Wild CFL Season just got more interesting

The trade of Brown is a plus for Winnipeg with a plausible back up behind Zach Collaros who may be looking at his last year. The Bombers tried to sell their team on Tyler Elgersma as a backup, even playing him in the two exhibition games to such a degree two Bomber quarterbacks walked out feeling they were not getting a fair shot at the backup spot.

That apparently did not work, and the giant bonfire the Bomber fans lit to celebrate the return of Brown is a sign they will again return to the Grey Cup to add another loss to their Grey Cup record of losses. The bigger question is what is going on in Ottawa?

Head Coach and GM Ryan Dinwiddie bailed out of his Argonaut job after losing his locker room last year over botched plays and promising cuts but not delivering on them. He went to Ottawa and took on the GM duties, along with his offensive coordinator play-calling and head coach responsibilities and while making a splash in free agency, his team has not yet found any continuity and is playing like a bunch of individuals with no obvious game plan.

Dinwiddie did well in coaching up Nick Arbuckle to a Grey Cup win and got him through last season, and apparently feels good about working with Maier who is not renown for throwing deep. Maier’s forte is a short intermediate passing game, but Ottawa has no running game and their defense has players, but no purpose.

Whether Dinwiddie can make this work is up in the air but looking at the empty seats in Ottawa even in the rain, makes one think Ottawa needs to win something to bring fans back to the park. If he can do it, fine, if not, The CFL may need Quebec City to replace an Ottawa team that wound up due to fan apathy yet again.

So let’s review what happened last week and what to expect this week.

Hamilton beat BC 41-27 in a game that should not have been so close and came as a bit of a surprise if you didn’t know BC was losing four of five starting receivers to injury and star receiver Justin McGinnis was hobbled for most of the game.

BC put most of their money into a small number of star players which leaves little money in the salary cap to pay for injury replacements, or quality injury replacements. BC also has problems with their defensive secondary, which is funny considering how they were anointed to be Grey Cup champs this year.

There are 16 games remaining and BC has time to turn it around. But when you see Edmonton off to a 2-0 start, Riders at 2-0 and Bombers at 1-1, the Lions don’t have much ground to give to their western rivals. The Lions should get better when they get their injured players back, but depending on how long that takes, the Lions could be out of the playoffs by mid-July.

Bo Levi Mitchell sent a message with five touchdown passes that he is back, but again, take this game with a game of salt. Mitchell was not throwing against a top notch secondary, and his five touchdown passes are pretty good, but not indicative where Hamilton could end up in the standings.

Hamilton’s defense is vulnerable, and a lot depends on how Hamilton’s offensive line can handle the opposing rush and keep Mitchell upright. If Hamilton can handle business against teams with injury problems like BC or hopeless cases like Ottawa, they should stack enough wins to regain their first in the east title.

For Rider fans the 44-24 win by Toronto over Ottawa was interesting because the Riders play these two teams over the next few weeks. Chad Kelly came back from his shaky debut against Montreal to torch Ottawa for four touchdowns while also throwing four interceptions.

Both teams did not unleash devastating running games but watching Kelly play pitch and catch against the Ottawa secondary leads me to say you overlook Toronto at your own peril. Kelly is still knocking the rust off with his interceptions but watching him move the ball made me think back to the days of run and shoot offense.

Toronto’s defense, which I thought was the weak spot with a bunch of returning veterans who are also older and slower to recover from injury, did not bad, but again, consider who they were playing. Ottawa was unable to do consistent drives and were not helped by questionable play calling by Dinwiddie.

Brown did not get a chance to get into the game which makes one wonder about why Brown, who was a starter this year, ended up on the trading block after this game. The reasons could vary from Brown being unable to process Dinwiddie’s playbook, to maybe not taking his demotion well to back up and Dinwiddie felt Brown had to be traded before Dinwiddie was faced with another locker room revolt.

Bringing MBT in kind of gives Ottawa fans a sense they will not be floundering if the Jake Maier experience does not translate into a playoff spot. However, MBT did not show much in Montreal as a back up last year and Dinwiddie has staked a lot on getting Maier and Thompson to get the Redblacks back into the playoffs.

For the sake of Ottawa fans, you hope he makes it.

Edmonton pulled off a surprise in a freezing rain game with a 32-29 win over Montreal. While the Riders broke Montreal QBs Davis Alexander’s unbeaten streak last season, which reached 12 games, the game against Edmonton marked Alexander’s first regular season loss, taking away an easy talking point for TSN.

Edmonton with Justin Rankin has probably the best running back in the CFL and Rankin whether running or catching the ball, keeps defenses honest. Rankin was able to wear Montreal down after they jumped out to a big lead and brought it close to overtime when Fajardo faked a handoff to Rankin and ran the ball in to clinch the win.

Edmonton has a secondary that may or may not be solid, and their defensive line is somewhat OK but their linebacking crew is good. Edmonton is one of those franchises which needs a good start to bring fans back, which may be easier said than done considering how back they were under former Coach/GM Chris Jones who managed to alienate a lot of fans.

Of course each week provides a chance for injuries to have an impact, but if Edmonton can run the ball on a consistent basis and teams have to respect Fajardo either throwing or running the ball or risk getting burned. It was a nice win for Edmonton to pick up as they move into contender status in the west.

The Riders win over Calgary had fans complaining about the Riders move to kick a field goal at the end of the first half which went wide and Calgary returned it for a touchdown, giving them hope in the second half. Rider fans were wondering why the team looked so good in the first half, not so good in the second and managed to pull out an overtime win with a Tommy Stevens short yardage touchdown.

After watch the game three times, the Riders were able to move the ball against Calgary because Calgary decided to play a soft zone coverage on Rider receivers who managed to shred the soft zone, forcing the Stampeders to go with a tighter zone which did not lead to as many big plays.

The Riders in the third quarter also lost running AJ Ouellette with an ankle injury and the effects of the injury cannot be overstated. Thomas Bertrand Hudon came in an did ok, but you never get a sense with Hudon he will break a run open at some point. Ouellette will be a game time decision against Toronto, but the Riders signed another running back in case the team needs reinforcements.

After two games, I would say without injuries, this Rider offense is looking much better than last year. A health Kian Schaffer-Baker and Samuel Emilus are shredding defensive secondaries and Keesean Johnson appears to have returned to his preinjury form.

The Rider defense was facing injuries in the defensive secondary with Rolan Milligan’s backup in Juju Wagner going down with an apparent Achilles injury which will keep him out the whole season. The Riders have been stocking up on defensive backs so expect some changes there, but Calgary in the fourth quarter took advantage of the Riders juggling in the defensive backfield to get back and tie the game.

I never had the sense the Riders were going to lose this game. Calgary was the only team the Riders did not beat last year, so getting this taken care of was obviously high on the Riders priority list.

The Riders defense handcuffed the Stampeders in the first half and a coaching mistake in trying the last second field goal allowed momentum to sneak over to the Calgary sideline. In overtime the Riders took advantage of Calgary mistakes and set up the winning touchdown beautifully.

The Riders are at 2-0 tied with Edmonton for top spot while Calgary and BC are 0-2. Hands up all those who thought that would be the case in week three!

Last week there was one game on Friday and a triple header on Saturday, all to accommodate the World Cup. This week there will be a game a game from Thursday through to Sunday.

Edmonton goes to Win A Pig on Thursday night riding a two-game winning streak against the Bombers who may have bolstered their case for playoffs with the Brown trade. The Bombers will have to deal with Edmonton’s running game which will loosen the Bomber defensive line like an old man prepping for a colostomy exam.

Edmonton does have some receivers and the Bombers don’t have an overwhelming secondary, so the thinking will be the Elk will grind the Bombers down and if the Bombers stop the run, the Elk will go to the air. The Bombers are coming off a bye week, but right now, Edmonton has more weapons, and they should beat the Bombers 31-26.

On Friday the Riders will unveil their Prairie Blizzard game against the Argos. Since this is the game the Riders bought off the Argos due to the World Cup kicking the Argos out of their stadium, the Riders will be wearing road whites, but following in the footsteps of the BC Lions, the Riders unveiled their one off Prairie Blizzard jerseys which is their usual jerseys but with white numbers instead of green.

The Riders and Argos both have injury problems in their defensive secondary, which is not something I want to hear when facing a quarterback who has thrown for 400 yards his last two games. On the other hand, the Rider passing game should be clicking against the Argos defensive secondary.

With Ouellette likely out, and I want Ouellette in November, not June, the Riders will likely promote one of their American running backs and Rider fans will get an idea of whether the Riders have buffed up their running back room. Toronto has not really done much running, but why would they have to when Kelly throws for 400 yards a game?

One of the problems with picking a winner in this game is Toronto played Ottawa who is looking to be the latest dumpster fire in its last game. What Toronto did there could be replicated against the Riders, especially depending on who lines up in the defensive backfield.

I see a shootout in this game, which will help ratings and the Riders should be able to edge Toronto 34-33. I was thinking Toronto could take this, but I looked at who the Riders played their first two games and who the Argos played, and the Riders had the tougher scorecard.

The Riders learned how to win last year. This year they are confident about how to win and while Toronto has a lot of Grey Cup Champions on their roster, the Riders have continuity and that will lead them to a 3-0 start.

If someone would have said a couple of weeks both Calgary and BC would be starting their seasons 0-2, I would not have believed it. These two teams play each other in Kelowna on Saturday and the question to be asked is for the team that loses, does that effectively end their season?

I would say no, because in 2011 I believe, the Lions started off the season in the cellar until they started winning and went all the way to be Grey Cup champions. However, the Lions are facing most of their receiving corps in the hospital and while Nathan Rourke is talented, even he will find it hard to make chicken salad out of chicken, well, you know.

I won’t make the argument Calgary could have beaten the Riders because the Riders through some mental and physical errors allowed Calgary to get back into the game. That final quarter against the Riders is why I think Calgary is the better team of these two 0-2 squads, but both teams know another loss will make it tougher to climb back into the playoff race.

Both teams don’t have a receiving corps, Calgary has a better runner, BC has the better QB but Calgary has the better defensive line. That line will be the difference in another kind of shootout as Calgary should be able to beat BC 34-31.

Finally on Sunday we have Ottawa at Montreal. Ottawa is coming off a game against Toronto they might have been able to win if their defense could play pass defense. Montreal is coming off the loss to Edmonton where they were run into the ground by Edmonton who clawed their way back into the game for a win.

It may be too soon to judge the Dru Brown trade, but if Maier does not up his game, it is just a matter of time before MBT steps in. If Ottawa does not find some continuity in both offense and defense, they will go down again to defeat.

Montreal is in a good position leading the east, but they need to put some distance between themselves and Hamilton and Toronto. With all the hype over Alexander’s undefeated streak and how TSN tried to say it was still good despite the Riders Grey Cup win, it will be interesting to see how Alexander responds to his first regular season loss, albeit in overtime.

If Ottawa had more to offer, I would say this could be an interesting game, but Montreal has more experience playing with each other. Ottawa does not and that is the difference between these teams.

Montreal wins this handily 33-22

by Greg Urbanoski

Wild CFL Season just got more interesting

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