Most of the Stamps losses this season were last-minute squeakers where they grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. If they play sound fundamental football next week in all 3 phases, and put together a 60 minute effort, they have a great chance of advancing.
Most people outside of Calgary think the Lions will roll, now that they have Rourke back behind centre. But the reality is the Stamps are a better team than their record indicates.
One other thing I'd like to touch on. It's time for a big shakeup in the playoff format. For a league suffering from dwindling attendance numbers, there's no better time than now to make a big change that could infuse new excitement into the league and potentially draw new interest and new fans.
For me, personally, I've grown weary of the current playoff format, and I can't be the only one.
A better format would be as follows:
- All CFL teams are ranked 1 thru 9 based on record. Tiebreaking rules apply as usual.
- Each division winner is guaranteed no lower than a 4th place finish in the overall standings (guaranteed home playoff game).
- The top 2 finishers get a first round bye.
- #3 hosts #6, and #4 hosts #5 in the quarterfinal round.
- The #1 seed hosts the lowest remaining seed from the quarterfinal round. #2 seed hosts the higher remaining seed from the quarterfinal round.
Here's how this year's playoffs would look under the new format:
#1 Winnipeg & #2 BC get the first round bye.
#3 Calgary hosts #6 Hamilton
#4 Toronto hosts #5 Montreal
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