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Kansas City (-1) vs Las Vegas
Well we're finally here. After an excellent day of Conference Championship football, which crowned the Kansas City Storm and Las Vegas Rounders as EFC and WFC Champions respectively, the focus now turns to CFL Bowl LIX.
The 59th edition of the CFL Bowl pits the defensive dynasty LVS Rounders against one of the league's last remaining all-air assaults in the KCY Storm. We know defenses win championships but can KCY flip the script and keep QB McKnight away from his fourth ring in six years?
The Kansas City Storm, despite many analysts decrying their one dimensional offense, have a legitimate opportunity to become CFL champions for the first time in franchise history. QB Grueneich, at 36, has been playing some of his best football surrounded by some of the best receiving talents not named Dole. Everyone on this roster can catch and run and has worn down defensive coordinators trying to stifle this attack. Rookie TE Dial has had quite the nose for the end zone but its been RB Mansour who has transformed his game away from a pedestrian 3ypc running back to a willing blocker and central piece of this passing game.
I praised the offense, but the oft-maligned defense actually stood up against DET and OMA. DC Currie knows he doesn't have the biggest budget but the halftime adjustments against both opponents held them to 44 yards 0 points and 65 yards 0 points respectively. Now, there were some gimmicky schemes and big time individual plays but that's still an impressive result. Injuries to key players in DE Emerson, CB Walsh, and CB Crawford may make it a harder result to replicate.
Las Vegas hasn't had an easy road this season but the squad has shown resilience in all three matches-- two wins coming in the fourth quarter. Injuries and a young offensive line were brutal to watch at times but the stars find a way to win. This pass rush will need to step up and get home against QB Grueneich to slow their opponents. DEs Brock and Anagnostis will almost certainly get theirs but LB Hargreaves is the guy I'll be focused on more. He'll be called upon to cover RB Mansour and TE Dial when they attack the middle of the field and his performance could make or break the Rounders.
"Stormies" (a portmanteau of Storm and Normies and what fans of the team call themselves) will be out in full force this week, not willing to miss their franchise's first appearance in the big game. QB Grueneich and the Storm may not have many more chances like this. He's encountered some of the best defenses in the league en route to this chance at glory and the Ohio State legend will need to beat one of the best pass rush tandems in league history.
The line is -1 for KCY and bookies are reporting sharp action on the Storm and the Under (bet down from 56 to 52). I'm not sure I agree with the former and I suspect that the Rounders will once again prove the old adage true-- that defense wins championships-- but I expect it to be a close contest throughout. LVS wins 21-17.
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GL Division Champions: 2057, 2059, 2065
EFC Champions: 2057
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