Written by Graeme on Wednesday, June 13th, 2018Follow @BetCFLWelcome to the return of the CFL season!
This season of the CFL should be getting more viewing action and talk than any other due to the debut of Johnny Football to the league!
Whatever you think of the guy it’s great for the CFL to have someone of his calibre in it. I know we’re both excited about it. It’s something the Tiger-Cats need after such a dull season last year.
Of course Jeremiah Masoli will be the starter but how long will that last? It’s nice Masoli is starting – first time in his career – but there’s going to be a lot of pressure on him.
Anyway let’s get on with the CFL Tips and we do so we can do a quick preview of each team and what we expect from them this season.
Eskimos at Blue Bombers Betting Tips:
The Eskimos go into this road game as 7.5 point favourites. This will open the CFL 2018 season.
The Blue Bombers had bad news when Matt Nichols picked up a knee injury and he will be out for 4-6 weeks it looks like. That’s a shame after his excellent season last year.
Chris Streveler will step up for the Blue Bombers but I mean whether it was him or Ross I’m not really too impressed. This is a ton of pressure on Streveler and while I’d love to see him make a name for himself off the bat – I don’t think I see it.
I think this hurts the Blue Bombers chances big time and they’re going to struggle until Nichols returns. Harris will cause problems but I don’t think they have it in the air.
Adding Adam Bighill in the off season should help their defense but I think offenes will be a struggle. I don’t think Adarius Bowman will help things either.
On the Eskimos side Mike Reilly is one of the best players in the league. Their defense will be focused even more on Harris and the running game than usual, and I just don’t think they have to concern themselves too much with the passing game.
Things would have been different without the injury but I’m going to go with Eskimos -7.5.
Argonauts at Roughriders Betting Tips:
Last season was an incredible season for the Argonauts. There was a lot of changes and it led to taking down the Grey Cup in a hell of a game.
They’ve now bolstered their team even more and what depth in QB do they have. It’s insane. They’ve got a few worries when it comes to special teams but overall still look solid. In saying that it’s not like the East teams were very good last year in the regular season.
There’s a lot of questions with the Argos but I like what I am seeing.
The Roughriders not figuring out a QB for so long is an issue I find. I think it’s best to get that sorted out as soon as possible and make the decisions like the Tiger-Cats did.
I like the pick ups the Riders made during the off season with some solid additions to their running game. That’s where they need to amp up as they were poor there last year. Duron Cater will be huge for them.
However I’m going to take Argonauts -2. I think they carry the momentum on and they’ll want to strike blood over the West. I think losing Leonard and Mrabure are big holes for Sask.
Tiger-Cats at Stampeders Betting Tips:
The Tiger-Cats are 7.5 point underdogs going into this one.
For me their whole QB situation is off putting. Don’t let it all distract you from just how bad they were last year either. The change of getting Collaros out helped for sure but this was a poor team then and they haven’t changed too much now.
They’re going to focus on the passing game but one thing they sucked at last year was their OL and it’s the same here – pretty much the exact same guys yet they lost Ryan Bomben.
Stampders come in hurting after the Grey Cup last year will be blood thirsty. The only concerns I have for their team is more their depth and who the yhave in backup. You got Terry Williams stepping up huge, a great QB and just a very solid team.
We’re seeing guys like Vaughters step up too and I think the Stampeders will have another strong season.
Stampders -7.5
Alouettes at Lions Betting Tips:
Montreal are 7.5 point underdogs in this one.
The Alouettes haven’t made the playoffs for the last few years and you have to wonder if they can this seaosn. The only way they can really is if the East continues to stink it up.
Honestly hearing the talk from Montreal doesn’t give me confidence – they seem to be accepting that they aren’t going to make it this year and instead are having a “Hey, who knows anything can happen” approach.
Fact is their offense sucked last year and at least from what I saw in pre-season it sucks again this year. Nothing looks good about them.
I’m not too inspired by the BC Lions this year either though. Just a real “status quo” feeling coming from their camp.
Pre-season is never a good indicator but they didn’t look too motivated in their games even when they did get the wins.
I do think the defense will eat up the Alouettes however and that’s enough for me. Lions -7.5