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Friday, July 5: Ian Cameron's Football Frenzy CFL Week 5
(upbeat music) Welcome to another edition of Ian Cameron's football frenzy. It is week five in the CFL, Ian Cameron and a familiar face joining us once again. Former CFL quarterback Will Arnt back in the house here for another edition of Ian Cameron's football frenzy. Will, we were talking before the show. We're into July, air is heating up. I know you're still giving teaching drills and instructions to the youth, trying to get into football and that's consuming a lot of your time right now. So how are things with you? Yeah, things good, but you know, I've been busy, but like you said, there's always got to make time for CFL football and I've been keeping a close eye on what everybody's doing and watching the games and seeing how things are trending across the league this year. So happy Canada today to all my Canadians out there and then happy fourth to us Americans here tomorrow. So very exciting time of year. I got sleeves off, enjoying the beautiful weather. I hear there's some heat up in Canada. So it's all good. Yeah, and by the way, we're also laughing, Will and I, before the show about how this acinine rhetoric that goes on years and years, if not decades, for people that are, you know, from the US that are maybe not too familiar with Canada about how it never gets hot in Canada and they never get any warm weather. Well, we can verify that it's almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit here in Hamilton, Ontario today. It's like not barely cracking 80 Fahrenheit right now if that in Vermont where our guy Will art is situated right now. So there goes that crackpot theory. Yeah, I mean, I, people who did always be like, oh, is it like cold there all year round? And I remember like being at training camp, like while we're doing stretch lines over the years and in Ottawa and just being like, gosh, it's freaking hot as heck here. Or being in cam loops in BC and like stretch lines, you got your knee in the turf and it's freaking scorching outside. So no, you get a little high in cold in Canada, that's for sure. No doubt that's true. And like you say, if you want to experience all four seasons, you want to experience, you know, summers where you can hike and, you know, and in the middle of the heat, go to a beach at this time of year, swim, you know, you get to do all that great shit, you know, in the summer. But if you also want to do the ice fishing thing and, you know, show how mentally and physically tough you are and try to survive, brave the elements and go, you know, cottaging in the winter or go to a cabin in the winter and brave the cold, you can do that too. You know, that's the beauty of Canada. You get all four seasons here in this country. We're going to do something different just because we'll jump into the four games in week five in just a moment. But usually there's one team we don't get to talk about and each show and I figured let's correct that because obviously one team gets a bye week every week in the CFL because there's nine teams. So one team won't play. So before we get into the four games taking place in week five, we'll talk about the Edmonton Elks first. Great segue with Will Rock and the Edmonton Elks hat right now. Edmonton, this is there by week. So they are the team that is not playing right now. So we'll talk about them just an overall synopsis on what we've seen from them. My thought with Edmonton is pretty simple. This is a team that's got talent. They do, there's no question. But they're having a hard time winning games right now. They're having a hard time finishing games. And if you look at some of these recent losses here for Edmonton throughout the season so far, you look at the game in week one against Saskatchewan. They were up by 13 points in the fourth quarter. They failed to close with a pretty bad fourth quarter, just not able to get the job done there in that game. You look at obviously the Toronto game, the McCloud Bethel-Thompson Bowl, as I like to call it. A couple of weeks ago, he played really well. The offense moved the football against the Toronto R goes two weeks ago. But again, bad defense, which has been their problem most of the year. They're not playing good on that side of the ball. They can't stop the run again, which was an issue for the Elks last year. You look at the rushing yards that they're allowing. It's just not good. The secondaries got a lot of inexperience in it as well. And they're not getting stops. And the penalties, man, they continue to be a problem for the Edmonton Elks. And it's certainly an indictment on Chris Jones, who can talk all he wants about. We've got to assure things up. Well, first of all, penalties. The coach has to get that under control. And second of all, the defense being the part of the team that's struggling. Well, Chris Jones is a defensive mastermind and a defensive guide by trade, by his history. So the fact that defense is struggling does not look all that good on him right now. So again, the Toronto game was winnable. The offense does enough. But again, defense and penalties become an issue. And last week against BC, you know, where we saw the same thing with the Edmonton Elks. They played BC very tough. The effort was great. Did a lot of good things in that football game. But again, just finding a way to lose right now the Edmonton Elks. And here they are 0 and 4 to begin the season. Yet, from a point spread perspective, the Edmonton Elks are 3 and 1 against the spread. So they have been actually cashing tickets for their backers, specifically in the underdog role. We saw them at Montreal, cashed a ticket as dogs. Same thing with the game at Toronto. They were 6 point dogs. They lost by 3. Last week against BC, they were getting over 7 and about 7 and 1/2, 8 points. They end up losing by a field goal, a shot shot, white, timeless. This guy gets better with age, just like a fine wine shot, white, still making big field goals. Just had an incredible career as a CFL kicker, that gets the game winner, walk-off field goal for BC against Edmonton last week. So Will, when I'll throw it to you-- I mean, to me, Edmonton is 0 and 4, but they're a better team than their record shows. But at the end of the day, when you're not able to close games, that's what you've got to be able to do. And they have not been able to do it so far in the 0 and 4 start. Yep, well said. I apologize first on the scenery change. I had to embark on dogs, so I had to get away from those guys. But in terms of the Edmonton Elks, so it does, to me, feel different at least this time around. They have been obviously having struggled since 2019 and that historic losing streak at home, finally able to break that, which I think was a big weight off everybody's back. But they're competitive. They got a good quarterback play. They have talent. They just have not been able to finish. Hopefully, they have a good leadership inside that locker room. And hopefully, the messages are still resonating with the coaches where these guys are going to still continue to play hard, because they are close. They're very winnable games, whereas in the past, it was just felt like a moral victory just to be in the games or be competitive. Or they haven't had a terrible losses per se this year. So I've encouraged what we want to see. I think McCloud has played well. But obviously, if you're not winning games, that's what we're all doing it for. There's two things coming out of the bi-week that you're going to be optimistic about with Edmonton. They played a really brutal schedule, well, really tough schedule, right? Saskatchewan improved. They're undefeated Saskatchewan. They played them in week one. They had a double-digit lead and blew it. Then they played Toronto. Or Montreal, I should say, after that, defending great cup champs who have looked like the best team in the CFL so far this season as well. Toronto, after that, one of the better teams in the league and then BC, another one of the better teams in the league last week. So four very difficult opponents and the last three games, they've lost each of them by a field goal. They've been right there. So that's definitely something you can hopefully hang your hat on and something you can say, you know what, going into our next game out of the bi-week, which I believe is a home game against the Ottawa Red Blacks. Yes, it is on July 14th. You got to go into that game and say if we finish and we play 60 minutes and we short things up on defense, we've shown we can play some of the better teams and probably with all due respect to Ottawa, that'll be the weakest team they've played so far. So will that be the opportunity for Edmonton to get that first win? We'll have to wait and see. All right, let's get into week five. We will begin with the Thursday night match up here. It taking place between the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. We've got Toronto three and a half point road favorites. I do want to point out, Toronto was as low as about one, one and a half here in this game now all the way up to three and a half here, 48 being the total in this one. Saskatchewan is off a bi-week. I'll throw it to Will, someone who's obviously played the sport quite a bit. I've said it for years, whether it's CFL, NFL, even college football. I don't love the bi-weeks for teams playing great going into the bi-week. I don't like it, you know, as much. I know bi-weeks we all think are a positive, a chance to heal injuries, a chance to, you know, you get some energy back in your system, extra practice time, get away from football actually for part of the bi-week, all that stuff. But when you're playing great football going into the bi-week, sometimes, and a lot of times I should say, I've seen a disrupt momentum and disrupt the rhythm of a football team. And that's what worries me here for Saskatchewan here in this game on Thursday night. They're off to this good three and oh start, but does the bi-week disrupt this great rhythm? Like when you're playing well, you want to keep playing. Whereas I think you have a bi-week for a struggling team going into the bi-week. Oftentimes you see that team have an uptick and an improvement in their performance coming out of the bi-week, whereas a Saskatchewan and this team in their situation, when they're playing great going into the bi-week. Sometimes I worry about how they play that first game coming out of the bi-week and we don't see them, that team play with that same rhythm and obviously performance level. What do you think? Do you think my theory makes sense? - Yeah, I mean, I think it does. Momentum is a very real thing. However, it is a short week, playing tomorrow. So it hasn't felt like they haven't played in forever. So I almost think about it like a longer game week. They probably had like one day and a half off. And then they usually, you normally in a game week when you're a player, you have day one, day two, day three and then what's called day four, which is walks through day and prep and then it's game day. So you got those four days and I bet you what they did. They probably did a day A and a day B, which are pretty similar. They're just extensions of the game week and you put in a little bit of stuff, couple ideas on those couple of those extra days. So I think they've kind of been in a long game game week because they're playing on a Thursday. So I think that's a little bowed well for them. And I think with the timing of Trevor Harris going down and obviously that bowed well for Shay Patterson getting the extra familiarity and time with his guys and coaches 'cause ultimately playing Saskatchewan's big market, there's a lot that comes with that and hopefully it's given him time to get acclimated with that. And I like the setup for Saskatchewan, but that quarterback dynamic is a very real thing. And I kind of tend to lean in the direction of Toronto here, having the continuity and all of the more certainties that maybe Saskatchewan is now dealing with. You basically are right in line with what I was thinking, we'll hear as far as this game because as much as the bi-week, usually is a good thing. You know, for Saskatchewan here with this particular matchup and bringing in Shay, and look, Shay Patterson's had plenty of practice time. You know, and that's a good thing. You know, you would think for him and the rider's offense. But matchup wise, I saw, and look, again, he's had practice time now, maybe it's not fair to him to hold the performance he had entering the game for my good friend Trevor Harris before in that last game, Saskatchewan played obviously against Hamilton, but once he entered the game for Trevor against the Tycats a couple of weeks ago, he really had a tough time. I mean, it seemed like he was not setting his feet and keeping his eyes down field initially. Like it was every time there was some bit of pressure on, he scrambled it. And most of the time, he was just threw it out of bounds. He did this a bunch. And then there were a couple of times he tried to force something and it almost got intercepted, or he'd skip the ball into the turf just 'cause he's trying to evade a rush. He really, really had a tough time navigating the pocket in that game against Hamilton a couple of weeks ago. Now, again, the practice time he gets should help him. There's no question. But then I factor in the matchup here, Will. I think Toronto's defensive line is as good as it gets, or one of the top D lines in the CFL. Now they have taken a hit the last couple of weeks because of Fuller in Arumilade's absence. He's a tremendous part of that defensive line for the Argos. And you can tell they've clearly been weaker without him, but it's still a pretty solid staunch unit. They bring him Jake Suresna as well, who can play around and can get after the, yeah, the exact great player. Someone I met at the Grey Cup Festival last year to talk to for a few minutes. Couldn't have been a nicer person, Jake Suresna. So I got to talk to him again when the Grey Cup Festival was in Hamilton last year in November. But yeah, he was a great pick up for Toronto because Curly Gittens Jr. went the other way to Edmonton in that deal. He's bolster that defense. He can get after the quarterback as well. And I think of that D line and then Suresna you add in for pass rush. I think of that against Shea Patterson here and an O line for Saskatchewan that has improved this year. But I don't know if they've seen a D line like this so far this season. This could be a tricky matchup for Shea. I could see some mistakes. I could see some interceptions or a pick six or something like that. I could see it just because of the pressure that the Toronto Argonauts, defensive line and front seven puts on the quarterback. So I think that is something that would worry me a bit for Patterson in this game. I think when you look at Corey Mace, what he's done with Saskatchewan on the defensive side of the football, you can tell they're slowly starting to get better here. There's no question. But while I think the defense certainly is already shown to be better than we've seen throughout most of last year, the numbers for Saskatchewan's defense overall, there's still room for improvement. They are still struggling against the pass. And Cameron Dukes has been pretty good throwing the ball until last week against Montreal. But again, that's the Alawats who have been by far the class of the CFL. I think you're going to see probably a better performance here from Cameron Dukes. And both of these teams are still giving up big time yardage in the secondary. I mean, I think you've got the Argos and the Riders will entering this game at eighth and ninth respectively, passing yards allowed per game. So these are two leaky secondaries. But I believe that Dukes will probably exploit Saskatchewan a bit more than Patterson will for Toronto vice versa. Because I just think the Argos are going to be able to pressure Patterson maybe a little bit more than Saskatchewan will be able to do with Cameron Dukes. And you factor in the Toronto's off a loss against Montreal. So it's kind of a bounce back spot. You should get good focus from the Argos. They're starting a bit of a mini little road trip here. They're in Montreal next week. But I don't think they overlooked this riders team. And there's just to me, there's enough of a drop off at least on paper to me from Trevor Harris to shape Patterson to make it warranted for me to endorse Toronto. Now they were laying less than a field goal. It's getting on three and a half. It's not a bargain anymore. But I think there's a reason Toronto took money. I think they get the job done here in this game. And with the total will, who am I to stand and step in front of a 13-1 overrun with the Saskatchewan Rough Riders? Yes, that's right. 13-1 to the over in their last 14 games dating back to last season, including so far this year, a perfect 3-0 over mark for Saskatchewan in their three games. Now it does concern me. I do like the over here as well. How can I not? I'm riding it at this point, 13-1 in the last 14 Saskatchewan games, not to mention Toronto, I believe, 6-1 to the over in their last seven games dating back to last season. But what does concern me is that maybe Saskatchewan's offense does bog down a little bit here with shape Patterson maybe struggling a bit. But I do think Toronto can move the ball. I think Toronto, by the way, if you've missed out on getting Toronto at the minus three or better, I would say take Toronto team total right now. Over 26-1/2, I think they can hit 27-plus in this game, worth noting that even with the incremental defensive improvement we're seeing from Saskatchewan, they still gave up 30 points to Hamilton. 21 to Edmonton, the first couple of games of the season. Definitely better, the third game, 36-20. But you look at the Argos too this year. They've been able to put up points 39 against Edmonton, 35 against BC in the first two games. Still got to 20 last week against, you know, one of the best teams and defenses in the CFL, the defending great cup champion, Montreal, Alouette. So I think Toronto can get to 27 points as well. So my advice would be if you didn't get three or better on Toronto, minus three or better, you could pivot and go with the team total instead. Over 26-1/2, which I think is still a pretty good bet and a pretty good way to go here in this game. But yeah, you and I earn agreement, Will. I think it sets up nicely here for the Argos. I think they can get the job done here. Yeah, and one more note for the viewer as you were talking that I remembered, I was doing some little bit of digging, a little bit of homework before the show and just looking up each team's past production and numbers. And I totally forgot about the coaching match up here. Former DC in Toronto last year versus, obviously, Ryan Dinwoody being the head coach still there. So I'm interested to see how the product of football looks in this game with these guys kind of knowing each other. And then I did the little more digging on Saskatchewan's coaching staff. And I really like some of the guys that are there. Mark Mueller has obviously done a great job. Trevor really likes Mark Mueller. Yeah, I can say enough how many times Trevor's told me, like, hey, Mark Mueller, I really like him. I think he's-- I've heard that for a number of years when he was a quarterback coach in Calgary that people thought he was really sharp. And obviously, that's come to fruition a little bit. Getting his shots is run things. And then Josh Bell, former player in Calgary, going over to the Argos last year is now the DB coach in Saskatchewan. So I got faith that he'll get those guys buttoned up. So I'm-- and I remember they were doing some really good stuff when I was coaching in Ottawa when he was in Toronto. So an interesting coaching match up and be cool to kind of see how this one plays out. I also played with Shea Patterson when I was in BC. So a lot of dynamics that work here for me, but I tend to lean towards Toronto in this match up. Yeah, it's one of those deals, too, where-- I love the storyline. Obviously, Corey Mays, former Toronto defensive coordinator, now head coach of Saskatchewan against his old, you know, the guy that brought him in, Ryan Dinwitti, and people will just overthink it. Like, oh, you know, Corey Mays is going to know what Dinwitti wants to do on offense. Yeah, but you could also say Dinwitti's going to know what Mays wants to do on defense, right? With their side of the ball, because keep in mind, Dinwitti's his own offensive coordinator with the Toronto Argonauts as well, in addition to being head coach. So I think it's a wash, again, just because, you know, you're basically almost like guesswork a little bit. If you're going to say, well, Mays is going to get the better of Dinwitti because of this, this, and this, or Dinwitti's going to get the better of Mays because of this, this, and this. I just go ahead and just, you know, look at the match up, look at the spot, look at the injury situation. By the way, Sean Bain Jr. won't play for Saskatchewan. And he has obviously been one of their better receivers. This season, they've still got a lot there. Key and Shafer Baker and Sam Emmellis. And this Jalen Stern's kid has really played well. Toronto, I've been impressed with what I've seen from their receiving core. Neither team has really run the football as well. I think, well, Saskatchewan definitely hasn't. And that surprised me that with AJ Olet, this team, can you explain this, Will? They're ninth in the league in rushing yards per game. And they brought in AJ Olet to really get the run game going. And they're struggling, like not even 60 rushing yards per game so far this season for the Saskatchewan rough riders. And what concerns me, this is the game you want a run game working. Take some pressure off the young kid. Take a little office plate of Shea Patterson here. Get that run game going, but it hasn't been going so far for the riders. Yeah, I think in terms of the run game, hopefully you'll see it this week, right? Obviously, having a good quarterback and they had a good offensive production with Trevor at the helm. Hopefully, this week, you start to see them lean on that a little bit more in-depth. Trevor is a guy that likes to pull the ball a lot on some of these RPOs. So that might be just taking away some potential production or yardage in the run game. But just as a unit, they've obviously scored well and produced the yards. So that could be an element of it. So look for that to change maybe in this week's matchup. Yeah, pound the rock. Try to get Olet going because we know he's a good back. I think it's just more, maybe the blocking up front hasn't been the best from what we've seen from them lately. So again, we'll see if they can get that short up because I'll tell you what, if they are held less than 60 rushing yards here in this game against the RCOs, I think they're going to have a very difficult time when in this game because then Shay's going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting through the air. And I'm not sure he's at that point in his CFL existence and career yet where he's ready to do that. All right. Time to go. He's been in the lead for a little bit now. He has been, but not many starting opportunities until now he was, he dazzled them in preseason. But again, that's preseason and we saw him when he entered the game against Hamilton did not look like that preseason version of Shay Patterson. So he'll probably be somewhere in between. He's not going to look like he did, you know, moving the ball up and down the field like he did in the preseason against the starting defense. But I do think he'll be better, at least a little bit better than he was against Hamilton entering the game for Trevor after he got injured. So that's a fascinating game though to kick off the week on Thursday night. Definitely looking forward to it. How about the winless, they've taken the win out of Winnipeg right now, the loose in the peg. That's pretty weak on my part. That's not my best. I'll go admit that right now. - The Winnipeg was good, that was good. - Taking the, I should have just stopped there. Well, just, you know, call it a day just like George Costanza on Seinfeld. Say the one joke, the one punch line says, "All right, I'm out of here." Winnipeg Blue Bombers minus two and a half against the Ottawa Red Blacks, Friday night football, 46 the total. I kind of, man, I said it last week. Until Winnipeg steps up, I can only bet against them and I cast a ticket with Calgary last week plus the points, they win outright, they get a Renee Paradise game winning field goal in overtime to knock off the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. And sure enough, dropping Winnipeg to this 0-4 straight up, 0-4 against the spread start. Also, 4-0 to the under to start the year for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Every Winnipeg game has gone under the total and you can understand why the offense has just not been anywhere close to the level that we've seen in the four straight trips to the Grey Cup. You know, the O-line has taken a huge hit this year, Will. They're not past protecting anywhere close to what we've seen in the past. The run blocking, giving open holes for Brady Oliveira. We're just not seeing it to that same level. And then on defense, they're very young in the secondary. They lost, obviously, Jackson Jeffcoat. And you know what, losing one of the big twin towers of pass-rushers does, puts more attention and ability to put more attention, direct more attention, if you're the opposing team on the offensive line toward Willie Jefferson. You know, you got more attention paid to him and all of a sudden it's really hurt his numbers as far as pass rush this year. We're not having Jeffcoat who retired in the off. He's not to mention the leader you're at, your line backing core, who's a tremendous player. He's had an incredible career at a big hill. He's not getting younger and he's been banged up a little bit through the early part of the season. So there's a plethora, you know, of issues right now with this Winnipeg Blue Bombers team. And here they are, winless. They're laying two and a half points here in this game against the Ottawa Red Blacks. And as much as I said to myself, I can't bet on Winnipeg until I see them step up and win, step up and cover a point spread, neither of which they have done so far this year. Like I said, I won't force straight up an ATS. That being said, how on earth, how the fuck can you love this spot for the Ottawa Red Blacks here? They played Sunday night against my Hamilton Tycats. They pulled it out with a Lewis Ward, walk off field goal at the end to beat the Tycats, to get to two and one. And now here you are playing on a Sunday night having to travel west and play on a Friday night. So short week with travel for the Ottawa Red Blacks against a team that you beat in week one. Remember, Ottawa upset Winnipeg and not week one, but their first game Ottawa, but it was week two actually. And Ottawa won outright as home underdogs against Winnipeg. So a little bit of a revenge situation here for Winnipeg in this game. And obviously a very desperate home team and still a place that can be very tough to play. Now again, we've seen Winnipeg not have that same great home field advantage 'cause they're all in two at home, but they're all in two at home against Montreal and BC. Montreal, the best team in the CFL. BC is right there as one of the top teams in the West and in the CFL altogether. Ottawa going there and winning, can they do that? That's gonna be the big question going into this one. And obviously Michael Shea and his coaching staff having lost to Ottawa on the road earlier this year at TD Place Stadium in the nation's capital. There's gonna be that extra mile that you go, to try to make those corrections, make those adjustments, fix shit that didn't work the first time you played Ottawa. I just got that gut feel. I know my ultra confident is this best bet material, hell no, no way. Obviously not the case, but I just get that sense. It's set up nicely here for Winnipeg. And if I had to bet this game, I'd look at Winnipeg, laying less than a field goal. I think it's a tough-ask for Ottawa this week, going on the road on a show. Let's not act like they played great against Hamilton. Hamilton really screwed up. And I hate to say it as a pain-stricken Tycat fan this year who is just so frustrated with his team as I am, but they really, they screwed that up. They fucked it up quite a bit. I think Ottawa, Hamlet lost that game as much, if not more, quite honestly, than Ottawa won it. I mean, how on earth, when they got the, go ahead, touchdown drive, Hamilton, the Squib kick decision. And we'll get to that when we talk Hamilton, which I think cost their special team's coordinator's job. Squib kick in that spot. It's just, you just asking for trouble. There's this 20 to 30 yard window down field when you squib the kick like that, to just ask a great returner to return it like Deadman to return it to almost midfield and he did that. And all of a sudden, if you're Drew Brown last week, for Ottawa in that situation, you need just one first down, maybe two at the most and you're in Lewis Ward range. There's been a pretty damn good kicker all these years. So it was just mind-boggling how Hamilton played that on the kickoff after they took the lead, 28 seconds. And he did probably the worst thing he could have done to give Ottawa a chance to beat you. And sure enough, they did. I think it's a tough ask though, for Ottawa here going into this game. Again, are there issues with Winnipeg? Yes, but the big issue too is Colorado status. He left the game due to injury against Calgary last week. Chris Trevler finished the game. He did not look great throwing the ball, but he did lead them down the field to tie the game late in the fourth quarter and force overtime. The practice time should help him. If I am Winnipeg though, knowing that if Chris Trevler plays and I think he will, to me there's not that as big of a difference. Colorado's to Trevler is maybe there would be last year, two years ago, three years ago, will because Colorado hasn't played great so far. He has been part of the struggles that Winnipeg has had. So, Trevler gets some practice time. I think you put in some RPO concepts, run pass option. I think that's very important. I think that's an offensive scheme that can work with Trevler and his athleticism and his ability to run the football and bowl over opposing tacklers with his physicality. I think that's something you got to adjust if you're Buck Pierce, the offensive coordinator. Don't just make him a dropback passer. Don't be fucking Baltimore's offensive coordinator. They're Todd Wonkin last year in the AFC Championship game and I was on this show with Trevor Harris on the Super Bowl preview show. Ranting will about that. That Baltimore with Todd Wonkin in the AFC Championship game has this athletic quarterback who can run like the wind, who can make plays with his feet and they never ran him. They never did RPO. They try to turn him into Joe Montana and a dropback passer. It was absolutely absurd. I'm begging Winnipeg. Don't do that crap with Chris Trevler here if he plays Friday night. Don't make him a dropback passer. He ain't Joe Montana. He ain't Tom Brady or these guys that are just these fluid pocket passers. But he can be an effective winning quarterback for you if you put him in a position to succeed. Run RPO, get him outside the pocket, get him in a spot where he can use his athleticism, use his legs and keep plays alive. That's going to be their offensive recipe for success here, in my opinion, if they're going to get off the snide and finally win their first game of the season. What do you say about that will in this game? Ottawa, Winnipeg? - Yeah, I mean, you talked about some trends with Winnipeg and not one to buck the old saying the trend is your friend. But I think this team probably deserves a benefit of the doubt. I think there's a lot of factors that are probably working to their advantage. And the nice thing is, with bringing in a guy like Chris Dreveler and the time that he's had there, you're basically getting a starter whether Caleros or Streveler plays, they're at home. It's still a tough place to play. You know, it is interesting though, like I would imagine Drew Brown's probably going to feel comfortable there because he knows what it's like inside the walls. He knows a lot of the guys have defense that he's familiar with. He knows probably a little bit what they like to do. He knows what it feels like. So that matchup will be interesting. But I tend to like Winnipeg here. I think they earned a benefit of the doubt over the years. And Michael Shea had this thing and having a good veteran leadership. They might be older and maybe less productive, but they do have a solid group and solid leadership inside the locker room. So I like the way this is set up for Winnipeg at home. I think, you know, given points there is pretty enticing in this matchup. - Yeah, I mean, if you would ask me a week ago, I'd probably still say, you know, I can only look at Ottawa. I just get that fee. I just don't love that Sunday-to-Friday situation at all. It's tough, especially when you're coming off a big win at the end. And just worry that you don't get Ottawa's best year. You get Winnipeg, you know, and by the way, Winnipeg rarely last year, two years ago, where this cheap at home, we're talking, you know, two and a half point favorites. You know what Winnipeg usually is, they're usually five six point favorites minimum at home. Oftentimes, when they were really playing their best football last year, two years ago, you'd see them against a team like Ottawa, you know, laying nine, 10 points as a favorite at home. In fact, I'll go back and look. Yeah, I'm seeing it now in Winnipeg. You know, the last four meetings, we saw Winnipeg eight and a half point favorite, six and a half, 11 and a half, six and a half. So here they are now only laying two and a half. So the adjustment has been made, Will, a little bit, as far as from a points spread standpoint to what Winnipeg has done so far this year. As far as Ottawa, as far as Ottawa and Drew Brown, I wanted to ask you as someone obviously that plays quarterback. Do you think Drew Brown is legit? Can he be a number one quarterback in this league from what you've seen at least so far? I don't have a definitive answer for you yet, but I can confirm that it's not a resounding yes. That much. I need to see more too. That's pretty much where I would be with it, yeah. Yeah. I don't think even though they beat Hamilton last week, I don't think he played a great game from what I saw. He missed a lot of throws. And like I said, Hamilton did a lot of shit to keep Ottawa hanging around in that game too. Yeah, I mean, he's held his own for sure. He's done a respectable job coming in. You know, and that's a totally new system for him with Tommy Condell coming over that is not, like someone that's played in a few different systems and the CFL is a few different families and offenses in people that are similar. This is a totally new thing for him. So he's done a nice job if you zoom out on it, but their whole quarterback situation is interesting to me. They're carrying a lot of guys. You're Masoli's not quite healthy yet, apparently. And Tyree Adams just got back. They've still got Dustin Cromley. You still have a lot of guys in the stable that have a lot of experience. So I wouldn't say that everything's set in stone with him as the guy and he's done some good things. I give him credit for that, but I'm not willing to say that he's like one of the nine guys in the league. - No, like I say, I think there's definitely a great potential with Drew Brown. He's got a good enough arm to all kid can run. He does have mobility. So I think it's just still, you know, let's get a few more games of sample size under his belt first before, you know, we make rash judgments on where his CFL career arc is gonna end up. All right, we move to Saturday now, Calgary, Stampede, and Montreal, Alawats. To me, if you don't have the Montreal Alawats as the number one team in your CFL power ratings right now, you can be making CFL power ratings. I mean, that's just the way it is. I mean, this has clearly been the team that's looked the best so far this season. Montreal nine and a half point home favor. It's 50 and a half the total, but now you're starting to see them getting some respect in the betting markets. You're talking about nine and a half point favorite now with this great start that the Alawats have had four and a straight up three and one against the spread. You look at the first three games. They play, or four games that they played. Winnipeg on the road, 27, 12 victory in the opener. The defense was dominant, 23, 20 win against Edmonton, but again, that game was pretty much a 10 point game before Edmonton punched in a late touchdown to make it a three point game at the end. The Ottawa game is the one, you know, the little asterisk beside that. They were awesome, 47, 21, but three first half turnovers by Ottawa really, really hurt them. And took them right out of the game. Well, because three first half turnovers, as you know, you turn the ball over three times in the first half and all those turnovers resulted in points for Montreal. It's gonna be an uphill battle for you the rest of the game. And that's what we saw with Ottawa against Montreal and that 47, 21 loss. It kind of just got away from them. A lot of it turnover related. And then of course last week against Toronto, the big first place showdown in the east. And Montreal was just too good on both sides of the ball. And to me, what's been awesome to see from Montreal this year is last year on route to the Grey Cup. They did it with a strong run game, a very dominant defense. But the passing game was always the part of the team that was a little bit behind. Cody Fajardo, just a little bit behind in the passing game. Through a couple of bad interceptions he would. The receiving course, some doubts about how good they were. Hard to doubt them right now with what they've played here, like in the first few games of the season. They have been absolutely tremendous. And that's kind of what I did not expect to see. I knew this team would be very good defensively again to quan the secondary, it's good up front. But I did not expect this level of passing explosiveness through the air from this Montreal team or from Cody Fajardo. And he has taken a step this year. You look at the numbers, eight touchdowns, two interceptions, 75% completion rate on the season, 101 completions on 134 attempts. That's very good, obviously. The receiving court, Tyson Philpott, the Canadian's been incredible. 28 receptions, 430 yards, four touchdowns already. They have Kayon Julian Grant, another great Canadian receiver. He's been great. Cole Speaker has stepped up well. Reggie White Jr., Charleston Rambo. Well, wait till they get Tyler Sneedback, who's been injured. The East Carolina kid, the last couple of years, or the last couple of games. He's been out, wait till they get him back. So this receiving court, I'm starting to believe now, how good it is. And obviously Cody Fajardo is probably playing the best football he has in his career for a guy that's been marred by inconsistency with bad decision making at times, forcing things. And it looks like everything's coming naturally for him. And the defense continues to be their usual strong self. You look at the defensive numbers here for the Alawet so far this season, number one in total. The yards allowed per game, number one in passing yards allowed per game. They have given up some rushing yards. 80.8 rushing yards per game. So Candidric Mills, running back for the Calgary Stampeders, take advantage of that maybe here in this game. It's one of those spots where Montreal's been awesome for no start. But you look at this spot, it's a bit of a tricky one. And I'll say why. They have the huge win against Toronto last week. The week before they beat Ottawa was their home opener, where they have the Grey Cup ceremony, they raise the banner, they get their rings, they have the big showdown with Toronto. They play Toronto again next week. And right in between, you've got little ole Calgary here coming to town. I feel it's just a few too many points that I feel comfortable. I feel like if I go against Montreal, I'll pay the price for it because I've gone against them a couple times. And actually, I did take Edmonton against them. It worked out all right. But I did take Toronto last week. And it didn't. I'm still with just how good they've been on both sides of the ball. I'm still a little leery of fading them. But I feel that it's not the worst thing to maybe consider Calgary here, plus nine and a half, or maybe even Calgary first half. That maybe Montreal's a little sleepy early on. And then maybe they turn it on as the game goes on. But it's a lot of points to be given Calgary. I still don't know how good or bad Calgary is. They're two and one. They beat Winnipeg who are winless in overtime last week. And they beat a pretty bad, unfortunately for me, as a fan, a pretty bad Hamilton team right now in their first game. And in between was a nine point, but pretty competitive loss on the road against a BC Lions team that's pretty good. So I don't know if they're a great team. They may not even be a very good team Calgary, but I don't think they're quite the bottom feeder either that I thought they might be coming into the season based on what I have seen so far. And just with everything that Montreal's put into these first few games, the Grey Cup rematch with Winnipeg, the home opener against Ottawa, where they had their Grey Cup ceremony, the banner and the rings they got. And then the big showdown with Toronto last week for first in the East. And then they play that same rival, Toronto next week. I don't know if you get Montreal's absolute, Montreal plays like they did last four weeks in this four and O'Star. They're going to win and they're probably going to win by double digits and cover this number. But I think from a situational standpoint, taking a piece of Calgary here, plus nine and a half, I could see them staying inside this thing a little bit, maybe keeping it a one score game. I don't think they'll win, but I think Montreal might just be off their game a little bit, a little bit of a dubious spot. The thing that petrifies me will is Jake Mayer and the propensity to just be inaccurate at times. And he was very good against BC and Hamilton. But last week, even though they'd be Winnipeg, I don't think he was that accurate with the ball. I thought he missed some throws. I thought he forced some throws. There was one interception as well. And I'm worried that that ball hocking, and I mean ball hocking, Montreal defense, really makes him pay for these wayward throws and these sometimes questionable decisions that he makes with the football. If one team is going to make Jake Mayer pay the price for that, it could be Montreal. But I still would lean Calgary here getting all these points. What do you think here? Saturday Nightwill with the Estamps and the Alowettes. - Yeah, it does kind of feel like, Montreal deserves all the credit in the world, where I remember one of the big picture philosophies for them in the offseason was they were bringing all their guys back. They were basically saying, yeah, we like what we got. Let's run it back. And I was thinking, I was like, like everybody else at the end of last year, like I was like, I kind of felt weird. Like it just got on a heater. Like you don't want to surf. They were the best team and the most talented, but they got hot at the right time. And you got to give them credit. They've been playing on fire with a lot of cohesion. Offense has taken a lot of shots. I'm very aggressive. Nul Forbes got this defense playing incredibly opportunistic, doing a lot of different stuff to confuse people and create turnovers and chaos. So you got to give the organization and the people inside of it a lot of credit for that. But it does kind of feel like it's as good as it gets right now. Like it does feel like they're, I don't want to say overachieving, but playing as well as things could possibly go. And I, in my time around the CFL, obviously Calgary's had a few down years in a row, but they still have the same leadership at the top. But I feel like there's an element of steady eddy with this team that I think they'll play competitive football. We know how close the CFL is. We know how much parity there could be at time. So I wouldn't number this big. It would be hard to, you know, take the owls here. But I'd give them credit, but I would lean in direction, like you said, with Calgary in this spot. Yeah, well, two and one, and the one loss was by nine against BC on the road a couple weeks ago for Calgary. And it was a late Sean White field goal to get it tonight. So they were competitive in that game on the road against BC. I, like I say, I think I can make a case for Calgary. And by the way, just historically, and again, this is probably the worst Calgary team in all these years. And maybe the best Montreal team all these years. So be careful with the history stuff, but I'll say it anyway. I know for a fact that Calgary, when they've gone to Montreal, they've played pretty well over the years. If you look last year, Montreal did win 25-18, but it was a competitive game. Seven-point victory for the Alawats at home against the Stampederes. And in fact, Calgary out gained Montreal. 332 to 277 in that game, even though Montreal won by seven. Before that in Montreal, they didn't play in Montreal before that since, well, last year they played in Montreal. And then the last meeting prior to that in Montreal between these teams was way back in 2019. So it was quite a while ago, and it was a four-point Montreal win in that game. Before that, it was a six-point Calgary win in Montreal. Before that, it was a seven-point... So basically though, Montreal hasn't won in blowout fashion against Calgary at home in a very, very long time. And to me, I think, like I said, just based on the fact this is a nice little Toronto sandwich, if you will, this opponent, Calgary, in between two games where you play Toronto. Like I say, I don't know if you get the A game from Montreal in this one. And so that's why I think I can make a case for Calgary here. Montreal has still, I believe, to this point in the season, every Montreal game has gone... No, the Ottawa game went over, but every other game has gone under here for Montreal. And last year, these teams played twice, 43 and 39 points. And again, I don't know if Mayor's gonna move the football up and down the field against this defence. So I probably lean to the under here, 50 and a half when it comes to the total in this game. All right, Will, I tried for as long as I could, did not have to talk about this bunch. - That's for last. - This Hamilton Tycats team that has truly frustrated me and throughout the course of the season so far, but they are on the docket, we've got to talk about them. It is the final game for week five, Sunday night, BC Lions, Hamilton Tycats, and yes, I will be there on Sunday night. And yes, a good friend of mine from Vancouver is a huge BC Lions fan. Darsh in Vancouver will be there as well. He's making the trip to the hammer to watch his BC Lions. So I'm gonna meet up with him at some point, either before, after or during the game, catch up with him, great viewer of the show as well. Shout out to Darsh, I will see you on Sunday, my friend. But it's his Lions, my Tycats, BC five point road favourites, 53 and a half, the total here in this game. I said this on Twitter a couple days ago after Ottawa beat Hamilton, to drop Hamilton to 0-4 start the season, right there with Edmonton and Winnipeg and Hamilton, the three winless teams in the CFL. But I said it right then and there. I said Ottawa's gonna beat him. I said it even before last week after they lost that game to Saskatchewan on the road that they're gonna go to 0-4 and lose that second straight road game in Ottawa as well. I just feel Ottawa is starting to show signs of improvement. Drew Brown now gives them a little hope on offense. I think they've definitely improved a little bit on D. There's still ways to go. The secondary's still a little questionable for me with Ottawa, but they're definitely getting better up front, especially on defense. And to me, they bring in Dominique Rhimes to help out that receiving core, to go with Jalen Ackland who has had a huge game last week for Ottawa against his old team, the Tycats. That Ottawa's making improvement, they could beat Hamilton. Hamilton's too often last year. And so far this year found ways to lose. And sure enough, they did that again last week. The Squib kick, I have no explanation. I cannot defend that. I can't defend that decision. How do you Squib kick with 28 seconds to go in that spot? You're basically giving them a free pass to start the drive close to midfield and need a first down or two at most to get into field goal range with 20 seconds left. I think that's a huge reason as to why Paul Boudreau, the special teams coordinator, got like, oh, it was a mystifying decision. That and our special teams has been pathetic so far this year, brutal. It's been awful. We're not covering kicks like we used to. We're not returning kicks and getting the field position from our kick return game like we used to. Like a certain Jeff Reinbold got for us all these years, but we missed that guy. And the moment he took that coaching job in Hawaii, and that's, you know, he's got ties to Hawaii. I get why he took that job totally. And I wish him well, he's a great guy. But I knew for the moment that he was going to leave us, leave the tie cats as special teams coordinator that the special teams were going to suffer. There'd be a dip, there'd be a decline. But this has been more of a decline. This has not just been a decline. This has been a complete and utter 180 as far as what the special teams has done. It's been rough. The defense, look, there's a lot of heat right now will locally on Mark Washington, the defensive coordinator for the Hamilton tie cats that the defense is getting worse and worse and worse. It's okay to play, you know, three and a half great quarters of defense against Ottawa at times last week will. But what good is it if in the two drives with the game on the line, you let Drew Brown march the ball down the field. A bust in the secondary leads to the go-ahead touchdown. You think you maybe lose the game there, but then Bolivine Mitchell rallies the team, drives the tie cats down the field for a potential go-ahead game winning touchdown with 28 seconds left and still the defense can't get that stop to preserve the victory last week against the red black. So the defense has been an issue. The secondary's been beyond porous outside of Jamal Peters. I don't think anyone outside of Jamal Peters has played well in that secondary. They don't have the pass rush they had last year. There's too much time for the quarterback far too often. And I think our line-backing core after seeing Jamir Thurman leave in the off season, that's in the unit, that's a little suspect as well. So it's really all three levels of the ammo and defense. They're just not playing well right now. And it's a shame they're all in foreign finding ways to lose the game with bad defense and bad special teams will because it's really masking and taking away from the fact that Bolivine Mitchell's playing all right. She's playing fine. You know, okay, you had a bad game against Saskatchewan on the road when they fell way behind and he had to open it up and take some risks. But he played great in the first game against Saskatchewan at home, the game where they had a 10 point lead and they blew it in the fourth quarter. They absolutely should have won that game. Bolivine Mitchell, I think that was his best game as a tie-cat. He played, I think, more good than bad last week. Sure, were there a couple throws that he missed? Oh, yeah, of course. But he also got the drive that the team was looking for to hopefully win that game with 28 seconds left when they needed a drive, Bolivine Mitchell delivered it. That's all you can ask for. So I think the problem is with so many other facets of the team will, it's taken away from the fact Bolivine Mitchell's played pretty solid. You know, has he been perfect? No, but he's definitely played better than he did at any point last year. So that's unfortunate. Now they're back home. It's a team that is probably lacking some confidence but certainly the desperation factor should be there. The question is BC, one thing I know about this group and I'm not biased when it comes to the tie-cats. I said to everybody, take Ottawa last week. I said it, you know, you can't call me a homer. I refuse to endorse any of this homer BS that people throw at me. You're such a homer on this show when it comes to the tie-cats. Bolivine, I said last week, Ottawa was gonna beat my tie-cats. You know I will always give you an unbiased opinion and I'll give you my unbiased opinion right now and my team for this game. I actually think this is the spot you take Hamilton plus five and I'll explain why. BC long-term will, and I know you're in the Lions organization for a little bit. BC long-term, when they go to Toronto, they don't win. When they go to Hamilton, they have a tough time. Now they have won a couple times in Hamilton but since 2017, the BC Lions have not beaten the Hamilton tiger-cats by a margin of more than five points and they've lost a bunch of games to Hamilton as well. And now you're asking them to, you know, basically win by six or more, travel in West to East. You know, they played Edmonton a winless team at home last week. What was the final score of that game? Oh yeah, they needed a walk-off field goal from Sean White to escape with a three-point victory against another winless team. So it's not like I trust BC to just roll into Hamilton. You just don't walk into the Tim Hortons field here in Hamilton and expect an easy night. And winning the game is a different thing. Hamilton, we saw them blow it against Saskatchewan but we're talking about getting five points here. We're asking Hamilton to compete. We're asking Hamilton to be competitive which is something they have shown most weeks this year. We're asking a BC team to win by margin, going to the East where they've often struggled in the past. I think when you look at BC too, they're not finishing every drive on offense as much as they should. I do think there's still some concerns with their own defense as far as pass rush which stems from Matthew Betts going to the NFL in the off-season and their secondary as well has given up some big plays at times in the passing game. I think it's a competitive game. I think this is your classic, Hamilton hopefully wins but wouldn't shot me if it's another heartbreaker. They lose on the last second field goal again because Hamilton's made a habit of that this year. Twice they've been walked off with game-winning field goals. This first Saskatchewan game, Brett Lothar and Hamilton and then last week of course by Lewis Ward for the Ottawa Red Black. So I think Hamilton plus five is the way I would go here. I've got to even though BC is the better team right now for sure. Hamilton has been competitive and BC has had a major historical sign of struggling in these East Coast road trips, particularly when they go to Toronto and Hamilton. Again, they have not beaten Hamilton by more than five points since 2017. So for me, I would look at the die cats here plus five. I don't know about winning the game. They certainly could find a way to lose again but finding a way to lose a close one might be good enough for you if you're going to take them at plus five here. That's the way I see it. Will, what do you think here? The finale for week five, BC Hamilton. - Yeah, how about Ian? That's a stat right there where all you folks at home, that's a good one. Digging back to 17 and the plus five, that's good stuff. This Hamilton team feels a lot like Edmonton for me. Better quarterback, he's been playing well. They've lost some close games but they're in every game. Some veteran leadership at the top. So it feels very similar to me. I tend to agree. We always say teams going out to BC or out West have to travel. Why not the same thing when the West Coast got to come all the way East? So, I lean where you're leaning in terms of like in Hamilton here, it feels like a desperation game. It feels like if they don't get this one, things are really going to spiral from here because you go all in five and you're really starting to look at contention at this early point in the season. So, you know, I've said from the beginning, I like Scott Milanovich, the coach, Beau has been playing well. So coaching quarterback at home, got to have it. I'll lean in that guy's direction. - Yeah, that's for me. I think it's just in this situation. I love BC. The O line and the D line have definitely gotten better. A lot better in the last few weeks. I still love the receiving. But the receiving core is not an issue at all to me, even without Whitehead and Rhymes leaving the team in the off season. Catoy, Hollins, Justin McInnes, Aiden Eberhardt. How about the game he had? He had a great game. There's another guy they found to be a pretty good receiver as well for the BC Lions. So the receiving core doesn't worry me, but there's been some penalty issues. There's been some issues at times for BC with their own special teams, with even the kick return game, not giving them the field position they're looking for. All of that matters when you're laying five points on the road. You've got to play some really strong football and you look at BC's victories. The Calgary game was a competitive win. They only win a peg by two. They only beat Edmonton by three. And again, going back to 2018, there's been five games in Hamilton between these two teams, Lions and Tycats. Hamilton won four of them. And the one BC victory in Hamilton, which was last year in October, they won by three. So again, not exactly a spot where I'm trusting BC to win by margin. I think it's going to end up being BC wins, but by three. Hamilton will find a way to lose again, because I just got that bad feeling that they just have such a lack of confidence at the end of games right now. But I do think it will be a close and competitive game. And I was looking at the over in this game, but boy, 53 and a half. It's such a high total. I could only look at Hamilton games over right now, because their offense is just so much better at the moment than their defense. But boy, BC's been trending under, because their offense has been settling for field goals and not quite the explosiveness we expected. And I think the defense has taken a few steps forward the last couple of weeks. So you're not getting a bargain on that total over the total at 53 and a half, but I would still lean over in that game with the Lions and the Tycats there on Sunday night. And I will be there looking forward to it. It's supposed to be a great night for football as of right now in Hamilton as well. Like 80 degrees Fahrenheit and a pretty nice night for a football. And by the way, the one thing I will take solace in, despite another heartbreaking loss will, and I'll let you speak on this. One of the hot button storylines here for Hamlet nearly in the season prior to last week is what the fuck is wrong with Tim White? What's going on with Tim White? He's got no chemistry with Bo. He's dropping passes. They're totally out of sync. Totally out of whack. They're not on the same page. And it definitely looked that way. If you watched Hamilton prior to last week, but finally, last week against Ottawa. Now I know it's kind of, you know, almost wasted opportunity with him playing better because they lost the game, but he was better. And Tim White had a huge game. He had a great game last week. He was confident again. Bo got the ball to him on time. He was making the catches, no drops. That is a good sign at least for Hamilton. Something they can take out of that loss on offense is that they got their number one receiver, Tim White, looking like the Tim White we saw last year in that terrific season. And the guy they paid big money to in the off season. He finally had it by far as best game of the season last week. Yeah, I mean, offense is a momentous thing, you know. Even in loss, if you were able to kind of put together a touchdown in the last drive or able to get guys some touches and some production or you lose, which score a lot of points, that's something that tend to carry over because offense is very rhythm based and having guys get their touches and then the morale of, you know, I'm happy. I got mine and unfortunately, but that's the way it's been over the years. And so I think that'll turn well for them going into this match up and hopefully as we go. 'Cause like we said, they gotta have this one. All right. And I will say, I don't know if it's raining there, but Golly, you've lost faith in your squad. He will not be a homer. I'll give him that, but he is kind of a Debbie Downer on his team. Ah, it's just, you know, look, I've been spoiled with Tamil in the last decade. Yes, yes, yes. They've been always one of the best teams in the CFL. They've done everything but win the great cup. Everything but win the great cup. They've gotten there like what, three times in the last decade. Like they've had a great decade of overall success, except winning the title, bringing the championship on. That's the only thing missing. But, you know, they've had great seasons. They've won the division a bunch of times. They've had a ton of home playoff games 'cause they've always been one of the top teams in their division. And they've been to the great cup multiple times. But when you have all those years of great years without the championship, and now you're seeing the downfall or the decline last year a little bit. And now another winless start. And yeah, you do become a Debbie Downer. Sorry to tell you that, my friend. That's the way you become, unfortunately. And that's, but like I said, it's a good news for Hamilton 'cause it's a long ass season. All right, it's 18 games. It's 20 weeks. There's still time to maybe turn this shit around and get back on track. We'll see if Hamilton can start the comeback trail, if you will, this week. I do want to throw out something before we get to Best Bets wrap up the show with Will here, does another great job. NFL, an early, as of right, and just I figured it would be fun to do this, July 3rd. If you had to pick Super Bowl matchup in February, right now, I'm gonna try to draw this so I can give you some time to think. But if you right now, based on reading the tea leaves and the off-season moves and coaching changes, anything you can think of, maybe what the schedule coming up this season, how daunting or maybe easy it is, based on all of that, if you had to put a Super Bowl matchup, I mentioned this because I had to give a Super Bowl matchup for an NFL preview piece of, an NFL preview magazine, if you will, and they asked for my opinion that they could put my opinion in it. And I ended up going with Lions and Chiefs as my Super Bowl for now. I can't not put Kansas City in there just because they're just so damn good. And I don't think there's a letdown or a hangover. They want a three-peat, they want to be part of history. Like they want this badly to be the first team in modern NFL history to three-peat as Super Bowl champions. So I went with them and I went with Detroit in the NFC. If you had to choose one right now, now I know this is July 3rd, this before training camp even opens, pre-season, the injuries hit, before we even played one meaningful regular season game, I get all that, but on July 3rd, if Will Arnt had to pick a Super Bowl matchup for 2024, what would it be? - Well, the AFC is interesting to me. To me, there's a lot of really good contenders. You know, I think Baltimore is going to be super motivated and competitive to get back. But I came out with Kansas City coming out. I think they've gotten better. I think they're very well managed. I think they have great leadership. I think Patrick Mahomes, the best football player I've ever seen. I don't think he's the go, it's Tom Brady for me, but I think he's the best I've ever seen. And then the NFC, to me, I don't off top of my head have a lot of contenders per se. But something tells me the Eagles at the end of the year were kind of an anomaly. And I like some of the things that they've done with their roster and talent. So I know they lost Jason Kelsi being a big part, for those of you that don't know a ton about football, the center, such an integral piece to Emily's team. And that's a big loss. But something tells me I'm very suspicious of a lot of teams in the NFC, but something tells me that they can go on a little heater and we might see a Chiefs and Eagles match up in the Super Bowl again. - You know, it's funny. I think someone I know picked that same Super Bowl, a repeat of two years ago when it was Kansas City and Philadelphia. And Philadelphia had that lead. And here's Patrick Mahomes coming back and beating them in that Super Bowl. And that's actually a very good choice. That's a very popular choice. I've heard more than one handicapper and sports better that I've talked to, that handicaps NFL say Chiefs Eagles as well. So that's not a bad choice Chiefs Lions, for me. There's a lot of people that like Green Bay this year. There's a lot of people that think, Chargers a Dark Horse definitely this year. And I don't know if they're ready for the Super Bowl, but the one thing about Jim Harbaugh, we saw at year one in San Francisco, when he took over the 49ers, you know, over a decade ago with Colin Kaepernick, instant success. Like he didn't need a year to put his system in place and time for that team to get good. No, that first year they had a great season. So I think he could turn it around quickly, especially with the talent. There's always been talent with the Chargers. But it's been poor coaching. It's been a lot of injuries. It's been defensive issues. I think they've done a lot to shore up along the trenches as well. So again, I can't wait for NFL. It's gonna be right around the corner. Definitely look forward to it. I'm throwing with a couple guys and playing the Chargers tomorrow, hitting the field with them. So I'll see if I can get some good tea leave information to share with everybody. Nothing too confidential, but just the feel of how things are inside the building there and what the-- - And you know to pass that along to me. - Of course. - Here's truly 100%. He would appreciate that, no doubt. Awesome. Well, you always do a great job on the show. Time to wrap it up though. It is time for a best bet, best pick for you. Let's go to Will here. Week five. Which team do you like the most here this week to get it done? - I'll go back to the matchup with Winnipeg and Ottawa. Just a lot of teams that are back in the corner this week, but I think they've earned the benefit of the doubt to be able to get this thing done. You know, I thought about going with Montreal and Calgary, just feeling like Montreal as good as it gets right now. But you know, Winnipeg has got a championship pedigree and leadership and they're at home. I think there's some good things that play there for Winnipeg in this week's matchup. - All right. And you know what? The situationals point to them. There's no doubt. Whatever you think of Winnipeg and their rough start, whether you think it's going to continue or it's going to end this week, you can't deny the situation is in their favor. The thing is football games aren't played based on just situations. You got to go out there and execute. You got to go out there and get the job done and play well, play good, clean football, play complimentary football, all the usual buzz words and cliches. But the schedule and the situation is in their favor. They got Ottawa coming on a short week on the road. Revenge spot two because Winnipeg already lost in Ottawa earlier this year. They don't want to lose to Ottawa twice. And we'll see if they can earn some redemption for that week two lost to the red blacks. Will's going with them. The Winnipeg blue bombers here to get the job done again, minus two and a half with them against the Ottawa red blacks. My best bet here for week five in the CFL. And look, I'm undefeated. No, actually that's not true. We lost our first one. We had the Hamlet nod one more over last week, fell short, first loss, but still three and one with best bets to begin the regular season. My best bet, gosh, this is tricky. Toronto's moved. Toronto's a really good play this week, but I think the numbers moved a little bit. I would maybe go more team total with them now. I think this is the week I'm going to go Homer here with the Tycats. Let's go. Plus five because look, competing has not been their issue. And let's be honest, they've played one home game this year against Saskatchewan. And they were up by 10 with six minutes to go. Saskatchewan was dead to rights in that game and somehow Hamlet blew it. But they should have won that. They were in control most of the game. The only home game they played this year, even though they lost by three. And that's the beauty of this pick. All Hamlet has to do is lose by three and you're still a winner if you take them plus five. I think it's a competitive game. BC's had a hard history, tough history, bad history, playing in the east, especially in Toronto and in Hamilton. Again, lions have not beaten the Tycats by more than five points in seven years. So I'm going to go with the Tycats this week of a rare Tycat best bet. Plus five here against the BC Lions on Sunday night. And I will be there. All right, Will, anything you want to say before we wrap it up, but a great job on the show. And always welcome. - Be good, do good, until next time. - There you go. Nice and short and sweet and to the point, very good. Be good, do good. Sounds like a great motto to roll with for sure. And hopefully you all do good as well this week, watching and betting CFL. Hit the like button on the way out. We appreciate it very much. This has been another great show. Thanks again to Will Arnt for joining us. As our guests, I, me and Cameron have a great week. Enjoy week five in the CFL. And we will see you again next week right here for another edition of Ian Cameron's Football Frenzy. Enjoy the games this week, everybody. And good luck. And we'll see you again next week right here on the Football Frenzy.