By Arash Madani,
The Score
As is often the case when even the suggestion of Toronto hosting the Grey Cup is made, discussion and debate centre around whether or not the city is the right host to the championship game. The days leading to kickoff lacked the usual feel, but pouring rain on Wednesday followed by snow and ice Thursday hurt. On game day, though, it wouldn’t matter where this game would be staged. It was a madhouse outside Rogers Centre, and the atmosphere electric in the moments leading to the start of the 95th Grey Cup.
Here’s a running account of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers from high atop the west press box on a night the Prairies won’t soon forget.
6:08 p.m.: It’s second-and-long for Saskatchewan and Ron Estay is losing his mind on the sidelines. It appears he is not getting the call from the spotters booth on his headset.
6:12 p.m.: Saskatchewan’s second drive begins with Kerry Joseph shooting out of a cannon. He sees an opening and flies and the decisiveness to go is yet another glimpse of how the league’s most outstanding player has refined his game. Thirty-four yards later, Joseph has the Riders at mid-field.
6:18 p.m.: Think Luca Congi is a bit amped in his first Coupe? With the eagerness of a high schooler on prom night, his opening field goal attempt sailed wide left by only 20 yards or so. You get the feeling poise will be critical as we try to take stock of the ebb and flow of this game.
6:24 p.m.: Greg Moss has seen this before. Joseph, feeling the heat, forces a throw that gets deflected and flutters into the arms of an unflappable five-foot-seven corner, who listens to gospel music during warm-up. First big play – turnover, Riders.
6:27 p.m.: Blitz from the Riders, picked up by the Bombers, Dinwiddie a bit high, but finds Milt Stegall. This kid Dinwiddie’s body language looks promising.
6:29 p.m.: Wow. Think Milt wants to win this thing, or what? With blanket coverage, Eddie Davis went through 85, but he hauls in the 42-yard strike. Brilliant.
6:31 p.m.: The first Grey Cup I ever covered was the first I ever attended, in 2001. That November night in Montreal Troy Westwood clanged an attempt off the right goalpost. In this 95th championship, he opens the game late in the first quarter with a 16-yard field goal. The seven-play, 61-yard drive was about Roberts and Dinwiddie being able to find Stegall. Early, it is clear those Bomber vets left from that defeat six years ago are going to be pivotal in this thing for Winnipeg.
6:39 p.m.: D.J. Flick drops his second ball of the night to end the first quarter. Blue Bombers 3, Roughriders 0. Oh, and the wireless connection on my computer definitely isn’t working.
6:50 p.m.: Saskatchewan offensive lineman Wayne Smith, the starting left guard, hobbles off and Marc Parenteau warms up. The ironies continue going back to the Ottawa connection. Parenteau practiced against Jerome Haywood in practice for a full season. Now in the Grey Cup they will battle in the trenches.
7:09 p.m.: Saskatchewan finally gets at Dinwiddie and the kid gets away with one. In triple coverage, James Johnson should have picked off the 2nd and 10 pass. Instead, it’s a 43-yard Westwood punt that, after another nice Corey Holmes return, gets brought back to the Winnipeg 50. A 20-yard swing in field position.
7:13 p.m.: Well, Wes Cates just blew Saskatchewan’s first legit chance at a touchdown. And it’s Haywood – told by two teams in as many years that he can’t play in this league – who punches out the football and Ike Charlton recovers.
7:17 p.m.: This thing just turned, and Rogers Centre has been brought to life. Dinwiddie’s toss is picked off by Johnson, who redeems himself from the previous drive, and he brings it back 30-yards to the crib. We’ve got a game now. Unfortunate that there’s 2:34 left in the half. Is Dinwiddie beginning to unravel?
7:27 p.m.: Okay, this is the fourth or fifth time now. With the Winnipeg defensive line rush getting through and depth positioning becoming erratic on the pass rush, Joseph is taking advantage of the opening in the seam and taking off. His gains aren’t in tiny bunches though. Big chunks are being gobbled up, and with just under a minute left before the break, the Riders are in Blue Bombers territory. Winnipeg needs a stop.
7:30 p.m.: Ike Charlton just came like a freight train through D.J. Flick. He lit him up. If Chris Berman has anything to say about it, we will see this at some point during the Monday Night Football telecast.
7:31 p.m.: Ah, wireless Internet is working, finally.
7:32 p.m.: Congi kicks the piss out of it from 45-yards out at the gun. A sad-looking Saskatchewan offence looks passable for about two drives in the half. And yet they lead by three.
7:34 p.m.: Thirty minutes on the board. Lenny Kravitz is coming up. Now that I’m online, time to check the second half line – for curiosity sake only…
8:07 p.m.: Second snap of the third quarter fumbled by Dinwiddie on a blind side rush by John Chick. Riders ball at the Winnipeg 10. This ball game is over.
8:09 p.m.: Winnipeg had to play mistake-free football and haven’t. Saskatchewan, ever so disciplined with their ability to take care of the football all year, offered a couple of narrow windows for the Bombers to pounce on in the first. And they didn’t. Now that Saskatchewan band in the north end zone (seriously, about two dozen cats draped in green all have musical instruments and sound like a college orchestra) is playing tunes and the Rider nation is into it.
8:10 p.m.: A buddy just texted me from the stands. Apparently they’ve run out of beer in the stadium. Words of disappointment and amazement cannot say justice to the greatest injustice of all.
8:18 p.m.: Shows what I know. You don’t expect Johnson left on an island, in man coverage, on the towering Derick Armstrong. The Bomber wideout gets away with a slight push-off that really shouldn’t have been called. 50-yard touchdown. Winnipeg was between a 9.5 and 11.5 point dog between Saturday night (double-digits) and kickoff. Follow the money, they say. It looks to be the case here.
8:21 p.m.: Somehow Winnipeg leads this Grey Cup, 14-13. And now Saskatchewan is running between the tackles. This is one of those weird games to get a feel for and it’s almost five minutes into the third period.
8:25 p.m.: Pick No. 2 for James Johnson. Ties a Grey Cup record with only 10 other people. Man, some stats are useless aren’t they? Anyway… Twice now Dinwiddie has tried to force it to Stegall, and has paid for it. It is beyond me why it’s jailhouse gambling here by the Winnipeg offence. Yet another turnover gives Saskatchewan great field position at the 55.
8:28 p.m.: Joseph had nowhere to go, but was able to make a play, rolling right and finding his elderly pal Yo Murphy for 21 yards. Almost six years ago, Llewelyn Murphy returned the opening kick of the Super Bowl when his Rams played the Patriots. Not as many flashbulbs popping tonight.
8:32 p.m.: First real decision for Kent Austin and on third and inches from the 11, Saskatchewan goes over the top with Joseph. Absolutely awful spot given and the Riders are short by a length of the football. For the second time in three games, an opponent cannot get half-a-yard at a critical time against Greg Marshall’s defence.
8:37 p.m.: Until the review, on a needed challenge call, overturned the initial decision. A defiant Doug Berry throws the appeal flag, gets nailed for a delay of game, and you have to wonder what the thousands overseas watching the CFL for the first time are thinking of this nonsense. First and goal Saskatchewan, from the 5.
8:41 p.m.: Huge Blue Bombers defensive stand. Critical that they stopped the Roughriders there. Congi chips the gimme. Riders by two.
8:50 p.m.: Final play of the third. Dinwiddie throws it away. 16-14 going into the fourth.
8:53 p.m.: Westwood just bombed a huge punt and the first guy down was Kyries Hebert. He is a heck of a football player. On special teams – outstanding.
8:54 p.m.: Kelly Malveaux just got nailed for PI, but the most outstanding player in the league awfully slow to get up. Malveaux was blamed by some in Alouettes management for being a key reason Montreal lost the 2005 Grey Cup to Edmonton (you remember, when Danny Maciocia celebrated on second down…).
8:57 p.m.: Hey, lookie here, Andy Fantuz actually can do more tonight than drop the football. Carrying it around like a load of bread, he gets into the end zone despite Robert Bean whacking away at it. 23-14. If you liked Riders –5 for the second half, chances are you are happy. But what a march. 78 yards on the drive that, in three minutes and three seconds has the band playing again underneath Windows Restaurant.
8:58 p.m.: Ten Saskatchewan points off three Winnipeg turnovers. There’s tomorrow’s story in the papers across the country, folks.
9:00 p.m.: Esteemed colleague Duane Forde, who takes any opportunity to trumpet his University of Western Ontario alma mater, puffs his chest with fellow Mustangs alum Fantuz prancing into the end zone. It was a swirl route that Malveaux appeared to get confused on. Fantuz ran it perfectly and Joseph had fired the missile with precision even before his receiver cut the opposite way.
9:03 p.m.: In the past, James Johnson has liked to peek. But tonight, he is looking like a very good cornerback.
9:07 p.m.: Decision time again for Austin. Riders lead 23:14 with 8:40 to go. From their own 10, Saskatchewan opts not to punt, but give up the safety and make it a seven-point game nearing the mid-way point of the fourth. I like the decision. Forde said he’d punt. What does Forde know? Has he ever played a down of football?
9:17 p.m.: A PI by Lance – down goes – Frazier sets up Westwood crushing a 42-yard field goal. It’s a four-point game, 23-19 green. The second half Riders cover looks tough unless Saskatchewan scores a touchdown here.
9:21 p.m.: Henry Burris sits down next to me, getting set to do post-game coverage for CFL Snap on The Score. Bookends to seat 92 in the football media box at the Rogers Centre – Forde and Burris. Who says the Stampeders weren’t represented here?
9:24 p.m.: Almost on cue, Eric Tillman arrives on the Riders sideline as Joseph lunges forward to move the sticks with under three minutes to play. The Grey Cup begins its march onto the field with the procession.
9:26 p.m.: After a Gavin Walls sack, the Blue Bombers are going to get the ball back with 79 seconds remaining in regulation.
“All right kid, this is what you want,” Burris says to no one in particular, his eyes transfixed on Dinwiddie trotting out to the Winnipeg huddle. “This is what every kid dreams of. If this kid can pilot this team down the field, he’d write a new chapter in his career.”
“Uh, Henry,” I say, “that would be the only chapter in the book.”
1:19 remains on the clock: Bullet to Terrence Edwards, 23-yards. Then money to Arjei Franklin for nine. Ball at mid-field, 65 seconds left.
1:05 left in the fourth, 2nd and one: Dinwiddie is clearly calling the plays at the line. Burris looks over to Forde and you can tell what they’re both asking themselves in silence. “Can the kid get it done?”
We get out answer on the next snap. Almost in slow motion, you see Dinwiddie’s toss going nowhere good. The hat trick for James Johnson is complete. Third pick, Grey Cup record.
Tied with nobody.
Two plays later, Wes Cates rumbles 15 yards for a first down and the finality of the moment hits.
Rider nation roars, Kerry Joseph begins to weep and the majority of the 52,230 rejoice with the green.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders, Grey Cup champions. And miles to go before anyone in this city sleeps.
Arash Madani is the Calgary bureau reporter with The Score.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
