quick start in 2009 and will be trying to move to 2-0 when they square off against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the second week of action on Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

As the second-worst team in the CFL a season ago, finishing third in the East Division with a 4-14 mark, the Argonauts had their worst record since 1995 when they also posted a 4-14 mark. Recognized as the oldest professional sports team in North America, the Argos actually began last year with a victory as well, so there's no guarantee that 2009 is gearing up to provide a better return.

In last week's opener, Toronto easily handled Hamilton, the only team with a worse record in 2008 than the Argonauts, which means the club can't take too much solace in knowing they are off on the right foot following a 30-17 triumph.

Kerry Joseph stood out for the Argos in the opener, completing 14-of-29 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns, but more importantly he did not throw a single interception. Last season, Joseph ranked fourth in the league in passing yards with 4,174 yards, but with just 17 touchdowns against 14 picks, some of his decisions throwing down field came into question. Hopefully the signal-caller has learned and grown from that experience.

The one knock on Joseph was that he was sacked four times, but at least he didn't give the ball up.

Jamal Robertson, who ran for 645 yards and six TDs a year ago, got off on the right foot as well for the Argos with 124 yards and a score. He was named the CFL's Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.

The award for the most tasteless touchdown celebration went to Toronto wideout Arland Bruce who, after scoring in the first quarter, proceeded to take off his helmet and shoulder pads and lie on the turf with his hands crossed over his chest, a morbid tribute to the recently deceased Michael Jackson. Bruce was later fined for his questionable antics.

On the defensive side of the ball for Toronto, both Ronald Flemons and Adriano Belli tallied a pair of sacks, the team posting six sacks overall. Last season, the Argonauts had just one player rank among the top-25 in the league in sacks.

As for the Roughriders, who finished 12-6 a season ago to finish second among all eight clubs, they too are off to a 1-0 start this time around thanks to a 28-24 decision over the British Columbia Lions at Mosaic Stadium.

The rematch of the western semifinal from last year when the Lions dismissed Saskatchewan in a 33-12 final, Roughriders head coach Ken Miller played down the notion of revenge, instead focusing on a strong and positive start to a new campaign.

The Riders put up 25 points in the first half in order to forge a double-digit advantage at the break, but in the second half the club nearly let it slip away as the offense disappeared.

Quarterback Darian Durant managed to complete 18-of-32 passes for 313 yards, but three interceptions nearly let what should have been a comfortable victory become a nail biter. Durant added another 35 yards and a score on the ground, but an additional fumble again hurt the overall performance of the winning side.

Running back Hugh Charles accounted for a mere 34 yards on 14 carries and scored once, but he too fell victim to soft hands as he fumbled the ball twice in a mistake-ridden game. Although he did not find his way into the end zone, Weston Dressler put up strong numbers with seven catches for 154 yards, both of which were game highs.

While the Riders certainly had a rough outing with countless miscues, the game saw a total of 15 turnovers last week and that in itself meant the home team was given more than a fighting chance to survive. Cornerback Omarr Morgan was a key to the defense for Saskatchewan with a team-best six tackles and a pair of interceptions against BC quarterbacks.

As a group, the Roughriders locked into three interceptions, a number that is rather significant given the fact that the team was second-to-last in the CFL a year ago with just 17 picks. Another plus for the defense was that it got to quarterback Buck Pierce time and time again, frequently putting the signal- caller on his back and forcing him into four fumbles. Given that BC suffered only 21 lost fumbles a year ago, the Riders certainly made an impression in the opener in that arena.

As long as the Roughriders can bring a strong defense to the field again this week and the offense doesn't completely disappear in the second half, the visitors should be in line for their second victory of the campaign.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Saskatchewan 27, Toronto 18.

Season Record: 0-4; Last Week's Record: 0-4.