{"id":350882,"date":"2025-06-03T16:47:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T20:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=350882"},"modified":"2025-06-03T16:47:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T20:47:23","slug":"cfl-week-1-picks-and-predictions-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/cfl-week-1-picks-and-predictions-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"CFL Week 1 predictions, picks and best bets: Expect points in Elks vs. Lions game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Week 1 of the CFL season kicks off this Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The latest:<\/strong> The action begins with the Ottawa Redblacks taking on the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Later on, two star quarterbacks duel in a Sunday night clash between the Edmonton Elks and BC Lions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out the latest CFL Week 1 predictions for the games beginning Thursday, June 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CFL Week 1 predictions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Elks\/Lions over 48.5 points (-110)<\/strong>: Despite a down season from Nathan Rourke, the Lions still put up their fair share of points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Including the playoffs, BC went 5-5 against this over with Rourke under centre and finished on 47 total points two other times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s not great, but it was with the quarterback throwing four touchdowns and nine interceptions in those games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think most, including myself, are expecting a much better season from the Canadian, which would lead to more points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other side, the Elks have a quality playmaker as well. Tre Ford is relatively new as a CFL starter, as Sunday will mark his 19th career start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But he has a great arm and is explosive as a runner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ford started five games for Edmonton last season and passed for 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li> He completed a career-high 71.1% of his passes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The best performance of Ford&#8217;s career was also the last time we saw him. He finished his season throwing 325 yards and three TDs in a 31-30 win over the Argonauts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Ford should be able to go shot-for-shot with Rourke, pushing this game over this total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"cacheembed:114461\">Embed: #114461<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CFL Week 1 best bets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stampeders moneyline (+100):<\/strong> We don&#8217;t have to look back very far to see the most recent game in this matchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Week 20 last season, Hamilton battered Calgary 42-20. But QB Jake Maier only threw five passes before being removed from the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we go back to Week 1 of last season, these teams met in Calgary, and the results were very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Maier had one of his best games of the season, completing 21-of-26 passes for 252 yards and two scores.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This season, Calgary upgraded the QB spot to Vernon Adams from the Lions. He threw 31 TDs in his last full season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Stamps were also aggressive in free agency, signing star receiver Dominique Rhymes and All-CFL defensive back Damon Webb among other notable additions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An updated Calgary team should be too much for the Ti-Cats to handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/sports-hub\/american_football\">Full CFL betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alouettes -5.5 (+100):<\/strong> I like this spot for the Als over the reigning Grey Cup champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Chad Kelly was starting at QB, I&#8217;d be all over the Argos. But with Kelly still recovering from a leg injury, it&#8217;s Nick Arbuckle who is expected to start Week 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And although he started in the Grey Cup and led Toronto to victory, his two TDs and two INTs in that win don&#8217;t jump off the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since the start of 2021, Arbuckle has 15 TD passes to 27 interceptions. He&#8217;s never proven to be good over a consistent period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Montreal chose to ride with Davis Alexander as their starter this season. The 26-year-old has been solid to start his career. He threw six touchdowns and two picks in four starts last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a game between evenly matched opponents, I&#8217;ll back the stronger signal caller at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CFL Thursday night pick<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Redblacks +3.5 (-110):<\/strong> Ottawa made waves last year, reaching the CFL semifinal before losing to the Argonauts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dru Brown grew into a good starter for the Redblacks, capped off by three straight games of 400-plus passing yards to finish the season and playoffs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In those games, he threw 10 TDs and four INTs and looks like a big arm in this league.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m bullish on Brown and the Redblacks, and that starts on the road in Week 1. Saskatchewan didn&#8217;t make enough improvements, in my opinion, to keep up with a young and upcoming Ottawa squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>CFL Week 1 predictions as of 3:57 p.m. on 06\/03\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Week 1 of the CFL season kicks off this Thursday. The latest: The action begins with the Ottawa Redblacks taking on the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Later on, two star quarterbacks duel in a Sunday night clash between the Edmonton Elks and BC Lions. Check out the latest CFL Week 1 predictions for the games beginning Thursday, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":350904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[202],"class_list":["post-350882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cfl","tag-cfl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CFL Week 1 predictions, picks &amp; best bets | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our CFL Week 1 predictions. 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