Calgary Stampeders vs Toronto Argonauts CFL Picks, Odds, Predictions 8/7/21

The Toronto Argonauts and Calgary Stampeders meet Saturday in CFL action at McMahon Stadium. The Toronto Argonauts are coming off a 4-14 season and Ryan Dinwiddie will make his head coaching debut. The Calgary Stampeders finished 12-6 in 2019 and saw their season end in the West Semifinals. 

The Toronto Argonauts have a lot of roster turnover from a couple of years ago and it’s going to be interesting to see how everything comes together. The most important thing for Toronto is finding a quarterback, and the Argonauts have two options in Nick Arbuckle and McLeod Bethel-Thompson. Running back John White comes over after rushing for 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns with BC, while receivers Ricky Collins, DaVaris Daniels and Dejon Brissett have a chance to form a special trio. Defensively, Toronto made three big additions in Hénoc Muamba, Cordarro Law and Cameron Judge. All three of those players can get after the quarterback and create turnovers, and they’ll instantly improve the Argos defense. There’s potential here with Toronto, but a lot of the success will come down to the quarterback position. 

The Calgary Stampeders are still led by head coach Dave Dickenson, who has won 75 percent of his games and a Grey Cup in four years. The Stamps have a lot of roster turnover, but one constant is quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who has nearly 28,00 career passing yards and 169 touchdowns. Protection was an issue for Levi Mitchell last season, but the addition of Sean McEwen could go a long way to solidifying the offensive line. Levi Mitchell is arguably the best player in the CFL and gives Calgary a chance to win whenever taking the field. Defensively, Jameer Thurman returns for his second stint with Calgary and helped produce a Grey Cup in 2018. Cory Greenwood is still a very productive player at now 36 years old and Jamar Wall is a four-time Allstar who will continue to lockup the secondary. The Stampeders are still a team that deserves respect and is expected to make a deep playoff push.

The Argonauts are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 road games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The Stampeders are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games and 0-7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall. The over is 4-1 in Stampeders last 5 games overall. The Argonauts are 2-7-1 ATS in their last 10 meetings.

This line is going to be interesting, as the Argonauts are a talented team capable of giving the Stamps a run here. However, the Stampeders are the more trustworthy team given who their quarterback is. While the Argos have legit potential and are heading in the right direction, they still have concerns at quarterback and this is a tough spot to start the season, on the road.

I lean Calgary, but the line has to be reasonable.