Jack B. Bedell
CFL.ca
It might be a strange thing to admit, but I absolutely love blowouts. For my taste, there’s no better game to watch than a lopsided affair, even when my team’s on the bad end of the demolition.
With apologies to Leo Tolstoy for reshaping one of his great lines, I’d say all tight games are tight in the same way, while every blowout holds its own story for me.
Watching close games, it’s hard for me to keep my emotions in check. I get too caught up in the rhythms and tensions of the games to be completely objective. Simply put, I have an emotional investment in every close game, and that’s where the pain comes in.
Blowouts diffuse all of that, though, by making sure the outcome of the game is no longer in question. Then I’m free to focus on the competitive aspects of the contest, analyzing game plans and individual performances as objectively as possible.
And once emotions are out of the equation, it’s much easier to recognize the handful of plays that swing a game into a rout. Sometimes those plays come from sublime individual efforts, sometimes from poor ones. Sometimes a flag is thrown that tilts the game; sometimes that flag stays in the pocket to the same effect.
Every blowout has its own reasons why the points pile up on one side of the scoreboard and not the other. Week 14 gave us three perfect examples.
Looking at how similar the scores were from the weekend—44-16, 40-10, and 37-12—it would be easy to think all three tilts went down the same way, with the winning teams simply running over weaker opposition from the get-go.
Nothing could be farther from the truth in two out of three of these games.
In Toronto’s case, I’d have to agree with Don Matthews when he says, “I don’t see all the gloom and doom you guys see.” Deep into the first half, the Argos went toe-to-toe with the Stamps. In fact, Calgary’s most positive play to that point had been the recovery of a Mike Vanderjagt fumble in the endzone after a botched fake punt.
Throughout the first 30 minutes, Cody Pickett’s numbers were on par with Henry Burris’, and both defenses were generating enough plays to keep the game close. Unfortunately, after halftime, the game turned into a hammer and nail situation with a more-talented Calgary squad banging away steadily until the score fell where it fell. The better team won out, and won out big, eventually.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ loss, however, didn’t fall anywhere near that category.
Saskatchewan wound up on the raw end of the score primarily due to poor execution, turnovers, and penalties at the most inopportune times short-circuiting their ability to score majors.
Gang Green moved the ball up and down the field between the 20-yard lines all game long, but just couldn’t punch the ball over the goal-line on any of its drives, settling for four Luca Congi field goals while the Alouettes’ offence was piling up majors and running away with the game.
Now, B.C. 40, Hamilton 10…Let’s just say the scoreboard tells that story pretty well.
WEEK 14 QUICK HITS
Through 14 weeks, the Als’ defence leads the CFL in fewest points allowed and fewest offensive plays against. When you have one of the league’s top offenses on your sideline, there aren’t many better categories to lead the league in than those two. They may get overshadowed a bit by the attention given to Anthony Calvillo and company, but the Als’ defence is definitely noteworthy in every sense of the word.
The Argos’ defence didn’t get much good press either after Saturday’s beat down at the hands of the Stamps, but I thought they did an excellent job of keeping the game close through three quarters. The front seven keyed on Joffrey Reynolds and kept him under wraps for the most part, and the pressure they were able to get on Henry Burris affected his rhythm and forced him to spread the ball around more than he’s accustomed to doing.
Big ups to Arjei Franklin for getting his first CFL TD on a 73-yard bomb from Kevin Glenn. As good as Franklin’s been and as hard as he’s worked since entering the league, I really thought that score would have come a long time ago, but it was nice to see him get it on a pivotal play that tilted the game his team’s way. Sometimes good things are worth waiting for.
And, as long as I’m on the Blue Bombers/Eskimos tilt, I’ve got to throw my two cents in on the Esks’ complete lack of offensive balance. More than any other factor, I’d say Edmonton’s inability to establish a running game cost them last week’s game. Ricky Ray played well enough to beat the Bombers, but it’s too much to ask any pivot to launch the ball 43 times while only getting a half dozen carries out of his running back.
RWB’S PRIMETIME PERFORMERS
1) Jason Armstead (for real!)
2) Zeke Moreno
3) Demetris Summers
4) Charleston Hughes
5) Cam Wake
6) Geroy Simon
7) Avon Cobourne
8) Jamel Richardson
9) Ricky Ray
10) Rob Bagg
WEEK 15 PREDICTIONS DOOMED TO GO WRONG
Knowing how difficult it is to judge teams desperate for wins, I’ll take a 3-1 record like last week’s any day.
This week the desperation factor climbs even higher as teams are starting to press for playoff positioning, so I’m picking B.C., Calgary, Montreal, and Edmonton with my fingers crossed.
UP NEXT
Check back next week to get my takes on all of week 15’s action. With a little over a month to go in the season, I’ll also weigh in on the MOP races in each division and a few of the other player awards as we head down the stretch.
Until then, take care. And try not to lead with your head unless you’re headed toward a meal.
Jack B. Bedell is a Professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana and has followed the CFL for nearly three decades.
