CFL Preview - Edmonton (9-4) at Toronto (4-8) (ET)

GAME NOTES: With time ticking away in the 2014 regular season, the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts both find themselves in the hunt for postseason invitations as they get together at Rogers Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Both teams are coming off victories in their most recent outings, Edmonton topping Saskatchewan last week by a score of 24-0 and the Argos crushing British Columbia on Sept. 19 on the road, 40-23. In the case of Toronto, the triumph served to snap a four-game slide and kept the club within striking distance of first place in the East Division where it has eight points and trails both Hamilton and Montreal by only two points.

Against the Lions during Week 13 action, Chad Owens returned to action and proceeded to show why he is one of the most exciting players in the league. Owens caught eight passes for 117 yards and a score and added another 30 yards on punt returns.

Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray converted 24-of-33 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns, surviving three sacks for the visitors. Running backs Curtis Steele and Steve Slaton both found the end zone on the ground in the second half as well.

Defensively, Toronto did surrender 415 yards to BC, but at the same time the Lions shot themselves in the foot by committing 13 penalties for a loss of 131 yards.

While Toronto was enjoying last week off, Edmonton was thrashing the Roughriders at home, recording the first shutout of the campaign for the Esks. In picking up the second win in the last three outings, Edmonton forced the visitors to use a pair of quarterbacks, limiting the duo of Seth Doege and Tino Sunseri to a mere 114 yards through the air, while picking off each one time and producing six sacks overall.

Mike Reilly headed the Edmonton offensive attack as he connected on 14-of-25 passes for 124 yards and a score, not to mention picking up another 106 yards on 10 rushing attempts. But as strong as Reilly was with his legs, he actually finished behind John White who tallied a career-high 192 yards rushing on 17 attempts.

Thanks to the efforts of Reilly and White, the latter being named the CFL Offensive Player of the Week, the Eskimos survived 12 penalties that amounted to 105 yards.

Despite missing more than a month due to injury, White has come back with a vengeance and is now sixth in the league in rushing with 526 yards on just 68 attempts. Averaging a hefty 7.7 yards per carry, you would think that White would also have more than just a couple of TDs on the ground, but that's not the case. Hopefully the return of White means Reilly will not have to put himself in harm's way as often moving forward.

Nevertheless, Reilly is still the leading ground gainer among quarterbacks and ranks eighth in the league overall with 488 yards on 59 attempts, an average of more than eight yards per carry. The signal caller is in the middle of the pack when it comes to passing yards at this stage of the season, throwing for 2,309 yards, as he completes 64.1 percent of his opportunities.

Over on the other side Ray, who is facing off against his former team yet again, is second in the CFL with 3,206 yards with an amazing 68.2 percent level of accuracy., Just as important is Ray's league-best 22 touchdowns, against 11 INTs, which has him showing a very successful 96.3 efficiency rating.

Able to spread the wealth quite easily, Ray and the Argonauts don't have a single receiver in the top-five in terms of yardage. Instead, it is Owens who checks in with 548 yards on 43 receptions, his total ranking him eighth in the CFL heading into Week 15.

Edmonton leads the all-time, regular-season series by a count of 46-40-1, thanks in part to a 41-27 victory in the most recent meeting in late August at home. The Esks have taken six of the last eight battles with the Argos.

The Eskimos, who are tied with Saskatchewan for second place in the West Division, four points behind Calgary, is an impressive 6-1 versus the East Division and has lost only twice in six tries on the road, trends that could and should easily hold up this weekend in Toronto.