The Ottawa Redblacks waltzed through the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in an easy blowout win in the East final to get to Sunday’s Grey Cup. Their offense played terrific in that game and also down the stretch of the regular season with QB Trevor Harris at the controls. The Redblacks’ offense put up 35, 30 and 46 points in the past three games he started.
The defense was somewhat susceptible to big plays and has allowed 27 or more points in four of the past six games. The only two exceptions were games against Hamilton in bad weather and Toronto, which was the worst team in the CFL this season and a squad that fired head coach Marc Trestman after the season ended.
On the other side, Calgary limped into the playoffs dealing with injuries and subpar performances. The Stamps finished the regular season going 2-3 straight up and 1-4 against the spread in their last five games, but they looked like a revitalized squad in last Sunday’s solid, 22-14 win against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the West Division final. QB Bo Levi Mitchell was better with 214 passing yards along with three touchdowns and, most important, no interceptions.
Calgary has been a money-burner in the Grey Cup the past two seasons, losing outright to Ottawa in 2016 and Toronto in 2017 while laying more than a TD as favorites in both games. Nevertheless, the price is much more reasonable in this year’s Grey Cup to back Calgary. I think the Stamps are the right side this time.
The play: Calgary, -4¹/₂.