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Eskimos take on Toronto at Commonwealth

Adam Markowitz, SBR Forum • August 4, 2010 • Comments (0)

Off their 41-10 spanking at Montreal last weekend, the Toronto Argonauts travel west to Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton to battle Ricky Ray and the Eskimos.

Last week, the Eskimos notched their first win of the 2010 CFL betting campaign when they beat the British Columbia Lions 28-25 at home. This week, they’ll hope to open up their first winning streak of the year.

Throw out the record books when you see these two teams play each other. There is no way that the Argonauts are as good as their 3-2-0 record indicates and the Eskimos, though not a beast in the West by any stretch of the imagination, are certainly better than a 1-4-0 squad.

"Throw out the record books when you see these two teams play each other"

The Boatmen have been a wreck offensively this season. They’ve only scored 113 total points, dead last in the East and third to last in the CFL. Seven offensive majors in five games is tied for worst in the league. The real proof in the pudding comes in the form of the yards per game statistic. Toronto has racked up 220 fewer yards than any other team in the league and are averaging almost 180 yards per game less than the league leading Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The passing attack has been particularly woeful. Quarterback Cleo Lemon looks like a deer in headlights at times. Amongst starting quarterbacks in the league, Lemon still has the worst QB rating of the bunch at 73.6. His 57.6 completion percentage ranks him second to last, while a 2.3 percent touchdown ratio is tied for the second lowest in the CFL.

Last week, Lemon only went 8/17 for 143 yards before getting replaced. The Alouettes held Toronto to just 227 yards and racked up three sacks.

The man who has to be getting incredibly frustrated at this is wide receiver Jermaine Copeland. The former Calgary Stampeder only has 14 catches for 204 yards and one touchdown all season long. Since 2003, he has averaged 71 catches and 1,172 yards per season. Obviously, he isn’t on any sort of pace to reach those numbers this year.

The star for the Toronto offence remains running back Corey Boyd. Boyd is tops in the CFL in rushing at 484 yards, but he only has found the end zone one time all season.

The good news for the Argonauts is that they are running up against a rush defence that ranks dead last in the CFL at 160.8 YPG.

Defence has been a major concern all season long for the Eskimos. They are allowing a league worst 7.9 YPC and have given up the most points in the CFL at 154.

In spite of the fact that Edmonton won last week against the Lions, there has to be a lot of concern considering the fact that BC was playing without its starting quarterback. The Lions still averaged 8.6 YPC in the game and were kept in it thanks to the ground attack.

Quarterback Ricky Ray is coming off of what has probably amounted to be his best game of the season. He was 25/34 for 360 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Three receivers had at least 75 yards through the air and running back Arkee Whitlock added 102 yards on the ground for his best game of the season.

Whitlock has the second most carries in the league this year (74) and ranks third in yardage (430). His three scores puts him in a tie for third in the CFL.

Ray might only be averaging one touchdown pass per game, but he still ranks fourth in the CFL in passing with 1,450 yards for the year. He 68.0 completion percentage not only dwarfs that of Lemon, but it also leaves him in second place behind Montreal’s Anthony Calvillo in that category.

Ray loves to sling the ball all over the field, particularly to receiver’s Kelly Campbell and Fred Stamps. Both are in the Top 3 in the CFL in receptions and they are the only duo of receivers in the league to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark combined in the first five games of the year.

Last season, Edmonton swept the series by winning 22-19 at Rogers Centre and 36-10 at home. The team split the proceedings against the CFL odds.

On Friday night, the Eskimos have been lined as 5.5 point CFL betting favorites. The ‘total’ has been set at 51.5