The account of 29 long years have the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had a long and frustrating dry period. However, the waiting is over as the Blue Bombers have won their first Grey Cup championship since 1990. Winnipeg finished 11-7 in the regular season which was good for only third place in the West Division. Counter to that was the sad end of CFL betting glory for the dethroned champion Calgary Stampeders. Calgary slipped to second place in the West before their playoff loss to Winnipeg. East Division champion Hamilton posted the league’s best regular-season record.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
It was a tale of three sportsbook seasons for the Blue Bombers. Following a 5-0 start, Winnipeg then went 4-6 in the middle stages. From there the Blue Bombers caught fire down the stretch through the playoffs. Certainly, their Grey Cup championship caught fans and gamblers off guard. Head coach Mike O’Shea is a Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee from 2017. He is a former special team coach of the Toronto Argonauts (2010-13) and has led the Blue Bombers since 2014. O’Shea has methodically built up Winnipeg and has four consecutive playoff appearances.
Ground and Pound
Commencing with the CFL’s top-ranked rushing offense is the key to the Blue Bombers’ success. With that strong ground game, the Blue Bombers offense ranked second in the league for scoring. Correlate the running attack helped hid a defense that was middle of the pack. In the Grey Cup Winnipeg scored a dominant 33-12 CFL Betting payout. Veteran running back Andrew Harris ran for 1373 yards with 6.1 yards per carry and four touchdowns in 2019. It was the fourth season out of five that Harris cleared the 1000-yard barrier. He added 70 receptions on the year.
Hamilton Tigers Cats
Compared to the rest of the Canadian Football League, Hamilton was quite popular with gamblers. To show the Tiger-Cats finished 15-3 straight up and lost just four games to the spread. The offense was the strength to Hamilton for the 2019 season. Encompassing the Tiger-Cats success were CFL rankings of first for both total and scoring offense. Defensively Hamilton finished first for points allowed. All of which makes their blowout loss to the Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup game especially perplexing.
Top Cat Dane Evans
Namely quarterback Dane Evans was key to Hamilton’s dominance of the East. Evans finished with a 78.6% completion rate with 3754 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2019. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane star has played only two CFL seasons and is poised for a strong career. Additionally, wide receivers Brandon Banks and Bralon Addison are a dynamic duo. Banks caught 112 passes for 1550 yards and 13 touchdowns. Addison added 95 catches for 1236 yards and seven TD’s. Eventually, a Hamilton championship would seem to be in the future.
Montreal Alouettes
It would be hard to find a franchise in any sport that has had to overcome more than Montreal. At the onset of the season quarterback, Johnny Manziel was banished from the franchise. Bob Wetenhall then surrendered ownership to the league itself. Head coach Mike Sherman quit after two preseason games. And general manager Kavis Reed was fired a month into the season. Notwithstanding all of that the Als made the playoffs. It was a tremendous example of perseverance and professionalism.