Coming off the second of three 3-game weeks, it feels like there shouldn't be much to talk about. But this past week proves that even a little bit of action can provide a big shakeup in the way the future looks.
Take, for example, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Had it not been for a roaring second-half comeback, they could have dropped a home game against the Toronto Argonauts—still my lowest-rated team by far. The Ti-Cats have been steadily trending down since losing Jeremiah Masoli and are finally no longer projected to win out the regular season.
There's a catch, however: that projected loss comes in week 16, at a Blue Bombers team now missing two key pieces in quarterback Matt Nichols and running back Andrew Harris.
It's not to say that there are no other games the Ti-Cats could lose. The next three games for them are a gauntlet, as they visit Calgary and Edmonton after a bye this week. And if they play any of these or any other games the way they played the Argos for a half, anything goes.
Now the other side of the coin. While Hamilton is trending downward, the Argonauts are slowly rising at an even greater rate. It's completely possible that Toronto could win a few more games, especially toward the end of the year, depending on how clear the playoff picture is. With six of their remaining eight games coming against divisional opponents or the BC Lions ... I'm not brazen enough to say that the Argos are poised for a huge turnaround, but I wouldn't be surprised to see if these games end up at least being closer than the ratings currently indicate.
There's a bit of a shakeup in the playoff picture, as well. The Stampeders' big win over the Eskimos not only puts them back in the postseason, it also moves them into the 3 seed in the West. The Eskimos take the crossover at one game ahead of the REDBLACKS.
Finally, that projected win over Hamilton really comes into play for the Blue Bombers; without it, the Saskatchewan Roughriders would tie them for the division and own the head-to-head tiebreaker for the top seed. As it stands, we're once again poised for an end to one of the two longest active Grey Cup droughts ... but which one?
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