3rd & 1: Three picks to consider for Week 18

Christian Marin

Last week we switched things up by going with two point spreads and one player prop, and it worked out well for us as we ended up cashing the Week 17 parlay!

We might as well roll that way again this week since we cashed a winner last week.

Here’s what I’m rolling with for Week 18 in the Canadian Football League.

Toronto Argonauts -2.5

The Toronto Argonauts held their own last week against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers despite going with their backup quarterback and running back in the game, and I’m expecting them to bounce back with a win this week against the Edmonton Elks with Chad Kelly back under centre.

The Argonauts opened as 7.5-point favourites after they released their depth chart for the week, revealing that Kelly would indeed be starting. But Toronto already has the East locked up, so they don’t really need to play Kelly the entire game if they don’t want to.

I’m expecting Cameron Dukes and possibly even Bryan Scott to see a little bit of action at some point in the night, which is why I’m going to take the Argos by a field goal – just in case we see some lineup changes throughout the game.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats +3.5

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats might be one of the hungriest teams in the CFL right now.

Just over a month ago the playoffs seemed a little out of reach for the Ticats, but they’ve won four of their past six games and booked their spot in the postseason. This week they’re heading into Saskatchewan to play another hungry team in the playoff hunt, and Hamilton being listed as 3.5-point underdogs makes me like them even more in this matchup.

I think the Tiger-Cats can and will win this game and improve to .500 on the season. But since we’re getting them plus a few points, we’ll go with the spread rather than the moneyline for this week’s parlay.

James Butler over 67.5 rushing yards

That’s right, we’re going back to James Butler this week.

It’s too bad he’s not listed at last week’s total of 61.5, but 67.5 against the Roughriders is still a great number. Butler has gone over this total in four of his past seven games, but Saskatchewan is giving up the third-most rushing yards per game and opponents are averaging 122.7 rushing yards per game against them.

Opposing running backs have gone over this total in four of the past five games against the Roughriders, including a 136-yard performance from Devonte Williams, a 175-yard performance from Kevin Brown, and a 154-yard performance from Brady Oliveira.

Honourable mention - Nic Demski over 57.5 receiving yards

The BC Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers are set to go head-to-head in what might just be the game of the year. We’re not going to go anywhere near the total or spread in this one. Instead, we’re rolling with a player prop for the honourable mention.

Nic Demski has already set a new career-high in receiving yards with 963 and I expect him to be over the 1,000-yard mark by the end of Friday night.

The Blue Bombers receiver has been targeted at least six times in four of his past five games and he has gone over 57.5 receiving yards in seven of his past 10 games. In two games against BC this season, Demski has finished with 55 receiving yards and 62 receiving yards respectively, so I like him to go over the total in this one.

The odds on the 3-leg parlay are +258* and a $10 bet would pay $25.78 on FanDuel Canada.

If you wanted to add in Demski, the odds on the four-leg parlay are +572 and a $10 bet would pay $57.17 on FanDuel Canada.

*Odds subject to change.