Sports Take

First of all, what a first week of the Grey Cup Playoffs. Both games coming down to the last three minutes, one with a terrific comeback attempt, the other in a last second field goal to walk it off. It could not have gone any better for the Canadian Football League, simply sensational.

Now for the fun stuff. After the Montreal Alouettes held off the amazing comeback attempt by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by a final score of 42 to 33, are in position now to walk into Hamilton with Davis Alexander and head to the Grey Cup.

The Match-up

Montreal Alouettes at Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Saturday November 8, at Hamilton Stadium

As mentioned before, the Alouettes walked out of the East Semi-Final with the W, and setting up a classic new vs experienced match-up with future Canadian Football Hall of Fame member, Bo Levi Mitchell on one side, and budding star Davis Alexander on the other. Davis Alexander is still undefeated as a starter, both in the regular season and now in the playoffs as well. The Alouettes away from home hold a 6-3 record, however they did lose both their games against the Tiger-Cats.

The Tiger-Cats are led by the aforementioned Bo Levi Mitchell, who is the East Division nominee for the George Reed Most Outstanding Player Award for the second season in a row. They finished the season a top the East with an 11-7 record.

At home they went 6-3, and even more impressively dominated the East with a 7-1 record. Their only loss against the East came on Labour Day in a 35-33 loss to the Toronto Argonauts. Against the Alouettes they won both games by a combined score of 61-26. However, just like with the Blue Bombers, they did not face Davis Alexander, who is quickly becoming an All-Star level quarterback in this league. If healthy all season could easily have been a nominee for MOP.

Deciding Factors

The deciding factors are numerous. For the Tiger-Cats their game-plan against Davis Alexander needs to be sound, even under pressure he has the ability to extend plays and move the ball efficiently to his numerous targets, including Canadian star Tyson Philpot, and Austin Mack. The healthy of the Montreal running backs is in question with Travis Theis missing the Semi-Final. For the Ti-Cats to win they have to disrupt the passing game and force the Al’s to win on the ground.

For the Alouettes, their defense also has to be the focal point against a veteran QB who has done it all in the CFL. The Al’s will need to show a ton of different looks and disguise coverage’s and blitzes to make a difference against Mitchell. Even that may not be enough, Mitchell has seen everything a defense could throw at him and continues to find a way to win.

The Prediction

Montreal – 38
Hamilton – 40

This is going to be an all out shoot-out to me, which means that this is going to be a defensive battle and my prediction is going to fall incredibly short of expectations. I hope not because the first two games of the playoffs have been incredible.

The winner of this game will represent the East Division at the 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg on November 16th.