CFL Week 6 Recap: One Stayed Unbeaten, One Stayed Winless

The sixth week of the 2022 CFL season began in Montréal with the Alouettes hosting the Edmonton Elks in what should have been an easy opportunity for the East to defeat the West. After all, the Elks were the only lowly team in the stacked West Division, and they were on the road. Even better for the Als, they had a 31-12 lead during the heart of the 3rd quarter, but the Elks would fight back with 20 unanswered points. The Elks won 32-31, and as for the Alouettes, they blew a big opportunity to put pressure on the Toronto Argonauts.

The next game was a battle of unbeatens between the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and in true West Division fashion, it was a close one. The Stamps led for a good bit of the game, but the Bombers would outscore Calgary 13-3 late in the fourth. Even so, the Stamps had a good opportunity to tie it and force overtime, but Bo Levi Mitchell's pass went off the receiver's hands and was intercepted late. So as a result, the Bombers held on and won 26-19 and now stand as the league's only unbeaten team.

The Saturday games were quite eventful. First off, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Toronto Argonauts faced off in the small Nova Scotian town of Wolfville, and I watched this vigorously as an Argos fan. Thankfully, the Alouettes' loss mean that the Argos would be in first place in the East no matter what, but the Argos needed to get back to .500, and thanks to the defense getting the key takeaways, that's exactly what happened. The Argos escaped Nova Scotia with a 30-24 win over the Riders, giving Saskatchewan their second loss against Eastern foes, and increasing the Boatmen's hold on the weakened East Division.

Speaking of the East Division, the Ottawa Redblacks and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats main-evented Week 6, as both teams were looking for their first win. It looked good for Ottawa, they led 10-1 after the first period, but the Tiger-Cats would outscore the Redblacks 17-0 in the 2nd quarter, resulting in an 18-10 halftime lead. The Tiger-Cats trailed 23-18 late, but a TD would put them in the lead. They kicked the extra point to make it 25-23, though I figured they would go for two to make it a three point a game. I originally started to believe that Hamilton would lose because they went for one instead of two, as Ottawa returned the kickoff to their own 50, and made it to FG range after two plays. However, their attempt at a game-winning field goal was short by about a yard, proving that football really is a game of inches.

So here's how things stand after six weeks. In the West Division, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers lead at 6-0, while the Calgary Stampeders are in second place at 4-1. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are 4-2, the BC Lions (who were idle in Week 6) stand at 3-1, and the Edmonton Elks improve to 2-4 with their road win. In the East Division, the Toronto Argonauts lead at 2-2, and there's a second place tie between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Montréal Alouettes at 1-4, with Hamilton holding the tiebreaker due to their win being in the division. The Ottawa Redblacks remain winless at 0-5, but they are one game out in the race for 2nd place.

Week 7 begins with a key East Division battle between the Ottawa Redblacks and the Montréal Alouettes, which will kick off a doubleheader on Thursday, July 21. The second half of that doubleheader will feature the BC Lions and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Edmonton Elks will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday, July 22, and on Saturday, July 23, the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders will face each other one more time.

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