Pro football is heating up on both sides of the border
CFL playoffs approach as NFL title contenders score big wins
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With the CFL playoffs coming up in just a few weeks and the NFL in mid-season form, here's what happened over the weekend and what to look for next in North American pro football:
NFL: The Super Bowl favourites made big statements
The last time Buffalo met Kansas City, the Bills came out on the wrong end of an unforgettable AFC playoff shootout that saw the teams combine for 25 points in the final 114 seconds of regulation. Buffalo took the lead with just 13 seconds left, only to watch Patrick Mahomes drive K.C. to a game-tying field goal and the winning touchdown in overtime.
In yesterday's highly anticipated rematch at Arrowhead Stadium, it looked like the Bills once again left Mahomes too much time after Josh Allen threw a go-ahead touchdown pass with 64 seconds left. But Buffalo's big off-season acquisition, star pass rusher Von Miller, capped another big day by pressuring Mahomes into an awkward throw that was picked off by Taron Johnson to seal a thrilling 24-20 win and confirm the 5-1 Bills' status as the best team in the league.
A few hours later, the NFC's top dog, Philadelphia, improved to 6-0 and remained the only unbeaten team in the league with a 26-17 home victory over rival Dallas (4-2). The Super Bowl is still four months away (plenty of time for injuries or other unforeseen misfortunes to befall any football team), but at the moment the most likely matchup appears to be Bills vs. Eagles.
Meanwhile, it was another tough day for two of the game's aging superstar quarterbacks. The Packers suffered a humiliating 27-10 defeat to the Jets at Lambeau Field to fall to 3-3 as 38-year-old Aaron Rodgers dropped to 24th in QBR — a metric in which the reigning MVP led the league last year. The man who finished behind him, Tom Brady, also saw his Buccaneers skid to 3-3 with a 20-18 loss to struggling Pittsburgh (Canadian receiver Chase Claypool had his best day of the year for the Steelers, making seven catches for 96 yards and a touchdown). The 45-year-old Brady, who topped the NFL with 43 touchdown passes last season, has only eight since changing his mind about retirement.
On a more positive note: New York, New York! The Jets and Giants, who both went 4-13 last season, are now a combined 9-3 after the former's upset of the Packers and the latter's takedown of Baltimore yesterday. The Giants are an especially surprising 5-1 under new head coach Brian Daboll, who was born in Welland, Ont. Read a roundup of yesterday's key NFL games here.
CFL: The playoff picture is coming into focus
With only two weeks left in the regular season, the road to the 109th Grey Cup game (on Nov. 20 in Regina) is taking shape.
In the East, Montreal (8-8 after a 2-6 start) clinched a home playoff game with their 34-30 win over Ottawa on Friday night. The question is which round that game will be in. Toronto (10-6) remains in control of first place (and the first-round bye and home-field advantage for the East final that come with it) after A.J. Ouellette's last-minute touchdown run gave the Argonauts a 28-23 win at Edmonton on Saturday (the Elks have now lost a CFL-record 16 straight home games). The Argos can secure the East's top seed by winning either Saturday's game in Montreal or the rematch in Toronto the following week.
The East's (and the league's) final playoff spot remains up for grabs between defending division playoff champion Hamilton (6-10) and Saskatchewan (6-10), which can cross over from the West and steal it. Ottawa (4-12) is still officially alive too, but would need to sweep the Ticats in their back-to-back matchups to close the season to have a shot.
The West is more settled, as threepeat-seeking Winnipeg (14-3) had already clinched first place before Saturday's 40-32 loss at B.C. The Lions got a pair of pick-sixes from their defence and 341 return yards from Terry Williams in that one to improve to 11-5 — a game up on Calgary, which suffered its first home loss to Hamilton in 18 years. B.C. and Calgary had already clinched playoff spots, but the No. 2 seed in the West is still up for grabs between them. Whoever gets it will host their first-round playoff game, with the winner travelling to Winnipeg for the West final on Nov. 13.
Speaking of Bombers (and bonkers) playoff games, you can revisit the infamous 1962 Grey Cup game between Winnipeg and Hamilton — better known as the Fog Bowl — by watching the latest episode of CBC Sports' Unknown History series with Rob Pizzo here.
