2023 CFL Season Gets Really Interesting.

Their toothless fans are manipulating themselves like chimpanzees in a zoo, all in a rush to gratify themselves before say, the Toronto Argonauts best them in another Grey Cup. They are drooling like Donald Trump with a McRib sandwich at the thought of sweeping the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

On the surface the signs look promising for Stony Mountain. They had a tight first half against Montreal and Cody Fajardo including serving up two pick sixes but then in the second half they pulled away and beat Montreal 47-17.

However, when you scrape away the mold that grows on the Bombers like a shower room fungus, is less than impressive. Consider that Cody

Fajardo has not beaten a Bomber defense for years and the Bombers had figured out Fajardo and his bag of tricks in Saskatchewan and decided to have fun crushing the spirit of him and Rider fans.

Each team will likely go through stretches dealing with injuries, unless you are Stony Mountain who may have sold their team to Satan in exchange for the secret Andrew Harris juice formula for aging players trying to hang on.

The Bombers have already beaten the Riders once this season in a game where Trevor Harris could have brought the Riders back, but that game was important more in how the Riders responded to the Bombers. The Bombers own the Riders mentally and spiritually and until the Riders believe in themselves and execute to their potential against the Bombers, we will be cursed to endure the mutterings of the toothless ones booking yet another parade route.

Harris will not be playing in this game, that falls to Jake Dolegala who managed to exploit the Rider defense turnovers of the BC Lions in a 34-29 win before a bye week. Dolegala may benefit from not having much film on him, but the Bombers can execute a game plan based on exploiting a Rider offensive line that finds it hard to pass and run block in the same game.

Many fans like Dolegala, who throws a deep ball beautifully but has problems completing a dump pass right after that. This makes Dolegala a taller version of former mad Bomber Michael Bishop, who made many deep throws but not much else.

Dolegala though is benefiting from a Rider receiving corps that is starting to find its way and an offensive line that is striving to be serviceable. It’s a different look for the Riders and with a defense that is starting to get consistent pressure, the Riders will be well advised to do

all they can to get Bomber QB Zach Collaros running to his right and trying to throw because Collaros is on a streak of throwing pick sixes to opposing defenses.

BC’s first game against Winnipeg resulted in BC using their defensive line to harass Collaros at every opportunity. Collaros in Saskatchewan was the subject of head-hunting expeditions and used his injury at the start of 2019 to get traded to Toronto, get treatment before getting traded to Winnipeg who used him to make the leap that Matt Nichols could never do.

While Collaros is a two-time MOP winner, he is just a hit way from going back on the injury list and contemplating retirement. The pick sixes are indicative of a player who has drank deeply from the cup of his own infallibility but who also has a fear of being hit and perhaps forced to retire.

The Bombers are 10-point favorites and that seems reasonable, but as we saw in the CFL last week, being a favorite doesn’t mean much. If the Riders are going to beat Winnipeg, their defense is going to have to harass Collaros like health workers being harangued by anti-vaxers.

If the Riders get speed on their defensive line to get past the Bomber offensive line, they have the chance to force Collaros to make mistakes. If he makes mistakes, the Riders need to capitalize and perhaps play less analytical football and more championship status football in demonstrating they can stay with Winnipeg.

Labor Day will be the measuring stick by which the careers of Rider head coach and GM Jeremy O’Day will be measured. The surprising performance of the Riders against BC have many thinking the Riders may have turned a corner in their season, but they need to do more

than just one game at a time, they need to put games together and start to put distance between them and Calgary and Edmonton.

The inherent emotional instability of Rider fans which veers from manic highs to lows on a weekly if not hourly basis, have once again come to the fore following the bye week where to be click bait some Rider fan sites are calling for Dolegala to be the full-time starter.

The fact is outside of Darian Durant, who came in and won, most quarterbacks need to learn a lot more before they can comfortably be seen as starters. There is also this to consider.

In an 18-game schedule, 17 in the NFL, very few quarterbacks go through a season without missing games to injury. The San Fransisco 49ers even ran out of quarterbacks, forcing the NFL to allow teams to dream three quarterbacks.

Whoever the Riders have as a QB, it behooves them to have a second and even a third string who is ready to play. Those of us old enough to remember the JJ Barnagel combination of Joe Barnes and John Hufnagel or even Kent Austin and Tom Burgess would have to agree having options is always good at QB instead of hoping for a QB to make it through the season unscathed.

The key to a Rider win will be the play of their linebackers and defensive line in flushing Collaros out of the pocket and not letting him get comfortable. This could be easier said than done, but let’s keep in mind that Ottawa and BC managed to do this against Stony Mountain so far this season.

Toronto played an entertaining game against Calgary and came away with a 39-31 win while Hamilton shocked everyone, including probably themselves, in beating BC 30-13. Edmonton finally ended the home

losing streak by beating Ottawa 30-20 and making Tre Ford look very good running and throwing the ball.

BC goes to Montreal on Saturday night and for BC, the loss to Saskatchewan night has been explained by not being mentally in it from the start. The loss to Hamilton at home seemed more like a team thinking all it had to do was just shake off a bad start and get back into it.

BC is experiencing some problems on their offensive line which in the hands or legs of a quarterback less talented than Vernon Adams Jr. would be fatal, However, if BC is unable to figure out its protection schemes, they are leaving Adams out on an island where he could be destroyed by ground to air missiles and an army of drones.

Montreal unleashed a decent opportunistic defense against Winnipeg, but once again Cody Fajardo is unable to do anything against Winnipeg and his offensive impotence once again resulted in his team mastering the art of two plays and punt.

This game is in Montreal so you would think that Montreal has the advantage in having BC travel to the bars of St. Catherine’s and leave their game behind before going to McGill Stadium.

I would have too, but for BC, they need this win to keep pace with Stony Mountain although they seem intend to be letting the Bombers take first place by giving up games to teams not as talented as them.

Montreal is not as bad as many thought they would be, but they are a strange team in that they are still finding their identity. The best way to describe Montreal is a team in progress, but Montreal may be reaching a stage where they are who their record says they are.

So this week, you have a BC team trying to shake off two losses that were not expected, with a Montreal team that played a half against

Stony Mountain that was pretty good, but unable to be sustained offensively for a second half.

For that reason, I think BC has more talent than Montreal, but Montreal might be playing as a better team at the moment. It should be an interesting tight 24-22 BC win.

I will skip over the Rider Bomber game to look at Monday and a couple of interesting games. Toronto goes to Hamilton to face the dark lords infesting Tim Horton’s and the possibility that Hamilton may have reached some sort of turning point in a season of diminished expectations after tooling up to be a Grey Cup contender.

Toronto is on a streak with an entertaining offense and defense, with the added advantage of enjoying all their bye weeks. However, Toronto now has to play constantly through to the end of the season and while the repetition may be good to develop consistency, the grind may also start to wear on the Argos and make them more susceptible to injury.

Hamilton will be looking to see if Scott Marinovich can turn around the offense, although I would argue in any Leopold’s that Hamilton’s defense is the underachieving part of the team at this time.

Hamilton will be game, but their defense will be gamier in trying to keep Toronto down to a manageable scoreboard number. The emotional aspect of the rivalry will make this game fun, but Toronto has too much over Hamilton to let them get in the way and Toronto comes away with a 30-21 win.

Edmonton goes to Calgary and on the Edmonton fan site, they are starting to talk about passing Calgary in the standings. I can see this, and it is encouraging to see Tre Ford take the reins of the Elk and use his legs and arm to leg the Elk to two pretty nice performances.

Calgary has a decent defense, but has an offense marked by turnover and a receiving corps that suffers from injuries preventing any chemistry or consistency.

The question is whether Calgary is feeling the heat from the Elk hoping to rut their way into a fourth-place tie and perhaps even contention for a crossover berth, even though the CFL schedule seems designed to discourage crossovers.

This game will not just feature provincial rivals, but will also take on the urgency of a playoff game with two teams fighting for their playoff lives and relevancy in the Alberta sporting eco-system.

The Elk makes a nice story, but Calgary hangs on for a 24-21 win.

On Sunday the Riders host the Bombers and apparently, I am supposed to help a Bomber fan get pics and autographs from Bomber players. Which I will do because this game is maybe the closest to an NCAA rivalry you will experience in Canada.

I have family and friends coming for this game, which is a great way to introduce them to the crowd experience of a CFL game, so I am looking forward to perhaps the last great hurrah of the Riders this year.

Being competitive with the Bombers will not be enough in this game. The Riders need to win to be taken seriously by their fans and the rest of the CFL.

It is a strange feeling sitting back and taking the Riders season on faith as we are being urged by the Rider braintrust. If Craig Dickenson as head coach is capable of learning from his mistakes, the Riders should be better and perhaps even more fundamentally sound to make a playoff run.

The thing is, Labor Day games are their own unique creatures. One year I would love to travel to all the Labor Day games but I suspect the Ontario Alberta trips on Monday may be a bit much.

The Bombers should win, I would not be surprised if they do win, but I am picking the Riders to win 30-21 fueled by a defense that forces Winnipeg out of its comfort zone and an offense that with their receiving corps looks like something to enjoy for the last eight games of the regular season.

This is part of the fun of being a fan at this time of year, going with your heart. Enjoy the games.

by Greg Urbanoski

2023 CFL Season Gets Really Interesting.

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