I am new to this forum, so I apologize if I have stolen someone else's thunder with this thread. If so, let me know and I will delete immediately!
I thought it would be fun to have a place to lay down our predictions for this year's playoffs. I will list the games for each round and, to add to the excitement, will select a winner for each round as well.
All you need to do is choose your winners and scores for each game. If you want to add some rationale as well, please go ahead!
Round 1 - Divisional Semi-Finals
Eastern Semi-Final
Toronto Argonauts vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Sun NOON ET / 9AM PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5
Western Semi-Final
BC Lions vs. Calgary Stampeders
Sun 4PM ET / 1PM PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5
My predictions:
Toronto 17 - Hamilton 13
Calgary 27 - BC 20
I see a low scoring game in the east due to a rusty Ricky Ray and ineffective backups in Hamilton. I think that Ray will manage to get the team into the endzone more than Hamilton's qbs, and will manage to pull off a victory. As much as I hate to predict a Lions loss, Calgary has too much experience and is too strong in all facets of the game. The weather will also work in Calgary's favour. BC is too prone to mistakes. As much as I will be cheering for BC, if I had to stake my life on it, I'd bet on Calgary coming away with the win. BC will show enough to get us excited for next year.
Playoffs Predictions Thread
Moderator: Team Captains
I'm going to go with your Eastern Semi-Final prediction maxlion and pick Toronto over Hamilton 21-18.
Hamilton's defense is very good but they are struggling offensively. Ray is playoff experienced.
For the Western Final, with the Stamps predicted to win by 9 points or more, I'm going out on a big limb and predicting our Lions will win 24-21. The odds are that Calgary will blow us out but if we can stick with them early, I have a feeling we could give the Stamps a heck of a game.
Hamilton's defense is very good but they are struggling offensively. Ray is playoff experienced.
For the Western Final, with the Stamps predicted to win by 9 points or more, I'm going out on a big limb and predicting our Lions will win 24-21. The odds are that Calgary will blow us out but if we can stick with them early, I have a feeling we could give the Stamps a heck of a game.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
I don't think Ricky Ray is capable of making the throws he needs to make to carry the Argos to victory over a strong Hamilton defence that will have the home crowd behind it. It will come down to turnovers. Hamilton is 9-1 when winning the turnover battle and 0-7 when losing it. I see them winning 27-14.
I have full confidence that the Lions can and will beat the Stamps IF they avoid the mental mistakes by coaches and players that cost them at least six games this year. It's wishful thinking but I am hoping they avoid those mistakes. Otherwise, B.C.'s offence, defence and special teams all match up well with Calgary. I'll say 33-21 B.C.
I have full confidence that the Lions can and will beat the Stamps IF they avoid the mental mistakes by coaches and players that cost them at least six games this year. It's wishful thinking but I am hoping they avoid those mistakes. Otherwise, B.C.'s offence, defence and special teams all match up well with Calgary. I'll say 33-21 B.C.
-
- Hall of Famer
- Posts: 25146
- Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
- Location: Vancouver
I like Hamilton and Calgary. I would love to be proven wrong in the latter game.
To add to my post, a big reason why I think we could pull off the upset is Jennings mindset as a quarterback. He is confident for a rookie but not cocky at all.
His attitude, as reflected in an interview this week is to be aggressive and to attack a defense. He said that sometimes he attacked a defense downfield when the play call was to throw shorter.
You don't score a lot of points on the best defense in the CFL (16.1 points per game) by playing conservatively. That approach just falls into their lap. An aggressive approach by Jennings might lead to interceptions but its the only way we have a chance.
Bighill has practiced a few reps offensively this week.
But, in order to win the game and pull the upset, we will need that same type of approach on defense. I'm much less confident that we will take an aggressive approach defensively. Guess we'll have to see how Washington plays it.
His attitude, as reflected in an interview this week is to be aggressive and to attack a defense. He said that sometimes he attacked a defense downfield when the play call was to throw shorter.
You don't score a lot of points on the best defense in the CFL (16.1 points per game) by playing conservatively. That approach just falls into their lap. An aggressive approach by Jennings might lead to interceptions but its the only way we have a chance.
Bighill has practiced a few reps offensively this week.
But, in order to win the game and pull the upset, we will need that same type of approach on defense. I'm much less confident that we will take an aggressive approach defensively. Guess we'll have to see how Washington plays it.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
Comparing the two teams in the standings and Calgary's sublime home record, it's a colossal mismatch. Can the Leos play spoilers? Hell yea! But it's going to take 4 quarters of nearly air-tight, error free football to do it - something that has eluded our Lions all season. I think the two clubs match up well on the field, but I think Calgary has a big edge in coaching and experience: Hufnagel, Dickenson, Stubler, Kilam vs. Tedford, Cortez, Washington, McMann. That's likely to tip the balance in the Stamps' favour. Key questions:
* Will the week off spoil Jennings' rhythm? I didn't like not playing him (at all) last week heading into the biggest game of his life.
* Can we handle their run blitz? Will this be a game in which Harris rushes for > 80 yards or < 20 yards? It tends to be one of the other.
* Are we going to attack Calgary's offense aggressively with creative blitzes and stunts or drop linebackers into coverage and get shredded underneath?
* Have we sorted out our clunky Special Teams deficiencies? Having 2 kickers "battle it out" in the week leading up to the West Semi didn't give me the warm and fuzzies.
My heart tells me BC, but my head tells me Calgary. Two defenses rise to the occasion. 25-19 Calgary.
DH
* Will the week off spoil Jennings' rhythm? I didn't like not playing him (at all) last week heading into the biggest game of his life.
* Can we handle their run blitz? Will this be a game in which Harris rushes for > 80 yards or < 20 yards? It tends to be one of the other.
* Are we going to attack Calgary's offense aggressively with creative blitzes and stunts or drop linebackers into coverage and get shredded underneath?
* Have we sorted out our clunky Special Teams deficiencies? Having 2 kickers "battle it out" in the week leading up to the West Semi didn't give me the warm and fuzzies.
My heart tells me BC, but my head tells me Calgary. Two defenses rise to the occasion. 25-19 Calgary.
DH
Roar, You Lions, Roar
Here are the results from Wk 1:
One poster correctly predicted the winner in both contests. Congratulations Solar Max!
Three posters went 1-1: B.C.FAN, Dupsdell (unfortunately no longer with us), and your humble author.
The remaining prognosticators will have a chance to redeem themselves this week!
Note that I only included posters who followed the instructions correctly by predicting winners and scores in both contests.
I also calculated the total difference between actual and predicted scores for all four teams. The lower the number, the closer you were to the actual results (that is, the number represents a cumulative difference between actual and predicted scores). Here are the results:
Solar Max -24
maxlion -36
blitz -37
dupsdell1 -38
Rammer -38
leo4life -43
JohnHenry -46
B.C.FAN -48
Once again, congratulations Solar Max!
On to Wk2.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs. Ottawa Redblacks
Sun NOON ET / 9AM PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5
Calgary Stampeders vs. Edmonton Eskimos
Sun 4PM ET / 1PM PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5
With the Lions no longer in the running, my interest has waned a bit, but I'll play anyways.
My predictions:
Cgy 33 - Edm 29
Ott 28 - Ham 16
One poster correctly predicted the winner in both contests. Congratulations Solar Max!
Three posters went 1-1: B.C.FAN, Dupsdell (unfortunately no longer with us), and your humble author.
The remaining prognosticators will have a chance to redeem themselves this week!
Note that I only included posters who followed the instructions correctly by predicting winners and scores in both contests.
I also calculated the total difference between actual and predicted scores for all four teams. The lower the number, the closer you were to the actual results (that is, the number represents a cumulative difference between actual and predicted scores). Here are the results:
Solar Max -24
maxlion -36
blitz -37
dupsdell1 -38
Rammer -38
leo4life -43
JohnHenry -46
B.C.FAN -48
Once again, congratulations Solar Max!
On to Wk2.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs. Ottawa Redblacks
Sun NOON ET / 9AM PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5
Calgary Stampeders vs. Edmonton Eskimos
Sun 4PM ET / 1PM PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5
With the Lions no longer in the running, my interest has waned a bit, but I'll play anyways.
My predictions:
Cgy 33 - Edm 29
Ott 28 - Ham 16
-
- Hall of Famer
- Posts: 25146
- Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
- Location: Vancouver
Ottawa and Edmonton