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The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1-1) visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-2) Friday night at 7:00PM EST. This will be the second meeting between the two teams already this season. Both teams met in week one and the Blue Bombers won their home opener easily with a final score of 49-29. It’s going to be an important game for both teams tomorrow night, but especially for the Tiger-Cats since they still haven’t won a game yet this season.

I’m sure both teams can’t wait to jump on the field this week after disappointing losses in week two. The Blue Bombers lost to the Argonauts by 2 points last week and the Tiger-Cats lost to the Stampeders by 1 point. Winnipeg was leading into the fourth quarter of their game in week two, but blew the lead. Hamilton lost on a last second field goal, but it was more disappointing then most losses since the Hamilton FG kicker missed two earlier in the game.

Winnipeg’s QB Buck Pierce has been electric so far this season and not only with his passing, but his feet as well. In the first game of the season against Hamilton, Pierce rushed for 89 yards and in last week’s game against the Argos he rushed for 103 yards. If Pierce continues running the ball as effectively as he has been the first two games of the season then Hamilton is going to be in for another long week.

The Tiger-Cats defence has been unproductive for the most part this season although they did improve a lot in week two. Hamilton will need to play defence like they did last week and not how they played in week one against Winnipeg when they gave up 49 points. One area where the Tiger-Cats won in week one was special teams, as they ran back a punt and missed FG for a touchdown. They will need to try and capitalize on special teams again this week if they want to hang with the Bombers.

Betting Lines (From Sportsbook.com)

• Winnipeg Blue Bombers +3.5 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats –3.5

• Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats O/U 54.5 Points

Predictions

Hamilton was suppose to be a Grey Cup contender at the beginning of the season, but after two weeks they haven’t looked like the team that made it to the semi-finals last season. The –3.5 spread is a little bit surprising considering Winnipeg destroyed Hamilton in the first week of the season, but the Tiger-Cats are home and definitely have revenge in mind.

I think that the Bombers offence is going to be to much for Hamilton’s defence to handle and I’m going to take the + points tomorrow night. Hamilton hasn’t shown me much yet and until they do I’ll be fading them. DeAndra Cobb has been very unproductive this season running the ball for Hamilton and I don’t think he’ll turn things around against a defence that has already shut him down once this season.

The over/under in tomorrow night’s game is very difficult to predict. The way the Bombers have been playing it wouldn’t surprise me if they put up 30+ points. Winnipeg has tallied 49 points and 34 points in their two games already and the 49 points came against the Ti-Cats. Hamilton managed to put 29 points last time against the Bombers and then last week they only scored 22 points against the Stampeders. Even though the 54.5 points seems high, this is the Canadian Football League and my money will be on the over.

My Picks – Blue Bombers +3.5 & Over 54.5 Points