Ever try to get into shape after 626 Days (The CFL Week 1)

In the early ‘70s players like Clark and kicker Gerry Organ of Ottawa often lined up at receiver. Clark started his pro career with the World Football League Portland Storm in 1974, then played for Hamilton from ’75-78, Toronto in ’78; then went to the Los Angeles Rams and punted them into the 1979 Super Bowl where they lost to the Steelers.

Clark came back to Canada and joined the Riders from ’80-’83 and the 1983 Labor Day game when Clark came back to Regina from Toronto where his mother had passed away that morning. Clark booted a 101 punt, which the longest punt in Rider history until recently, and when Dave Ridgway went down with a concussion, Clark came in and kicked a 41 yard field goal into the wind with 43 seconds left to seal a 32-30 win.

Then John Herrera, the then Rider GM who came out the Oakland Raiders, traded Clark to Ottawa for some middling Canadian blocking back and called Clark a “clubhouse lawyer” probably because Clark refused to drink the Kool-Aid that Herrera was putting out.

Rider fans who weren’t around then probably didn’t appreciate that with a team going nowhere, when you go to a football game in the early ‘80s, you focused on individual players because the team was so inconsistent or bad.

The Riders with Clark punting and Ridgway kicking had in my opinion the best kicking duo in the CFL and often Clark would kick the Riders out of their end and Ridgway would kick field goals in the other team’s end for what was often the only offense the Riders could muster.

I’ll never forget being at that game and marvelling at the composure Clark showed in his kicking that day. A lot of fans remember the Kerry Joseph run in the 2007 Labor Day, but I will put what Ken Clark did up against that or any other performance.

Now back to our regularly scheduled viewing.

The first weekend of the CFL is in the books and it was unlike anything people would have thought. With no games in over 600 days and a month long training camp with no exhibition games, people were expecting a shaggy set of games, but each game was different in its own way.

Winnipeg opened their defense of their 2019 Grey Cup (I ain’t giving them 2020 Grey Cup props because I think Winnipeg fans may be thinking if they have to wait another 29 years for another Grey Cup, they might as well take the free date on the bingo card that was 2020) with a 19-6 win over Hamilton.

Even with performance enhancing drug user Andrew Harris on the sidelines, Winnipeg found Brady Oliveira to handle the running game and the Bombers did not lose a step. Zach Collaros enjoyed being behind that offensive line while Hamilton obviously spent the last 600 days reading their press releases instead of working on say, their offensive line. Watching that game, I thought the way Hamilton’s offensive line had problems handling Winnipeg’s defense was an omen for the Riders.

The real omen came when I was en route to the Rider game on the bus. I was talking to people from PA when all of a sudden the bus shook and it became apparent a car tried to jump an intersection and hit the bus.

I wondered what meaning this had for the Rider game and then the weirdness continued. The stadium announcer had Michael Reilly named as the starter, but Nathan Rourke took to the field and in the first quarter and a half got beaten like a gong.

The Riders compensated for their untested offensive line by going tempo with running and passing with plays getting off in two seconds, not allowing a defense to get set. The problem with going with tempo in the first half is that if you are not in shape, you cannot sustain that pace in the second half.

I don’t know if that explains how the Rider defense played in the second half when Reilly went in. Reilly is clearly injured and the CFL betting relationship has what are supposed to be accurate injury lists being released so gamblers can make educated bets.

So Reilly’s passes, which looked like wounded ducks, but more disturbingly, actually were caught by BC receivers while the Riders ran around and looked inept in the second half. Rider coach Craig Dickenson said his team was not yet in shape, and you could argue that applied to all teams in the CFL and Dickenson said he didn’t expect to see teams in shape until say, Labor Day.

The Riders sat on their lead and almost paid for it. While the team was talking about getting the W, it could have easily gone the other way and what has yet to be explained is why the Riders went cold in the second half.

What is disturbing to think about is the play of the defensive secondary, which was supposed to be the centrepiece of this defense. Whether age has caught up with the defensive backfield, or perhaps unwarranted cockiness, Hamilton has a pretty good idea of how to attack the Riders.

Toronto beating Calgary was interesting in how Calgary turned the ball over and let the Argos dictate to them. Charleston Hughes showed up with a fumble recovery but whether or not he will continue to dominate as he has will be an interesting question.

McLeod Bethel-Thompson quarterbacked the Argos to the win and Bethel-Thompson is serving notice he is not inclined to step aside from Nick Arbuckle. The injury to Arbuckle is interesting because the number of QBs in the league who are playing injured include Reilly, Bo Levi Mitchell and Matt Nicholls and those injuries could open the door to new players taking charge.

No one knew how Toronto would play after putting together an all-star team in free agency, but with the injection of former Stampeder players, the Argos played with a competence and confidence that may make them a dark horse choice to win the Grey Cup.

The Edmonton-Ottawa game showed first hand how important coaching can be. Ottawa does not have much of a recognizable roster other than Matt Nicholls, who looks like he is still injured, but with Paul La Police as head coach, Bob Dyce as special teams coach and Mike Benevedes as defensive coordinator, Ottawa has enough coaching acumen to compensate for a less than impressive roster.

Ottawa even worked in a passing play on a special teams play that resulted in a touchdown – but was called back because the officials said the pass was a forward one and disallowed the touchdown. That did not stop Ottawa whose defense coped with the Elks offense that was supposed to be the best in the country but which failed to score a touchdown.

That was left to Ottawa DB Abdul Kinneh who had an interception return for a TC that clinched the game for Ottawa. Ottawa’s offense was nothing to write home about, but their defense played lights out and Edmonton looks like a typical Trevor Harris team – all show and no action.

So this week BC goes to Calgary on Thursday and after the debacle the Lions put the league through with Reilly placing his ego above his team, it looks like Rourke will get the start in this game.

Calgary still looks like a contender, but you can’t escape feeling that maybe this year Calgary has hit the wall in replacing a bunch of players who left to go elsewhere. Add to that Bo Levi Mitchell coming back from injury and a lack of a running game and the pieces are there for BC to come up with a win.

But not this time. At least until Calgary gets beaten on a regular basis and not what appears to be an isolated game. Calgary wins this 27-26 because I was really impressed with how Rourke bounced back for BC after getting hammered in the first quarter.

Ryan Dinwiddie leads the Toronto Argonauts into Winnipeg where they will attempt to prove they are for real, like a Santa Claus or a Yeti based on their win over Calgary. McLeod Bethel-Thompson gets yardage and the occasional win and this is probably the best Argo team in four to five years.

The problem is they are going into Winnipeg who unveiled a new running back and an offensive line that should work like a charm in November, if only they can get there. Winnipeg has shifted its offensive focus from a running game to a more vertical passing game, but Winnipeg to pull that off needs receivers and it is not clear they have enough to make this work.

That doesn’t matter because Winnipeg’s defense should provide some problems for Toronto is a close 20-15 win.

One of the more intriguing games is Montreal visiting Edmonton. Montreal had the bye the first week, and the fun will be to see how much progress Vernon Adams Jr. has made as a quarterback.

In case you forgot, Adams led Montreal to a second place finish in 2019 but were upset by Edmonton in the Eastern Semi-Final. Edmonton laid an offensive egg against Ottawa and are smarting from what should have been guaranteed win night.

The problem is while Trevor Harris says he has been learning from Tom Brady’s training methods, he should have worked on his game management. Harris racks up lots of yards but not as many wins.

So the trick will be to see how Montreal comes out of the gate and I suspect Montreal will get revenge for their playoff loss to Edmonton a few years ago in a 27-14 win.

Finally, we have the spectacle of Hamilton coming to Riderville on Saturday and while many are saying the Riders are lucky to be 1-0, one suspects the Riders looked at the film and saw how much work they need to do.

Hamilton has a young offensive line that had problems with Winnipeg’s defensive line while the Riders went to a tempo offense to take the pressure off their offensive line, but their lack of cardio fitness helped let BC back in.

While Hamilton is dreaming of hosting the Grey Cup and playing in it in December, this game will give a good look at whether Hamilton is for real or just a paper champion.

I’m not a big Jeremiah Masoli fan and I am not going to expect a lot of him out of this game. The Riders will move to 2-0 with a 26-19 score.

by Greg Urbanoski

Ever try to get into shape after 626 Days (The CFL Week 1)

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