Can receiver Arland Bruce III ignite an anemic Toronto Argonauts offence against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Sunday's East Division semifinal (CBC, 12:30 p.m. ET)?. (Canadian Press)

East Division semifinal

Q: What are the keys to victory for Toronto?

It all falls on [wide receiver] Arland Bruce III and whether or not Winnipeg chooses to double-team him. [Wide receiver] Tony Miles [sore foot] should be back but how healthy is he? If you're not mobile enough, especially at receiver when you're having to make cuts and fast decisions, you're just hurting the team. There are all sorts of things [a defence] can do to take a receiver out of the game.

The defence has to get some pressure, especially if the Blue Bombers go with [ailing starting quarterback] Kevin Glenn. [Defensive ends] Eric England and Jonathan Brown are solid and they can bring [linebackers Antonious] Bonner and [Kevin] Eiben from the edge [of the line].

The Argos offence looks great on paper but has had trouble executing all season. What has been their downfall?

The Argos have struggled with a solid scheme on offence. There is a lot they could be doing that they don't do. With [former offensive co-ordinator] Kent Austin it was pass-at-all-costs and I didn't think [quarterback] Damon Allen functioned well that way. Now, with Adam Rita in charge, they've become run-oriented with a conservative pass – screens and shovel passes - and that hasn't worked well. I haven't seen the imagination with [receivers] Keith Stokes, [Tony] Miles and [Arland] Bruce.

Q: What are the keys to victory for Winnipeg?

They can't turn the ball over and they have to ride [running back] Charles Roberts until he drops. Offensively, Winnipeg's receivers have to be patient, even when they're passing on second-and-six. Each guy will have to take his two, three or four catches, which is good against the Argos' secondary.

They'll need one or two of their receivers to step up and make a big play in a key situation to turn the game in their favour.

Q: Winnipeg's Troy Westwood and Toronto's Noel Prefontaine finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in kicking points, with the latter holding a slight advantage in field-goal percentage (73.8-69.8). Who gets the edge in this matchup?

Being indoors [at Rogers Centre in Toronto] is going to help both kickers. They should be fine. Prefontaine is certainly a field-position guy, so he could gain that with his punting. He's so good at directing the ball to the corners [of the field].

If it comes down to a field goal of 49 or 52 yards to win it, I would give the edge to Prefontaine because of his leg strength.

Q: Who will advance to the East final in Montreal on Nov. 12?

There is no sure thing for the Argos, no matter if [Winnipeg quarterback] Kevin Glenn is playing or not. I don't start him if he's not healthy enough to be mobile.

In the East, I think anyone can beat anyone on any given day. I think Winnipeg has a real chance at this. Toronto's offence is so bad. The Argos have never reached 20 points [in three games] versus Winnipeg this year, so it's going to be a good one.

West Division semifinal

Q. What are keys to victory for Calgary?

There's a lot of questions as to how cohesive the unit is in Calgary, whether or not they're a bunch of players playing with the same colour jersey, but not necessarily coming together as a good football team late in the season. Mentally, are they a fragmented team right now.

The first quarter of the game, I believe, is going to be key for them. If they can have success in the first quarter then the rest of the game will take care of itself, but if they come out and Saskatchewan is able to slow them down and create a little bit of adversity in the first quarter, we may see the Calgary Stampeders unravel.

Q: Obviously, Saskatchewan's front line is pretty intimidating to play against. They're near the top of the league in rush defence. How is Calgary going to cope with that, given that running back Joffrey Reynolds was a big part of their offence this year?

I think Calgary does a very good job of really spacing their defensive line out. [Saskatchewan's] Scott Schultz and Nate Davis are two big bodies in the middle. They're very good at pushing the pocket and collapsing the pocket, but what Calgary needs to do is have their offensive line widen their splits and that really forces [Saskatchewan's] big players to play in space. [Schultz and Davis] are big bodies, so the ability to go north and south is a lot easier than it is to move laterally.

If Calgary's offensive line takes wider splits and with an ace backfield in Joffrey Reynolds and quarterback Henry Burris in the play action that he presents with his legs, it forces [Saskatchewan] to honour that and will in turn widen everything out even more. So, Calgary with that type of game plan is very effective in running the ball against a very strong defensive line because they force their big players inside to play in space.

Q. What do the Riders need to do to win?

The number one key is going to be how active Kenton Keith can be involved. After the back to back games against Calgary in July, he really came alive and they definitely started to utilize their talent a lot more. Four games he had over 100 yards but there was a couple games in there that he just took over and he's that kind of explosive back that can make a difference.

Their offensive line and their offence in general is a lot better if they are firing off and run blocking as opposed to passively pass blocking. And the other reason Keith needs to be active and involved is because then it becomes ball control offence. Kerry Joseph needs to be good with the football and that means the ball does not go into the hands of Henry Burris and Calgary's offence. If they can have that kind of game plan and have success with Kenton Keith running the ball, that will give them the best chance to win the football game.

If it gets into a punting match up or a field position match up through special teams, Saskatchewan is going to lose that battle. The punters and place kickers have both proven to be better for the Stampeders and probably a washout with the returners. Calgary has two very good returners versus Saskatchewan having just one.

Q. Calgary holds the season advantage against Saskatchewan this season with a 3-1 record, but all the games were relatively close. Any prediction for which team comes out on top?

I think it's going to be a close game if Saskatchewan holds Calgary off in the first quarter and a half. They'll have the best chance to win in a low scoring game if they can assert themselves and get Keith involved. If Calgary is successful in the first quarter and a half, they might all of sudden put up 53 points like they did in late July [highest points total this season].