CFL best bets: Brown to be held down

The second game of Week 11 represents the midpoint of the CFL’s 21-week regular season. This year, it’s a West Division clash as the 7-2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers visit the 3-6 Calgary Stampeders on Friday night. Fresh off rallying from 22 points down to beat the Edmonton Elks — who finally notched their first win last night — the Bombers are road favorites despite starting a backup quarterback, and the circumstances have pointed us to another preferred prop:

The bet: Under 284½ passing yards for Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Dru Brown (DraftKings)

After Zach Collaros suffered a neck injury last week, Brown filled in quite admirably. Over the final three quarters, he completed 17 of 24 passes for 307 yards and an eye-popping four touchdowns in directing a 31-point turnaround.

That performance has seemingly inflated the yardage number for this game, in which Brown will make just his second career start and first of this season. Whereas the huge deficit necessitated passing on most plays last week, he will be leading a much more balanced attack. And since the Stamps are vulnerable on the ground, allowing 106 rushing yards per game, running back Brady Oliveira figures to get a lot of carries.

Similar to the situation in Hamilton last night, when the weather conditions limited both sides to less than 220 passing yards, the wind is going to impact each team’s offensive approach. With gusts of 30 miles per hour expected, throwing deep won’t be an option at times — likely keeping Brown below 285.