The Calgary Stampeders are headed back to the Grey Cup looking for redemption from last years tough loss to the Ottawa Redblacks. Last year the Stampeders played against Ottawa in Toronto, but this year that is flipped. The Stampeders will battle the Toronto Argonauts at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa this coming Sunday. The Stamps were 9 point favourites last year, and they will once again come in as big favourites (7 points) to this years Grey Cup.
My CFL playoff picks have not gone to plan, with the Stamps not quite covering their 5.5 point spread last week which brought my CFL playoffs record against the spread to 0-4. So with that said, follow my pick here at your own risk.
I will be using the odds from SportsInteraction.com for my Grey Cup pick below. They are our top rated sportsbook for Canadian bettors and are actually a big supporter of the CFL having sponsored the Hamilton Ti-Cats this past season.
Calgary Stampeders vs Toronto Argonauts
- Calgary -7
- Toronto +7
- Over/Under 53
I will admit that I was expecting the spread to be closer to 5 points in this game and I would have jumped at the Stampeders to cover that amount. The 7 point spread does make me a little bit hesitant, but I still will be going with the Stamps as my pick.
Calgary took the final 3 weeks of the season off, which is why they racked up those losses. You could see that the fire was back in this team last Sunday in their win against the Eskimos. Yes, it was still a close game, but the Eskies were playing some very good football to close out the year so you have to give credit where it is due. Jerome Messam came back alive after really mailing it in late in the season, going off for 71 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown. It’s going to be very important that the Stamps establish the power run game and I liked what I saw from Messam this past week. If they can force the Argos to respect the run, I think Bo Levi Mitchell will be able to pick apart the Argos secondary with his talented receiving corps.
On the defensive side of the football the key for Calgary will be slowing down James Wilder Jr., who is the most dangerous player on this Argos offense. I don’t expect the Argos to be able to move the ball through the air very efficiently against the Stampeders pass defense.
Overall, I think the Stamps are better pretty much everywhere. If they show up and play to their capabilities this game has the potential to get out of hand. That said, it’s hard to be super confident in this team considering they are 1-3 in their last four games after mailing it in to close out the season, and the fact that they somewhat choked as 9 point favourites in the Grey Cup last season. All of that said though, I do expect Calgary to win this game and I will take them to cover the 7 points as well.
Play: Stampeders -7
In terms of the total, I’m going to go with the under. I don’t think Toronto will be able to move the ball very well at all in this game and that could result in Calgary playing it safe and running time off the clock after they gain a solid lead late in the game. I’m thinking something like 30-15 would be a good guess at the score line for this game, but late touchdowns are always scary when taking the under in these spots.
Play: Under 53
To learn more about betting on this big game check out our Grey Cup betting guide for 2017, which gives you 3 steps to place your Grey Cup wagers this year.
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