By Greg Frers,
CFL.ca
Hamilton Tiger Cats (1-4) @ Montréal Alouettes (4-0)
The monkey is off the back but there is still a ton of work to be done in Hamilton. Getting out of a losing slump is always difficult and the win over Calgary was just that – difficult. Congratulations to Hamilton and the Tiger-Cat organization. Losing in professional sports is very difficult! Mistakes are always over-analyzed and magnified and good people get fired. Outside of the 515 yards of offence that Calgary marched on Hamilton in Week 3, the Ticats defence has looked pretty solid. They have also caused problems for a struggling Alouette offence that only passed for 195 yards in their last meeting this year.
Welcome to the CFL Mark Myers – a 44-yard game-winning field goal does feel nice. Congratulations to Tim Cheatwood who was making plays all over the field in last week’s win. Hamilton offensively needs to ride the positive momentum of this victory because Jason Maas throwing for only 240 yards and being in the score zone way too many times and not coming away with points will not turn this team around. Welcome back Corey Holmes. I anticipate that the Tiger Cats will be finding ways to utilize this talent a lot more!
Talking with quarterback Anthony Calvillo after the game on Saturday, he was justifiably frustrated that the Als have not been able to piece a good offensive performance together yet this year. Considering that they are now the only undefeated team in the CFL, this team has the potential to do some serious damage as their offence can only get better. Cavillo and the Montreal offence were held to only 96 yards passing by a very stingy Winnipeg defence. Their ability to establish a running attack once again failed and they need to go to a short passing attack to have any success on first down. Unless this offence gets more productivity on first down the Alouettes will continue to need their defence and special teams to pull games out for them.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers (3-2) @ Edmonton Eskimos (2-2)
The reality of the small 42 man roster is that if you have two injuries at any one position your team is in some serious trouble. Unfortunately for the Bombers they had three offensive linemen go down with injury in last week’s game and currently four that are now on the limp if you include right tackle Mike Abou-Mechrek. Dan Goodspeed was having a great year at left tackle and he will be getting a MRI done to find out how serious his injured knee is. Speculation is that the prognosis will include an “A” word which would mean he will be out for the season. Finding a replacement for Goodspeed will be hard but finding Canadian bodies to fill the injuries to Matt Sheridan, Aaron Fiacconi and Abou-Mechrek will make general manger Brendan Taman earn every dollar of his new contract.
Players will need to play out of position and protecting Kevin Glenn will be a challenge this week against an Eskimo team that was embarrassed by the Bombers in Week 3. Head coach Doug Berry will need to do a very good job convincing his troops that you can win a game if you win two of three phases of the game. Defence and special teams are going to need to step it up big time.
Expect the Eskimos to pin their ears back and take full advantage of Winnipeg’s weaknesses this week. If I were defensive coordinator for Edmonton I would bring everyone from a multitude of directions and positions as there is no way that Winnipeg will be able to be prepared and be sound in their protection schemes for this week. Coming off the bye week and well rested, this Eskimo defence will be out for blood.
The focus for the Edmonton offence must be to finish drives. Edmonton had success moving the ball against the Bombers, however, they self destructed when they were in scoring position. Mookie Mitchell should be back this week and prior to his hamstring injury he had racked up 165 yards receiving the last time these two teams met. Edmonton’s No. 1 offence will be met by a desperate Winnipeg defence and this is where the battle of this game will be determined.
B.C. Lions (2-3) @ Calgary Stampeders (3-2)
Nothing gets head coach Wally Buono’s attention more than consecutive losses. Habits are formulated when you win and unfortunately habits are formulated when you lose. Dickenson and company was making it look easy on Friday until Saskatchewan decided to turn up the heat and bring the pressure. Dickenson, who was a near perfect with 18 of 21 completions in the first half, was held to under 50 yards of passing in the second half. The Lions can look so good for three quarters and then look so average at crunch time.
Hats off to Roughriders defensive coordinator Richie Hall for confusing Dickenson enough to solidify this win. As you have seen, there is such a fine line between winning and losing. Although there is nothing positive that ever comes from losing, I would rather be fixing this team now rather than in the last six weeks of the season. Gut check time for the Lions is this week as Buono returns to Cowtown.
The Calgary Stampeders have yet to find a level of consistency this year. After a solid performance in Saskatchewan, the Ticat defence once again made Henry Burris and the offence look very average. The most consistent performer on this team remains running back Joffery Reynolds as he carried the ball 14 times for 100 yards.
Although initially I was critical of the play calling for the Stamps on their last offensive possession, I have come to appreciate the aggressiveness that they play with. Flash back to the first meeting with the Ticats — with 13 seconds remaining, starting on their own 35-yard line, Calgary made two pass completions and the necessary field position for DeAngelis heroic game winning points. Tied 17-17 with just under a minute remaining the scene was set for the same heroics – right? Unfortunately this time they came up short and the critics start in with their rants. What does worry me is how this team too often is requiring last second heroics to pull out games this year. After the Saskatchewan game, dominance was to be theirs and yet we are once again reminded of how tight this race to the Grey Cup will be in 2006.
Toronto Argonauts (1-3) @ Saskatchewan Roughriders (2-2)
Will quarterback Damon Allen get the green light to return this week is the million dollar question. Although, Spergeon Wynn has improved, his familiarity of the Argo offence is not at the level that Allen is at. Running back Ricky Williams and the hype he has brought to the Argos has faded and he will need to put some impressive runs together before we accept him as a star in the CFL. The bye week will have gone a long way to improve the health of a very banged up offensive line.
Williams may, however, be too NFL to be a good CFL running back. The CFL rewards players that have the ability to be creative with offensive plays where what is ingrained in Williams is that you stick with the design of the play or find somewhere else to earn a paycheck. What has been surprising is how teams have found ways to get deep balls completed on the Argo defence. Don’t get me wrong – this is still a very tough defence to beat and Kerry Joseph will need to be patient if he wants to have success.
Which defence is going to show up for the Saskatchewan Roughriders this week? It has been very noticeable that when this group plays with aggression and brings pressure, forcing offences to be on their toes with the correct reads, it has been very successful. When this defence has sat back and allowed the offence to dictate to them, they have allowed 53 points as seen against the Stampeders. With a struggling Toronto offensive line I would anticipate the game plan will be to get to Wynn and dictate the game.
Is Kenton Keith on his way out of Regina? Dressing a player and not using him was a gamble that thankfully did not come back to hurt the Riders. Personally, my speculation is that Keith was there for insurance as Domonique Dorsey was auditioning to take away his job as the Riders tailback. Slowly but surely Joseph is getting more continuity with his receivers, however, the familiarity he has with Jason Armstead has proven to be the most fruitful combination of the field for them. With Richardson out for the season with a broken leg, Dominguez and Joseph must get on the same page.
Greg Frers played 10 seasons in the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and B.C. Lions and has been a panelist on the CFL on CBC since 2003.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
