Oddsmakers with most of the online sportsbook sites had both the Lions and Argos as favorites. Even though the Lions were 1-6 going against a 5-2 Eskimos squad, the Esks were missing all four of their starting receivers, had to start two new offensive tackles, and had a rookie cornerback on the defensive side of the ball. As expected, the Lions feasted on all the confusion on offense for the Eskimos, sacking the QBs eight times, intercepting the ball four more times, and holding back Edmonton from gaining access to the Red Zone until late in the third quarter.

In Toronto, the Argos jumped all over another 1-6 team, as they led 21-1 late in the 3rd quarter of play, before withstanding a late surge by the Roughriders. With the loss, the Riders’ management had seen enough and fired both Head Coach Greg Marshall, and his offensive coordinator Doug Berry, and reinstated team president Ken Miller, who had been the teams’ head coach the past three years and had led them to back to back Grey Cup berths.

Handicappers will have a field day trying to pick winners in both teams next games, which won’t be for another two weeks with the bye week coming this weekend.

Toronto is at +850 to win the Grey Cup in CFL Futures betting Odds.

Cheatham, who played just one game last season with the Calgary Stampeders, has played NCAA Football with the Kansas State Wildcats and Independence Junior College. A starter as a senior, he dressed in 34 career games for the Wildcats in three seasons after arriving at Kansas State from Independence where he was named First-Team All-Conference and team M.V.P.

Walls caught for more than 1,000 career yards as a member of the North Carolina A&T Aggies, and was named All-Conference and invited to play in the college all-star game in California as a senior.

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Eskimos are hoping Brandon James will be a difference-maker in the CFL.

The Eskimos signed James, a former NCAA star, as a kick returner. James, who played three games with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts last season, set records during his collegiate career with the Florida Gators. At Florida, James helped the Gators win a national title in 2007 and was twice named an All-SEC player.

“In a highly competitive league like ours, special teams are often the difference in winning closing games,” said Eskimos GM Eric Tillman.

Edmonton is at +650 to win the Grey Cup in CFL Futures.

Now, the Lions may loss the 33-year-old CFL quarterback after he decided to listen to offers from other Canadian Football League teams.

Although Jackson was not going to be the Lions starting QB in the 2011 CFL season, his loss could affect the Lions Grey Cup chances, and those of other CFL teams.

B.C. is at +700 to win the 2011 Grey Cup in CFL Odds.
Jackson, who has won 65 per cent of his games as a starter, has offers from two other teams and is waiting for a possible third proposal.

Jackson has also signed on with agent Dan Vertlieb of Vancouver to handle negotiations.

Other teams who are apparently fighting Lions coach/GM Wally Buono are the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Toronto is at +650 and Winnipeg is at +1300 in CFL Futures betting to win the Grey Cup.

The CFL was divided into the Western and Eastern Football Conferences. While the Eastern Conference had 4 teams, the Western Conference featured 5 teams. There were 16 games played by the teams in the Western Conference and 14 games played by each team in the Eastern Conference.

The Western Conference was completely the more dominant. The Calgary Stampeders led the way with a 12-4 record on the season. The Stampeders scored 382 points on the season and allowed just 219 points. The Saskatchewan Roughriders were still managed to match the Stampeders in terms of wins and losses and finished with a record of 12-4. The last team to make the playoffs would be the Edmonton Eskimos and had a solid 9-6-1 record on the season. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the BC Lions finished with records of 4-12 and 3-12-1. The Blue Bombers allowed a league high 414 points on the season.

The Tiger-Cats was leading the Eastern Football Conference, they defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders, finished with a 10-4 record on the season. The Ottawa Rough Riders finished win a record of 9-4-1. The Tiger-Cats featured a stellar defense that allowed just 195 points. Meanwhile, the Rough Riders would outscore their opponents, putting up 337 points in just 14 games. The Toronto Argonauts managed to make the playoffs despite winning just 5 games on the season. Their final record for the season was 5-8-1.

Posting a record of 2-12 on the season the Montreal Alouettes finished last in the Conference. They were only able to score 166 points on the season which was by far the worst total in the league.

The playoffs featured two teams, the teams from Hamilton and Saskatchewan. When they faced off in the Grey Cup Championship the scales were definitely tipped in favor of the Tiger-Cats. The Tiger-Cats managed to take the game by 24-1 and this made the Hamilton Tiger-Cats the 1967 Grey-Cup Champions.

The best record in the CFL was held by the Calgary Stampeders with 13 wins followed by the Montreal Alouettes with 12 wins. Montreal and Toronto met for the last two game of the regular season and split them. Montreal winning the first of the two games 37-30 and then losing the last game of the season 30-4.

Now with the Grey Cup on the line Anthony Calvillo and his high powered offense will be gunning for Toronto in this game. The Toronto versus Montreal series has been one of the closest and bitterest in the CFL this season with the Montreal Alouettes holding a 3-2 edge over the Argonauts.

Toronto has a slim chance to earn their way into the Grey Cup. Cleo Lemon, the much maligned quarterback of the Argo’s, has shown glimpses of greatness in big games and if he can put together a big game this weekend, Toronto has a punchers chance.

Cory Byrd is another factor that can contribute to a Toronto Argonauts trip to the Grey Cup this season. Byrd is a solid up and down running back that can be a game changer. If Lemon is ineffective at the quarterback position, look for Byrd to get more carries to grind out a win.

Football odds favorite, Anthony Calvillo and the Montreal Alouettes have a record of 11-5 and will be looking to sweep the final two games against their rivals, the Toronto Argonauts. Calvillo has already thrown for over 4,000 yards with two games remaining and is ranked fourth among CFL starting quarterbacks with 4,457 yards in passing. Calvillo’s favorite target, Jamel Richardson also ranks fourth among CFL receivers with 1,179 yards receiving.

Cleo Lemon may not be lighting up the board with passing yards but he does have an explosive weapon to fall back on in the Toronto Argonauts back field. Cory Boyd leads all CFL rushers with 1,279 yards on the ground and five touchdowns along with his two touchdowns and 284 yards receiving out of the back field. Boyd has shown a propensity to cough up the football with his five fumbles.

The Toronto Argonauts are a model of inconsistency with their up and down 8-8 record. This relates back to their quarterback Lemon and their offensive issues. The Montreal Alouettes have a stellar 7-1 home record but have only managed a 4-4 record on the road. This includes a loss in their last and only visit to Toronto earlier in the year.

The Toronto Argonauts enter this game coming off a tough loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and they will be looking to get on a roll to finish on a high note with the season ending in three weeks. Head coach Jim Barker took full responsibility for the loss last week.

Barker has received criticism for sticking with his number one quarterback Cleo Lemon but the Argos have already won more games this year than they have in their two years preceding the 2010 CFL season. Barker did pull Lemon from the Tiger-Cats game but Lemon will be on the field when the Argos roll into Winnipeg.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will have a long winter trying to forget their 2010 season. They possess the worst record in the CFL at 4-11 and have struggled to gain traction all season long. The Blue Bombers are coming into this game after a close loss to the Montreal Alouettes and are looking to finish with at least a couple wins to salvage their season. Steven Jyles will get the start once again after throwing for 272 yards in the loss to Montreal last weekend.

In the CFL, the BC Lions win came against one of the best teams, the Montreal Alouettes. The major reason for Montreal coming out flat is because the Alouettes were without their star player, Anthony Calvillo. Casey Printers did leave with a leg injury late in the fourth quarter, although he played outstandingly.

Cleo Lemon will lead the team Toronto’s offense. Lemon has his coach Jim Barker’s full support, although he has never had the full support of the media. In Week Four, Lemon was not impressive in his game against the BC Lions and he is inconsistent. Lemon had trouble finishing drives and last week, in Toronto’s loss, they struggled inside the red zone.

A potential deep threat lacked in both Toronto and BC. Emmanuel Arceneaux has been the best deep threat of either team. In a few games, Arceneaux has been a break out threat but for the BC Lions, he has not been consistent. Between Brandon Rideau and Chad Owens, Toronto’s best receiver is a toss-up. For the entire 2010 CFL season, neither one of these receivers has more than 500 yards receiving. From the Week Four tilt, expect much of the same with the BC Lions holding a slight edge on their home field.

The Hamilton Tiger Cats enter the game with a hot quarterback in Kevin Glenn and a hot slot receiver in Arland Bruce. Bruce scored the game winner last weekend against Winnipeg. The Hamilton Tiger Cats have struggled in the 2010 CFL season and are still below .500 with a record of 3-4. As per the latest football reviews, this game against Toronto will make or break the season for Hamilton. It could get them off to a fresh start for the second half of the season.

The Toronto Argonauts are on the other end of the spectrum. Coming off a win against East Division rival, Montreal, the Toronto Argonauts are now 5-2 and tied with Montreal for a share of the East Division lead. Toronto cannot afford to let one slip against a hungry Hamilton Tiger Cats team.

Toronto’s Cleo Lemon may not be the popular choice at quarterback but he is Head Coach Jim Barker’s choice, so he isn’t going anywhere. Running back Cory Boyd and Lemon have worked well together to this point of the CFL season and they should be more than capable of disposing of the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

Cleo Lemon, a football betting favorite player, remains the quarterback for Toronto, despite his pedestrian performance to this point of the season. Lemon’s five interceptions and four touchdowns, along with his 1198 yards passing, are not instilling fear into many CFL secondaries, including Montreal’s.

Montreal’s quarterback Anthony Calvillo, compared to Cleo Lemon is almost unfair. The two quarterbacks are in different stratospheres. Calvillo’s touchdown to interception ratio is 12 touchdowns to two interceptions and he has already thrown for 1,858 yards in six games. The quarterback advantage was exploited two weekends ago in the first regular season meeting between these two teams. The two also met in the pre season and Montreal won 23-31 in Montreal.

Neither teams are defensive stalwarts and action will ensue from the opening kickoff. Although the score of the last game in Montreal was 41-10 in Montreal’s favor, don’t look for this game to be as one sided. Cleo Lemon is the key in this game. If he can keep the ball out of the Montreal corners hands and throw for 250-275 yards, Toronto could pull this game off and even up their record with Montreal.