2011 CFL Kick-Off Predictions

I love making predictions, mainly for the “I told you so” factor, but mostly cause its all in good fun. The season starts tonight and I just wanted to put a couple random prognostications out there before things got started.

2011 Standings
East-
Montreal- 12-6
Hamilton- 12-6
Toronto- 8-10
Winnipeg- 7-11

West-
Calgary- 14-4
B.C.- 11-7
Saskatchewan- 9-8-1
Edmonton- 4-13-1

League Predictions:
Most Passing TDs: Mtl Anthony Calvillo
Most Passing Yards: Sask Darian Durant
Most Rushing Yards: Tor Cory Boyd
Most Ints: BC Ryan Phillips
Most Sacks: Tor Kevin Huntley
Most TDs: Cal Joffrey Reynolds

Alouette Predictions:
Most Rec yards: SJ Green
Most Rec TDs: Jamel Richardson
Most Rush yards: Brandon Whitaker
Most Rush TDs: Brandon Whitaker
Most Sacks: John Bowman
Most Ints: Jerald Brown
Most Tackles: Shea Emry
ROY nominee: Brandon London

Random Predictions:
-When will AC break Damon Allen’s CFL Passing yardage record? -Week 13 in Edmonton
-First player in 2011 to be fined by CFL because of Twitter: Avon Cobourne
-How many different QBs will start a game for The Blue Bombers? 3
-Which Head Coach will be fired in 2011? None
-Will Andy Fantuz play in for Saskatchewan by season’s end? Yes by week 10


Game Predictions:
-Hamilton 35, Calgary 29 Touchdown Atlantic in Moncton Sept 25th
-BC 32, Mtl 30 at the 99th Grey Cup 2011

Press Box Predictions

Alouettes and Argos

Who is taking who...

Mitch Gallo, Team 990 & CP, 33-13 Alouettes
Randy Tieman, CTV & TEAM 990, 44-12 Alouettes
Arash Madani, Sportsnet, 18-16 Argos
Steve McCormick The Score, 45-14 Alouettes
Mark Lidbetter, The Suburban, 27-14 Alouettes
HerbZ, The Gazette, 30-23 Alouettes (accrding to www.alsinsideout.com)
Moe Khan, TEAM 990, 38-17, Alouettes
Sean Campbell, Myself, 47-16 Alouettes

Enjoy the game, Here's hoping for excitement throughout the afternoon.

Alouettes Will Score

I haven't hid my thoughts on how the Alouettes will play in their 2010 home opener.
All week long on The TEAM 990 I have stated that they will win. I stand by that.

Anthony Calvillo always plays well at home and this group of players have waited patiently for four weeks to pass so that they can play in front of 25 000 plus.

They will be revved up and primed for an offensive outburst. I like a 3-4 TD game for AC, as for the other AC (Avon Cobourne), he'll get his too.

It's a beautiful night in Montreal, 24'C and 0% chance of rain, 15km/h winds. Perfect for well trained offence.

The Als will be in the 40's, the Ti-cats, will get their points, just not enough.

Alouettes 44, Ti-Cats 27.

Canada Kick-Off 2010

The Montreal Alouettes defence of the 2009 Grey Cup Championship begins today with their grudge match against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. What can one expect from the 2010 version of Alouettes?

-Expect a healthy Anthony Calvillo to dominant the Passing Stats again this year.
-Expect a Healthy Avon Cobourne to gain over 1000 yards, Mostly in the 3rd and 4th Quarter when the Als have their big leads.
-Expect less sacks from the D-Line with an older Anwar Stewart & no more Keron Williams
-Expect more sacks from the Linebackers
-Expect more INTS, with Jerald Brown and Billy Parker add another year of experience.
-Expect to be impressed with CB Stanford Samuels
-Expect to see S.J. Green to play a big role in 5 receiver sets.

-Don't expect Anthony Calvillo not to get sacked. The O-Line will need a couple of games to smooth out communication
-Don't expect big returns every kick, Bratton and Maypray are quick, just not Taylor Quick
-Don't expect a .500 record for the home Opener in week 4. The Als will have tough times in Sask and B.C.
-Don't expect a 14 plus win season, the east is better. Toronto's bad, but they are better.

It's going to be a similar but interesting season for the Als, but how will they motivate themselves. They are still clearly the class of the East, but Hamilton is better and Winnipeg is still a huge question mark, but a with direction unlike under Mike Kelly. The Argos have a first step but are still a ways off.

In the West, much like last year it is a crap shoot. The Riders are poised to represent the West once again in the Grey Cup after their disappointing loss. The Eskimos want to make the jump to Cup in their hometown. The Lions picked up some potent free-agents in Williams, Davis Sanchez and Jamal Robertson and the Stamps are hard to put down because they have a guy like Henry Burris at the helm.

Nonetheless here are some fearless predictions:
East
Montreal 12-6
*Hamilton 10-8
Winnipeg 10-8
Toronto 4-14

West
Saskatchewan 10-8
*B.C. 9-9
Edmonton 9-9
Calgary 8-10

*win on tie-break

Als Finish Season with a Bang

Here's the pre-game prediction. But to make Als fans feel at ease, here's a pic of Damon Duval kicking in warm up from the 51 yard line. It was good and landed 15 yards deep in the end-zone.

Mitch Gallo who has been giving me his Predictions is MIA out in Rimouski. So to fill in our good friend from CTV and The TEAM 990 Mr. Randy Tieman gave me his score as well.

Randy likes the Als 42-23.

I'm on that bandwagon too, as I said on Melnick in the Afternoon on The TEAM 990 on Friday, Als should take this one. 41-28. It'll be closer than Als fans would like and look for a late defensive TD to be the game-breaker.

Throughout the game, I'll be on www.twitter.com/seanrcampbell with game updates and observations

Grey Cup Repeat...

Always fun to put some predictions prior to kick-off. Just like last week I'll add in TEAM 990's Mitch Gallo's Picks as well.

I like both the East and West finalists from last year meeting again in the Grey Cup.
In the East its too hard not to take the Als, even though the Lions have played the Als very tough this year. Casey Printers definately could be the X Factor, but I believe he'll struggle with communication offence in the noise of the Big O. And Anthony Calvillo will play like AC and the Alouettes will take it 35-25.

Mitch Gallo take: "give me the Als Final Score 30-27. BC can't stop the Al's aerial attck and the special teams will dominate. Printers will play strong but not as strong as AC."

In the West: I look straight at the quarterbacks, Henry Burris vs Darian Durant. Experience vs inexperience. The weapons that Calgary possess are going to be huge factors. Even though the Stamps are on the road, I like what Burris can bring today, it'll be close 25-22 Stamps.

Mitch Gallo's take: "Give me the Stampeders, To Much desire on Calgary's team, they don't want to disappoint their home town fans and not be in the Grey Cup in Calgary. Burris will pick apart the Riders defense and play very similar to how he did on the road in the Grey Cup last year. final 24-17 Calgary."

Well that sucks Mitch and I agree, It'll be a repeat of the Grey Cup last year, expect this year Calgary gets the hometown fans. We'll find out soon enough!

Divisional Semi-Finals Predictions

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, been travelling with the Montreal Juniors up north on their road trip to Rouyn-Noranda and Val D'Or. I should be back in front of my couch in time for the Eastern Divisional Semi-Final Kick-off. It's going to be a great weekend for Canadian football. So we'll have some fun a post some bold predictions, from myself and my colleague at the TEAM 990 Mitch Gallo on this weekends action.

B.C. At Hamilton: All the pressure is on the Ti-Cats. The B.C. Lions have nothing to lose and that is a scary thought. The Ti-Cats however have been playing some great ball of late and Kevin Glenn looks like like a top 4 QB in the CFL. I like the hamilton in this, mainly because they play a strong game at home and B.C.'s run defense is very porous of late, Hamilton takes it 28-20 over B.C.

Mitch Gallo's view, He's got B.C. 40-26. 40 points are some bold numbers for a QB like Printers who's still trying to find his game.

Edmonton at Calgary: I'm going to be looking at both QBs in this one. Ricky Ray and Henry Burris are #2 and #3 in the league right behind Anthony Calvillo in their ability to dominate the game. So I can see this game going either way. But I like Calgary because they are at home. Both defenses have gone through extreme make-overs over the season and are starting to hit their stride. Calgary in a high scoring affair 42-38.

Mitch Gallo's View, he'll jump on the Stamp's Bandwagon too 30-20 over Edmonton.

So I saw take the home teams, Not so sure I'll go that way next week...

Week 19 Predictions

Since it's a few hours before week 19 Kickoff, Might as well throw some fearless Predictions out on MFG. It's the biggest week of 2009 for 6 of the leagues 8 teams, who's going to step up and who's going to fall down.

Edmonton in B.C. Friday 10:30pm: I like B.C. for two main reasons 1- Edmonton has trouble facing anyone but Toronto the last two months and 2- the Eskimos are battling the flu bug. The losing team can still jump over to the East in the cross-over but I don't think either Wally Buono or Richie Hall will be relying on a Winnipeg loss. Casey Printers may or may not be the answer but he'll give the Lions enough offense to pull out the win. BC 28, Edm 18.

Montreal in Toronto Saturday 1pm: Montreal is going with the B-Team, I agree with it, except for resting Avon Cobourne. I believe Brandon Whittaker will be very effective, so there won't be a lag on the field. But for Cobourne its a long time to rest. McPherson will be hounded by the Argos D but that'll lead to many big run plays. Toronto is still an awful team offensively and the Alouettes won't rest as many on defense as they will on offense. Mtl 25, Tor 20.

Calgary in Saskatchewan Saturday 7pm: A couple of weeks ago these two teams tied in an impressive 44 all draw. Calgary will be very happy with a similar result. Both teams would love the extra time off to rest some bumps and bruises. I'm going to give the edge to Calgary, why? Joffrey Reynolds has been hitting his stride the last three weeks, with two games over 100yards, and the week he didn't hit the century mark he scored two TDs. With the Grey Cup in Calgary it's added motivation for the Stamps not to travel in the playoffs. Cal 38, Sask 35.

Hamilton in Winnipeg Sunday 1pm: If Edmonton and BC tie, then Hamilton knows that they will play again next weekend. However, that shouldn't change any motivation the Ti-Cats would have to win the game and earn a home playoff date against a cross-over team. The Ti-Cats are coming off a win while the Bombers are coming off a tough loss in Montreal. Momentum helps in football. Kevin Glenn looks like a new man since he's been named starter. Ham 27, Win 23.

So I like B.C., Montreal, Calgary and Hamilton. But it is the CFL right so we'll probably see 2 ties and a Toronto win and maybe unfairly the Ti-Cats on the outside looking in with a loss. But that's why we'll all be watching week 19. Enjoy the games.