Friday Night Football – Stampeders vs. Blue Bombers

CANADIAN FOOTBALL BETTING – Game Match-Up 7/10

Calgary Stampeders vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7:00 ET

A pair of franchises heading in opposite directions will do battle at Canad Inn Stadium in Winnipeg, and BetOnline.com will have all of the great CFL betting action covered. In the first half of Friday night’s CFL double dip, the Calgary Stampeders (0-1, 0-1 ATS) will look to get in the win column for the first time in the 2009 season against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (0-1, 1-0 ATS). The defending champions expected a better result than a 40-27 defeat at the hands of Montreal in their home opener last week. For Winnipeg, only losing by two points in Edmonton was good enough for its football bettors, but it’s pretty clear that this team has plenty of work to do to catch up to the likes of Calgary in the CFL.

The oddsmakers have lined the visitors as 6.5-point favorites. The ‘total’ has been bet up to 52.

The Calgary offence had a poor game against Montreal in the opener on Canada Day. QB Henry Burris, who threw for over 5,000 yards last season, only had 247 passing yards on 17 while completing just 51.5% of his passes. Save for WR Nik Lewis, who had four catches for 87 yards, none of his receivers had games that were up to par. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was RB Joffrey Reynolds, who kicked off his season by running for 19 yards on just six carries. The Stamps will need to get Reynolds more involved in the offence for them to have success against the Bombers’ defence. The Stamps’ defence played “bend but don’t break” fairly well, as they held the Alouettes to six field goals, but the bottom line is that giving up 40 points just isn’t acceptable. The defensive line didn’t record one sack on QB Anthony Calvillo, but should get a better pass rush against a weak Winnipeg offensive line this week.

The Stefan LeFors era began with a hitch in Week 1 for the Blue Bombers, but considering the fact that they were nearly double-digit underdogs, a two-point loss at Commonwealth Stadium isn’t a miserable result. LeFors only threw for 174 yards, many of which came late in the game with the Bombers on the comeback trail. The bottom line is that 14/31 isn’t going to get it done in this league, but in limited action, backup QB Brian Randall didn’t look much better. The running game was highlighted by RB Fred Reid, who toted the rock 13 times for 92 yards and the offence’s only touchdown.

The Stampeders are going to want to get off to a much quicker start in this game than they did when they fell behind Montreal 20-0 in the first half. Winnipeg isn’t going to have the horses to keep up with Calgary’s offence, and the end result should be a comfortable road victory for the visitors. The Stamps lost by four points last season in their visit to Canad Inns Stadium, but rebounded with an authoritative 37-16 victory at home. Look for a game much like the latter to take place on Friday night.

Rose’s Recommendation: 3* Calgary Stampeders (-6.5)

(Rating Scale 1* – 5*)