CFL Previews, Week 11, Part1

Calgary at Hamilton,
Calgary is currently favoured by 3.5 points on the road, which is not surprising considering the Cats have lost 3 of 4 and the Stampeders are coming off back to back victories over Edmonton. Calgary does have a 3 and 2 road record, however the Cats have a 4 and 1 home record, including the last five games. Last week sitting in Dead Ted's Dome, I did have the feeling the Cats would have won if it had been a home game. Incidently, the Cats at 1 and 4 are the worst road team in the entire CFL.

Quinton Porter is scheduled to be the starter, which isn't a huge surprise, although it is more surprising that coach Marcel announced who the starter would be. No Chris Davis at receiver, because the Cats gave him his release and apparently no Prechae Rodriguez who is hurting. That still leaves Porter with two prime targets in Bruce in Stala and Cobb is still in the backfield.

Calgary has running back Joffrey Reynolds and receiver Jermaine Copeland, plus Henry Burris' legs to keep drives going. Relatively medicore defence, but the Stamps are likely to win a shootout. Calgary in a close one.
Calgary 29, Hamilton 27

Toronto at BC,
BC is a ridiculously hard place for an Eastern Standard Timezone team to win in, although Hamilton managed to earlier in the year. Toronto this year has been a bad team, but seems to be on a slight upswing after beating the Cats at home in overtime last week. Cody Pickett has emerged as a not completely terrible quarterback and Toronto's traditionally strong defence has also started to reemerge. BC lost last week in Montreal and have now lost Jarious Jackson to a rotator cuff injury for the foreseeable future. Conveniently the oft concussed Buck Pierce is back to start at QB. One decent hit on Pierce could easily knock out the CFL's reigning man of glass and I have no idea who BC's backup quarterback is.

Surprisingly, this game has play off implications as BC at 4 and 6 is one game ahead of Toronto at 3 and 7 for the crossover spot in the East. If Toronto wins, by the tiebreaking rule for the crossover, the double blue would get the playoff spot. I'll go with Toronto, despite the three time zones and the fact that they're a terrible team because I have absolutely no confidence in the health of Buck Pierce.
Toronto 19, BC 15