The first game on the CFL betting board for Week 5 is a Friday night clash between the Montreal Alouettes and Ottawa Redblacks.
Both teams are coming off consecutive losses after opening their seasons with a victory and will look to get back in the win column. The Alouettes are 3.5-point road favorites with the Over/Under installed at 42.5 for this contest at TD Place Stadium.
Here are our best free Alouettes vs. Redblacks picks and predictions for Friday, September 3, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
Alouettes vs Redblacks game info
• Location: TD Place Stadium, Ottawa, ON
• Date: Friday, September 3, 2021
• Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: TSN
Alouettes vs Redblacks odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
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Alouettes at Redblacks betting preview
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Key injuries
Alouettes: Chris Schleuger OL (Questionable), Cameron Artis-Payne RB (Questionable), Ryan Carter DB (Questionable).
Redblacks: Abdul Kanneh DB (Questionable), RJ Harris WR (Questionable), Timothy Flanders RB (Questionable), Sherrod Baltimore DB (Questionable), Brendan Gillanders RB (Questionable), Stansley Maponga Sr. DL (Questionable), Stefan Charles DL (Questionable), Cleyon Laing DL (Questionable).
Find our latest CFL injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Redblacks are 2-11 ATS in their last 13 games overall. Find more CFL betting trends for Alouettes vs. Redblacks.
Against the spread (ATS) pick
The Montreal Alouettes opened their season with an impressive 30-13 win on the road against the Elks in Week 2. Since then, they've lost back-to-back contests, including a 27-10 defeat at home to Hamilton last Friday.
There were some positive takeaways from the Als' loss in Week 4, as they limited the Ti-Cats passing game to just 183 yards through the air and sacked quarterback Dane Evans six times. What really killed them was poor play on special teams, with Hamilton's Frankie Williams ripping off multiple long returns (two off kicks and one via a fourth-quarter interception).
Montreal should be a playoff-caliber team this season, thanks to a strong running game centered around power back William Stanback, and an improved defense.
The Redblacks are coming off a 24-12 loss at home to the BC Lions and, after opening their season with an upset win against the Elks, have been the league's worst squad as most people had expected. Ottawa is dead-last in the CFL in both offense (214.3 yards per game) and defense (allowing 414.3 ypg) which is also where they ended up when the 2019 season ended.
Despite being consistently spotted points, the Redblacks remain the worst ATS team around, covering the spread just twice in their last 13 games overall. At this point they are practically an instant fade and 3.5 points isn't a big enough of a spread to consider backing them — especially on just five days of rest.
PREDICTION: Montreal -3.5 (-110)
Over/Under pick
Montreal quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was named an East Division All-Star in 2019 but seems out of sync this season. While some of his problems can be attributed to timing and the lengthy break between seasons (something which seems to have affected most passers around the league), his arm strength and accuracy have been unimpressive.
The Als' offense also doesn't seem to be able to make the necessary adjustments at halftime and has yet to score a single point in the third quarter this season.
That said, the Alouettes' defense shouldn't be knocked too bad for the 27 points that Hamilton scored last weekend, since they usually had poor field positioning due to mistakes from the offense and special teams.
If you think Montreal's passing game has looked ugly, avert your eyes from what's going on with the Redblacks. Ottawa QB Matt Nichols might be reunited with his former Blue Bombers coach Paul LaPolice but the Redblacks simply don't have the talent at the skill positions to move the ball.
Ottawa is averaging just 151 passing yards per game, which would be terrible for a run-heavy NCAA squad let alone a team in the pass-happy CFL. The Redblacks have scored just one offensive touchdown this season and have been held to 12.7 points per game.
That pathetic offensive play has resulted in Unders in every Redblacks game this season with the highest combined points total of the year the 36 points scored in Ottawa last Saturday.
PREDICTION: Under 42.5 (-110)
Alouettes vs Redblacks betting card
- Montreal -3.5 (-110)
- Under 42.5 (-110)
Picks made on 8/31/2021 at 1:15 p.m. ET
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