CFL Week 11 Recap: The Mild, Mild West

Soooo...what just happened?

We are now past the halfway mark of the 2024 CFL season, and things are getting quite messy out West. First off, the Calgary Stampeders began the week hosting the Ottawa Redblacks, and that matchup is always nostalgic to me, because these two teams played each other for the Grey Cup twice. With the Toronto Argonauts off that week, I really needed Calgary to pull off a victory here to put some pressure on Ottawa. It looked good for Calgary, until a last second Redblacks field goal killed things. 31-29 was the final score in Ottawa's favor, and that's another notch they've picked up over the Boatmen.

Friday's matchup between the Montréal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders was quite interesting. It was a battle between first place teams that ended up being wild and crazy despite the first quarter ending with the Riders up 1-0. The Riders were up 24-21 late, but a late Alouettes touchdown began to serve as a huge detriment...until the extra point was missed. So all Saskatchewan would need is a field goal, and a bad penalty on the Als did help matters...until it didn't.

This man is Saskatchewan Roughriders kicker Brett Lauther. The first quarter saw him miss two field goals; one of them was returned, the other wasn't. He missed a third, but in that final moment, Lauther had a chance to redeem himself and force what would be the Riders' second straight OT appearance, but his chance went wide left. Four missed field goals, and the Alouettes won 27-24. It's a miracle: there's a kicker in pro football who is even worse than Green Bay Packers kicker Anders Carlson.

On Saturday, the Edmonton Elks faced off against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and the game was paused after devastating injury to TiCats wide receiver Luther Hakunavanhu. It's always frightening when ambulances are involved, and no, this isn't just because of Damar Hamlin. I've seen instances like this long before Hamlin, and it's always a scary sight. The injury happened within the first minutes, and after a long delay, play resumed, and it saw the Elks absolutely dominate the Tiger-Cats--a 47-22 victory. The Elks have won three straight after starting 0-7. More on this later.

Week 11 ended with Nathan Rourke's return to the BC Lions, as they hosted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a Western battle. Unfortunately, Rourke's return did nothing to help the Lions, as the Bombers didn't miss a beat against their division foes. The final score ended up being 20-11 in Winnipeg's favor, but that's only because the Lions made the score better than it actually was.

So here's how things look after Week 11:

Good grief, the West Division is so mediocre, but very, very interesting. The Saskatchewan Roughriders lead the division at 5-4-1. This is because despite that the Riders are on a four game winless streak (0-3-1), the BC Lions have topped that by going on a four game losing streak. And in all of this mess, look who's in third place and in a playoff position: the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Both they and the Calgary Stampeders are 4-6, but it's Peg who holds the tiebreaker. The Bombers have won four of their last six games after an 0-4 start, while the Stamps have lost three of their last four games. And will you look at this?! The Edmonton Elks are not only the hottest team in the West, they are actually one game out of a playoff position at 3-7! Will the Elks actually make the playoffs this year?! Hey, it's the CFL; crazy things can happen.

So while the West is a chaotic free-for-all, the East is pretty much cut and dry. The Montréal Alouettes just can't be stopped this year. It's also a foregone conclusion that the Ottawa Redblacks and the Toronto Argonauts will be playoff teams, but Ottawa needs to be knocked down some pegs. The rest of the season will determine if the Boatmen get a home playoff game, but again, the East is pretty much settled.

Week 12, the final week before Labo(u)r Day Weekend, will kick off with the Toronto Argonauts hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Thursday, August 22--the last Thursday game of the season. On Friday, August 23, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will each other, and on Saturday, August 24, the Ottawa Redblacks will host the slumping BC Lions. On, Sunday, August 25, the Edmonton Elks look to make it four straight, but they will have to deal with the Montréal Alouettes.

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