CFL Picks - Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. Edmonton Eskimos

Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. Edmonton Eskimos 9:00 ET

Opening weekend of the CFL betting season continues on Thursday night from Commonwealth Stadium, where sports betting aficionados will have yet another chance to sink their teeth into some great football betting action. BetUS Sportsbook will have all of your betting needs covered for the clash between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-10, 7-9-2 ATS in 2008) and the Edmonton Eskimos (10-8, 9-8-1 ATS in 2008).

The oddsmakers are in love with the Eskimos this season, and it’s showing on the opening weekend CFL betting odds, as they’ve been made hefty 8.5-point favorites, while the ‘total’ has been set at 51.5.

Over the past several seasons, the cogs that made the Blue Bombers go were QB Kevin Glenn, RB Charles Roberts, and WR Milt Stegall. But Glenn (free agency), Blink (trade), and Uncle Milt (retired) have all moved on from Winnipeg, and the team is forced to start anew. The new wave of Blue Bombers will be headed up by QB Stefan LeFors, who backed up QB Ricky Ray in Edmonton the L/2 seasons. There’s still a big question mark about how well LeFors, a University of Louisville product, can do at this level. He wasn’t even good enough to be the second string man last season, as Jason Maas took that responsibility. As a result, LeFors only threw four passes all season, one of which was picked off.

RB Fred Reid showed some flashes last season, but he isn’t amongst the best backs the league has to offer. If there is one bright spot for the Bombers, it’s at wide receiver, where Derick Armstrong, Terrence Edwards, and Romby Bryant all have NFL-type talent. The defense is stock full of new names, and is a big reason why the team will have a whopping 20 new names on the roster this season.

Thanks to the additions of DB Kelly Malveaux, DE Kai Ellis, and RB Jesse Lumsden, the green and gold really feel like they have a shot at taking all the marbles this season after a couple of sub-par years. New HC Richie Hall was the man that led Saskatchewan’s defense to the Grey Cup two years ago, and many in Canada feel as though his time to become a head coach in this league was far overdue. Many also think that the subtraction of former coach, the much-maligned Danny Maciocia, will aid the club. Capping the Eskies is pretty easy. As goes Ricky Ray, so will go the Eskimos. Ray led the CFL last year in both completion percentage (69.8%) and passing yards (5,661), and he is largely accepted as one of the best in the biz over the L/10 years or so. He leads an offense that averaged 25.6 points per game last season, but that average should go up thanks to the addition of Lumsden, who, when healthy, is arguably one of the best backs in the league.

Winnipeg has the longest Grey Cup drought of any team in the CFL at 18 years. They’re probably not going to be taking too many steps in the right direction this year, as it’s clearly a rebuilding era. Though LeFors has looked at this Edmonton defense for his entire career in practice, this defense knows him just as well. Expect to see some jitters early on from the young starter, while the veteran, Ray eats up a questionable defense.

Rose’s Recommendation: 3* Edmonton Eskimos (-8.5)

(Rating Scale 1* - 5*)