CFL Football Preview: Calgary Stampeders at Toronto Argonauts
The Canadian Football League season continues on Friday night with a rematch of the 2012 Grey Cup championship game as the Calgary Stampeders hit the road to visit the Toronto Argonauts. The Argonauts emerged victorious in the 2012 title contest and they’re off to a good start this season-though admittedly they’ve been helped by the fact that the rest of the CFL East has been struggling significantly. Toronto is in first place in the East with a 5-2 record good for 10 points. That gives them a 4 point advantage over the second place Hamilton Tiger-Cats who check in with a 3-4 record. Calgary doesn’t have it quite so easy-the West Division is loaded this year and the Stampeders are in a tie for second place with the BC Lions with both teams trailing the first place Saskatchewan Roughriders by one game (2 points).
Calgary may have played well to date, but they’ve got a rash of injuries that has particularly hurt them on the offensive side of the ball. Perhaps the biggest absence in this game will be that of star running back Jon Cornish. Two weeks after Cornish ran for 175 yards in the Stamps’ win over Saskatchewan he’s been ruled out of this game with what is being described as a ‘thigh contusion’. Head coach John Hufnagel made the announcement on Thursday after calling Cornish ‘questionable’ on Wednesday. The running back did not travel with the team to Toronto. The Stampeders also have a number of injuries at wide receiver with five position players unavailable for Friday’s game. The most serious could be Nik Lewis who could be out for the year after surgery to repair a broken fibula.
Toronto hasn’t really gotten the respect they deserve this season. With most of the attention focused on the three tough teams out West the defending Grey Cup champions have been something of an afterthought and that’s a serious mistake. Toronto’s defense hasn’t been impressive this year but their offense is as good as ever led by arguably the best quarterback in the CFL, Ricky Ray. Ray’s favorite target is Chad Owens, one of the league’s leading receivers. Toronto has won and covered five straight in this series and with Calgary so depleted by injury we look for the Argos to keep that streak intact.
BET TORONTO ARGONAUTS -2′ OVER CALGARY STAMPEDERS