As Week 16 comes into focus, we begin seeing a clearer playoff picture in the East Division of the CFL. The Argonauts sit on top of the East with a 7-5 record, followed by the Montreal Alouettes at 5-7, Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 4-9 and Ottawa Redblack sitting in the back at 3-9.
The Argonauts will have the ability to punch their ticket to the playoffs with a Week 16 win over the Ottawa Redblacks combined with the Tiger-Cats loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
The second spot in the East is completely up for grabs with everything to play for in the Tiger-Cats and Alouettes game. If the Alouettes win, they will go 2.5 games up on the Tiger-Cats and will likely cement their place in the playoffs. On the other hand, if the Tiger-Cats can come out with a win, they will pull within half a game of Montreal and be in a good position to leapfrog them in the final weeks.
Argos Taking Care of Business in East
Much of the Argos success this season has come in their own East Division. Five of their wins have come against divisional rivals, including three against Hamilton. Toronto currently has a 5-2 inter-conference record.
On the other hand, Toronto is only 2-3 versus West Division teams, both wins coming against Saskatchewan. The Argos will have to run up against Calgary, B.C. and Edmonton in their final weeks, which could give the Alouettes the chance to sneak into the 1st seed if the Argos aren’t careful.
Argos Playoff Scenarios
Given that the Argos can at the very least split their last 6 games and finish with at least 10 wins, they should secure the 1st seed in the East. With the 1st seed come a bye for the Division Semi Finals which is played between the 2nd and 3rd seed teams. If the teams trend in a similar manner to what’s happened so far in the season, we should be looking at either the Alouettes or Tiger-Cats coming to Toronto to play the Argos in the Division Finals.
Both the Alouettes and Tiger-Cats have sub .500 records and have been very inconsistent this year. This coupled with the Argos 5-2 record against East teams puts Toroton in a great position to reach the Grey Cup this year.
If the Argos somehow drop to the 2nd position in the East, they will need to play in the division semis. The additional game could be the difference between making it to the Grey Cup or not this year, so look for the Argos to make a big effort to lock up 1st seed.
